Buying firewood

The best time to buy your firewood is at the end of winter, spring and start of summer. In doing this you can control the drying process and don't miss out on the wood types you prefer. We unfortunately cannot guarantee the dryness of our wood from about April onwards so it pays to get it delivered early.  

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Firewood is sold as a “thrown measure” unless specifically stated otherwise. This means that the quantity of wood is measured as if it was thrown into a container, and not as if it was stacked. Stacking it will reduce the volume by about 1/3 (3 cubic metres of thrown wood is roughly equivalent to 2 cubic metres stacked). 

 

Burn dry firewood

It is important that we all do our bit for clean air. We try to supply dry firewood and we all should only burn dry firewood in our fireplaces.

​Storing Firewood

To keep your firewood dry, you have to store it properly. Buy your firewood early in the season and store it with a good airflow and plenty of sun. Rain early on is ok, but cover the stack closer to winter to keep water off. Make sure that a cover is not smothering your stack. A tarp may not be the best cover as it may cause condensation when the air gets warmer. Pellets are a great way to keep your wood off the ground with a good air flow coming up from under the stack. Stack in a well ventilated area in a shed or down the side of a fence line.

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Firewood bought from around April onwards could be damp as it could come from the middle of our stacks and has not been exposed to as much air. These logs are not wet with growing saps and only need a few weeks to fully dry. Buy early and you can control the drying. Wood brought in the Autumn and Winter season is also at risk of being rain wet. Try to avoid burning rain wet wood. However rain wet wood will only take days to dry out.  Be prepared and order more than expect.  Remember that when stored correctly wood will not go off so it will always be used the next year.

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Handy tips

• Get your fire flue cleaned once if not twice throughout the season. Some woods put out more resin than others and try not to burn wet wood as this causes resin to build up in your flue which then can cause a chimney fire.

• Check you firewood manual. This is especially important for newer fires and find out what type of wood they suggest to burn. Some woods burn better on certain fires than others. Not all wood or fires are the same.

• Buy your firewood in advance. Don't wait for the last log as it is very hard to find dry firewood closer to and during winter winter.

• Stack your wood outside in a dry spot with a good airflow. Stack with bark up and leave gaps between rows of no higher than around 1 meter. Cover stack around April/May but don't smother the wood.

• Drying times for wood types can differ. We are lucky in the Central Otago/Southern Lakes area to have hot windy summers to dry our wood faster. Softer woods can be dry within a short period of time. Harder woods can take a bit longer.

• It is recommended to burn wood with a moisture content of less than 20-25%.

• The harder the wood, the better the heat output will be. Pine might be cheaper to buy, but the heat output of pine is much lower than say Oregon or Blue Gum. You pay for what you get.

• Burn your wood burner hot otherwise you get build up in your chimney. Burn clean dry fire wood to keep your chimney clean.

 

Value for Money

Cheaper is not always better. The better, hotter and longer burning fire woods are more expensive but will provide better value for money. Consider the heat you are buying and not so much the volume. The price per heat output unit is pretty much the same.

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Buy from a reputable supplier

Uppercut Firewood is resource consented to process, store and sell firewood.

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Wood Size

We cut firewood at the standard length of 30 centimeter. We can cut from 25 up to 40 centimeter depending on your requirements. The diameter of our firewood is very “consumer friendly” and fits almost all fires. We are able to cut to order in the spring months for lengths smaller or bigger than our standard.

 

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