Make the Most of Your Fire Pit with Real Firewood

Experienced fire builders will tell you that planning ahead makes for a winter’s worth of warmth from your fire pit and fireplace. Some folks buy their firewood more than a year in advance to properly season the wood. Oak, one of the best woods for fires, takes two to three years to fully dry.

• Unseasoned wood, sometimes called “green wood,” will smolder when you try to burn it. This is due to its high moisture content.
  
• One way to tell the difference between seasoned firewood and green wood is to knock two pieces together.
• Well-seasoned wood makes a high-pitched sound while green wood makes a dense thud.
• Well-seasoned wood feels light for its size. The ends will be cracked and free of sap.

The best time to cut wood is in the spring. Stack it, shelter it and let summer’s heat dry it out. If you’re not cutting your own firewood, order early from a local firewood dealer. Waiting until late summer lessens your chances of getting seasoned wood. Even if you’re able to get it, you likely will pay a premium price for it.

Hardwoods, like oak, beech and birch, burn for a longer period of time than softwoods, such as pine, fir, cedar and spruce. This means you’ll need more of a lesser quality wood to keep your fire burning.

There are advantages to using pine as firewood for fire pits. Because it burns quickly, pine is good to use as kindling when starting your fire. Also, pine smells great when it burns, which can add to the ambience of your outdoor fire.

Purchasing firewood can be a guessing game in part due to terminology. The commercial standard for an amount of firewood is a cord, which is 128-cubic feet. A cord of stacked wood will measure 4-feet high by 4-feet deep by 8-feet wide.

For home use, you can buy a “face cord,” which is approximately one-third of a cord. Firewood for home use is cut to a standard 16-inches long. A face cord will yield about 200-270 pieces of firewood. Typically, this is enough to burn one or two fires a week throughout the winter.

If you buy too much firewood, keep it covered. It will still be good to use next season. If you run out, it’s a starting point for calculating the next year’s requirements. For occasional users, The Home Depot sells bundles of firewood, kindling and fire starters to use in indoor fireplaces or outdoor fire pits.

Before breaking a tree down into firewood, be sure to work with the correct type (or types). Good burning options include oak, hickory, black locust, white ash and sugar maple. But avoid softwood, coniferous trees, like pine or hemlock. They can create creosote, a chemical mixture formed from burning wood or coal tar. A major fire hazard, creosote can stick to the inside of chimneys.

Wherever working, first assess the area’s safety and distance from where the firewood will be stacked.

• You will want to cut up a tree already on the ground, rather than one still standing.
• Set up your workstation outdoors, with plenty of room to swing an axe.
• The chopping block should be placed on a flat surface, low to the ground and no higher than your knee.
• A splitting wedge helps break down larger rounds.
• Be sure to wear work gloves and protective eyewear.
• A wheelbarrow or dump trailer rental can help haul logs to your stacking site.

Safety Tip: Standing trees may be a safety hazard to your home. If removal is needed, be sure to enlist the help of a professional tree service. It’s never a good idea to cut down a mature tree yourself.

• Once on the ground, use a chainsaw to crosscut the tree into logs that will fit into a log splitter. Chainsaws can make measured cuts, ensuring the proper length.
• At The Home Depot Rental, you can rent electric chainsaws and gas chainsaws. Both are capable of breaking down trees of all sizes. An electric chainsaw works well with smaller trees and branches. A gas chainsaw rental is ideal for larger trees.
• Cut the logs into "rounds," flat, square, 16-inch lengths enabling easy splitting. Rounds with wide surfaces make good bases for splitting firewood. Split wood burns better as firewood than round logs.
• When cutting, use a splitting maul or splitting axe and a chopping block. Check for cracks in the wood and swing the axe to strike them. Avoid wood with knots, as the grain changes direction, making splitting more difficult.

If you’re splitting a lot of wood, consider purchasing or renting a log splitter from The Home Depot Tool Rental Center. These devices quickly and easily chop lumber into usable, stackable logs. You just load pre-measured, cut logs into the log cradle and make any necessary adjustments. They also have two-handed controls, allowing for simple operation. But always review the operations manual prior to using any rental equipment.

• Once cut, stacking firewood ensures that it stays dry. This also encourages ease of use and organization.
• Stack two logs one way and then two the other way. Continue adding wood to fill in the pile.
• A firewood frame, although optional, may help to support wood and keep it elevated.
• You may opt for circular piles, where you drive a stake into the ground and stack wood in the circle around it. These stacks should always be stable and low, so that they don’t topple over.
• It’s vital to cover your wood pile with a tarp to keep it dry.

You can rent a tree stump grinder to easily remove leftover stumps up to 32-feet high. They help to improve curb appeal and reduce lawn obstacles. You may also want to rent a chipper shredder or other leverage tools and equipment. They can repurpose brush and limbs into firewood or homemade mulch.

Firewood should be stored in a sheltered area, like a covered porch or woodshed. Deck boxes and firewood racks also make good storage systems for firewood.

Choose a firewood rack with an open design that provides ventilation for seasoning your firewood. It will keep wood off the ground and free from moisture and insects. This makes it more efficient and ready to burn when cool weather arrives. Keep a few days’ supply of firewood by the fire pit or fireplace in smaller, more decorative log racks.