The benefits of kiln-dried firewood

Kiln-dried firewood is our speciality at Wildwood. On the farm, all of our hardwood goes through a kiln-drying process to ensure it is the most economical and efficient fuel when it reaches our customers. But what is kiln-drying, and what are its benefits?

Much like how building timber will need to be dried to avoid warping, firewood needs to be dried to reduce its moisture content and make it burn more efficiently. Without being dried or ‘seasoned’, a good deal of the energy generated from burning the wood is spent evaporating the water and results in much less efficient heat output.

Stacks of wood rest after being cut down. — These logs will need to be split before going into the kiln to be seasoned

One of the most popular methods of drying wood is to simply air dry. This consists of drying the wood in an open-air environment until its moisture content has dropped. This can take a large amount of time, and the amount of water left in the firewood will never be as low as wood that has been kiln-dried.

Alternatively, wood can be dried in a kiln. This process is more expensive but allows a very specific temperature and humidity to be reached, resulting in a perfect environment to deliver high quality, lower moisture, easy to light and efficient firewood.

Wood that has entered our kiln on-site will spend a brief amount of time in the oven like environment, and when removed, will have a moisture content of less than 20%. Our passionate approach to sustainability is evidenced in the installation of a biomass powered boiler to power the kiln, making use of the wood chipping from the felling process. This approach makes our firewood carbon neutral.

Because of the greater efficiency with kiln-dried logs, fires will burn much hotter for longer. This means a cheaper fuel bill and less wood storage needed to keep the same intensity of fire if you used non-kiln-dried wood. It takes around three non-dried logs to produce the same heat as just one kiln-dried log.

A fire rages in a log burner next to a stack of kiln-dried logs — Kiln-dried logs result in a far superior fuel for log burners

An additional benefit of our Cornish kiln dried firewood is the clean burn. Any remaining sap and water are removed in the kiln, resulting in less soot or tar build up in your chimney. This is also a benefit for chefs cooking over wood as there will be less nasty byproducts that might have a detriment on your woodfired meals.

Wildwood is a north Cornish supplier of high quality, carbon neutral, kiln-dried firewood. Our wood is ready to use in wood burners, multi-fuel stoves and cookers, and is available from a variety of stockists.