So what is the difference between Kiln Dried and Natuarally Seasoned?  A couple of things. But mainly water! When a tree is felled, a softwood tree can have as much as 60% or more moisture content and a hardwood up to around 45%. In order for that wood to burn properly, and at the highest calorific output, then you have to remove the water. That can be done naturally, by storing the cut timber in a dry and windy area and allowing it to dry out naturally which will take around 18months or more or you can kiln dry it in around 7 days.

Naturally seasoning can take the Moisture Content down to around 22%, sometimes more, sometime less. It is determined by the amount of moisture in the air and the time allowed to season. Kiln dried gives you much greater control, enabling Moisture Contents of under 20% to be achieved and guaranteed.

The higher the moisture content, the less effective the burning of the log is, the less its calorific output and the more impact it has on your stove, flue and the heating of your house. When you burn moist logs, they smoke. You are burning off the water in the wood, and that carries the residues onto the surfaces of your stove and up into your flue. The calorific output can be as little as 1/3rd of what it could be – so you could produce 1500kW of heat from the same pieces of wood that if they are dry would produce you 5,000 kW!! Why would you want to do that?

So what is best to burn? Softwood or Hardwood? Well the caloroific output of softwood and hardwood dried to under 20% moisture is almost the same, it can produce around 5,000kW of heat. The hardwood is more dense, so it will burn more slowly, which in turn means it will release the heat energy more slowly, or in laymans terms, will take longer to transfer from being a log to heat in your house!! The softwood will release that same (almost) energy, in less time and will become heat in your house more quickly.

So, kiln dried wood – softwood and hardwood – are the way to guarantee your stove is efficient, burns well, looks good and keeps looking good. Woodburning stoves are massively popular across Scandinavia, where they almost exclusively burn softwood pine!! Are 26 million people all wrong??