WOOD WISDOM

Helpful hints about heating with hardwood

What’s a Cord?

Acord of wood is usually a stack of logs 4 feet wide by 4 feet high by 8 feet long. The cord may contain from 77 to 96 cubic feet of actual wood. The larger the unsplit logs, the larger the gaps, with fewer cubic feet of wood in the cord.

One cord provides heat equivalent to that produced by burning 200 to 250 gallons of heating oil, depending on the type of hardwood you are using.

Here is a list of hardwoods in descending order of heat value:

 

Elm, rock Hickory, shagbark Oak, white Hickory, butternut Beech Oak, red Birch, yellow Elm, red Ash, white Elm, white Mesquite Hop hornbeam Locust, black

 

The Art of Building a Long-Lasting Fireplace Fire To build a proper fire—one of good, steady heat with a small blaze and minimum use of wood—the fireplace floor should be covered with a bed of

ashes (or sand) about 2 to 3 inches thick. Place a large log (about 8 to 10 inches in diameter), called the back log, against the brick back of the fireplace. Balance a slightly smaller log on top of it.

Place a log that is 4 to 6 inches in diameter in the front of the fireplace, just to the rear of the andirons. This is called the fore log. These logs must be well bedded down in the ash to keep the flames and draft out from under them so that only their tops and faces burn.

HOT TIP Wood-burning stoves are three times more efficient than standard (unenclosed) wood-burning fireplaces.

Stack paper and kindling between the back log and the fore log, then add logs that are from 4 to 6 inches wide.