Here in late August of 2010, of I am sold out of dry firewood. Now many people are scrambling at the last minute trying to find dry firewood as the cold days of winter will soon be arriving. Hopefully you are not one of them, but if you are, I know it can sometimes be hard to find dry wood this time of year.
Many firewood dealers advertise seasoned wood and sometimes you can get lucky and what they deliver will be dry. But it’s all too common that what is delivered will be other than dry. Not all wood cutters are trying to rip you off when they bring you wood that is not fully seasoned. Many of them may not know that it is still wet. Many wood cutters are just someone with access to some wood, a pickup and a chainsaw. They may not even burn wood themselves or know much about burning wood. They are just someone who has found a way to make a buck and are in no way firewood burning savvy.
Depending on some of these guys to bring you dry wood right before it is time to burn, can be a big gamble. I hear tons of stories from customers about how they had a hard time all winter trying to burn wet wood that someone told them was dry. This is a very common problem with firewood dealers and will not likely go away any time soon. And sometimes, like in my case this year, I just don’t have dry firewood available to sell.
How to Have Seasoned Firewood Every Year
There is a simple solution to this problem that many of my customers have learned. They have learned how to get seasoned firewood every year regardless of what a wood cutter brings them. Many actually prefer to buy green firewood since it often makes better quality wood and usually costs less to buy. Green firewood is usually cleaner, has less decay, insects, mold and other types of fungus.
The key they have discovered is to buy it a year ahead of the time when they plan to burn it. Now in the fall or earlier in the summer they buy green wood when everyone else is trying to find dry wood. They are not buying it for this winter, but for the following winter. This way it has a full year to season and dry.
You may be having a hard time finding dry wood for this winter, but you can ensure you will not have that problem next year if you buy green wood this fall. That may not help you out this year but once you get in the habit of buying your firewood a year in advance, you will no longer have to worry about whether or not your winter supply of firewood will be dry or not.