Wood That Makes the Hearth Glow

There's a lot more to preparing for cold temperatures than rudimentary and rather unglamorous tasks like cleaning the furnace and insulating the attic. "One of my fondest memories of autumn was going out to the country to buy firewood," recalls Melissa Sanchez, now a fireplace dealer in New York City. "My parents told me a cord of wood was the amount that exactly fit in our station wagon. Of course, I know better now."

A crackling fire on a chilly evening does much to warm the heart and provide a natural gathering place for friends and family. And for those of you used to buying supermarket bundles and presto-type logs, there's much to learn.

Types of firewood
Generally the most popular burning wood is oak. There are enumerable varieties widely available throughout the U.S. Oak is long burning (1 to 1 hours per log), smells nice and splits easily, but tends to be a bit more ashy and more high priced than other good alternatives. Depending on the region of the country, ash, beech, cherry, dogwood, elm, hickory, maple, pinion pine, pine, eucalyptus, mesquite and juniper are also popular.

Chuck Lyman of Lyman's Firewood Sales in Encinitas, California, dries his wood for 15 months before selling it. "Supermarket brands are usually dried for three months, sold wet and that's why you get the popping and the spitting." Some dealers kiln-dry their wood, while others fumigate it to rid the wood of termites.

"Know the dealer and make sure they have a license and sell only properly dried wood," says Bob Eaves, investigator of firewood sales for the State of Maryland. "In fact, in many states, firewood can only be sold by the cord or increments of a cord, no truckloads," he states emphatically. At the very least get references before you buy. Call your local NCSG (National Chimney Sweep Guild) for a quality reference. When you're all set for a romantic evening by the fire, there is nothing worse than discovering your supply of wood is wet and non-burnable.

Be careful about buying wood off some guy's truck. "Don't be fooled by terminology," says Eaves. "There is no such thing as a face-cord." Before you order, there are other considerations: How long do you want the logs cut (how deep is your fireplace) and do you want whole or split logs? Whole logs burn slower but split logs start up easier. Many vendors will mix the cord with split and whole or you can split the logs yourself. It's not as hard as it sounds. There are many easy-to-use log-splitters on the market.

Make your own firewood?
If you think you can save a buck by pruning your tree out front and burning it, think again. Tree prunings are too green and wet to burn. What about that old painted chair that's sitting out back? The paint on that old chair is liable to catch like wild fire and flame out the front of your fireplace causing serious damage and smoke.

Storing your purchase
Once you have your wood delivered, what are you going to do with it? Hearth equipment dealer, Don Alexander of Parsons, Kansas, ships a firewood rack with a cover. "Store your wood outside with a rack," he says, "and keep it off the ground to keep it from rotting." There is usually no problem with wood stored up to a year.

Firewood can make a handsome display. Peri Wolfman, a vp for Williams Sonoma and author of many home decorating books, keeps her wood dry, ready for burning and beautiful to behold in a tidy woodshed. From there, she carries the wood indoors and places it in a decorative basket on the hearth.