Interactive lesson

A firewood plan for the year, step by step

Interactive lesson: the firewood cycle from licence to stove — where the wood comes from, what to do each month, working days, costs, three rows of stock and a reserve.

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The whole lesson as text

1. The firewood cycle

The wood you burn this winter should have been felled nearly two years ago.

Two years to the stove — For hardwood, about 2 years pass from felling to stove: felled this winter, seasoned over the summers, burned the winter after next.
Five steps of the cycle — Need and permission, felling and extraction in winter, cutting and splitting, seasoning one summer or two, then burning and safety.
The cycle overlaps — While you burn last year's wood, new wood is seasoning, and in the woodland you are felling for the winter after next. The same month holds jobs for three different winters.
Three rows of stock — This winter (dry), next winter (seasoning) and new felling or a purchase. The letters A, B and C are rows in the log store, each for one winter.

Why: That's why firewood isn't planned in October but well ahead, in a cycle that runs from permission and felling, through splitting and seasoning, to the ash on the garden. Once you've got that cycle going, you never burn green wood again and never buy in a panic.

The details of each topic are in the other modules of the H60 series; here is the schedule: what, when and how much.
Write the row letters on the board on the log store and in the stock plan for three winters.

2. How much and from where

The plan starts with a number: how many stacked m³ your house needs a year.

Your own woodland — Cheapest, known origin and control of moisture, but it takes work, kit and a licence. It makes sense if you have 1.5–3 ha (4–7 acres) of woodland and the health for the work.
Bought 1 m lengths — Cheaper than split logs and you season them yourself, but the cutting and splitting happen at home. You need space, a saw and time.
Bought split logs — Least work, but most expensive. Watch the measure and the moisture. Homestead waste, prunings and hedges, is only for top-up and kindling.
The first year — If you're just starting, buy wood for this winter and 1 m lengths for next winter. That gives you a year's head start, and you learn the saw, splitting and seasoning without the pressure of the cold.

Why: Work the number out in the How much firewood you need module, and correct it from the log after the first winter. Only then decide where the wood comes from.

A combination makes sense when the woodland is too small for the whole winter: woodland for hardwood, buy the difference.
Write the first year of the plan in pencil. After the first winter, correct the figures from the log.