A fire pit makes a great focal point for any garden but deciding what to burn in it can be tricky if you don’t have a ready-made log pile to hand. In this article, I discuss the best wood for a fire pit and share how one UK firewood supplier has addressed the issue of sourcing premium, dry firewood while minimising the problems around mess and space required to store it.
Disclaimer: This post is written in collaboration with White Horse Energy, who kindly sent me a range of products from their express range to try.
Can I burn any wood in my firepit?
Anyone with a firepit needs to decide what fuel to burn and where to get it. And if you don’t plan ahead, it can be tempting to burn a mixture of foraged and scrap wood, neither of which is a good choice for a fire pit. Freshly collected wood leads to fires that are smoky and difficult to light. Scrap and construction wood is usually treated with chemicals that, when burned, are a risk to both your health and that of the environment.
Kiln-dried hardwood logs are the best wood for fire pits, pizza ovens and chimineas for the following reasons.
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- Hardwood logs burn for a substantial amount of time and provide a high heat output because of the density of the wood species.
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- Kiln-dried logs are thoroughly dry, meaning that they light quickly and burn cleanly with minimal smoking.
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- Kiln-drying kills any lurking insects or fungal stores, making them safe to store inside if you want to.
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- Kiln-dried wood is safe for cooking.
For some fab recipes to try out on your firepit check out our bread on a stick and campfire stew with dumplings posts.
Note: When buying kiln-dried wood for your firepit, always ensure it is certified under the ‘Ready to Burn Scheme’, which guarantees the wood is below 20% moisture. This provides maximum heat output and minimal smoke. The latter is not only crucial for those standing around the fire pit, but it’s essential to minimise smoke to reduce particulate emissions.
What is the White Horse Express Range?
Logs are cumbersome by their very nature, so they are traditionally delivered on pallets or loose by the square metre, which is great for those households with open fires or wood-burners and the space to store them. But for people who just want to light their fire pit on the weekend, there is a far easier solution – White Horse Express.
White Horse Express is a new super-fast next day parcel based service that will ensure you never run out of wood to burn in your firepit. Featuring all their star products, including kiln dried logs, heat logs, charcoal, kindling and eco firelighters, the White Horse Express Range comes in sensible size packs that are easy to lift and store. Most of the products are supplied in environmentally friendly cardboard boxes or hessian sacks, making them kinder to the environment and perfect for tucking out of the way. We think their boxes of kiln-dried wood or wrapped heat logs are a perfect size for sticking in the boot to take away camping or to a holiday cottage.
How long will the products in the White Horse Express Range last me?
How long the products will last in your fire pit is dependent on how big it is and how long it burns, but to give you some idea, I enlisted the help of my teens. My daughter had two camp-outs with friends using the white horse express bundle shown in the photo and used one box of kiln dried logs plus half of each packet of heat logs and briquettes over both nights.
I think that White Horse Energy has solved a lot of the irritating problems of sourcing, manoeuvrability, mess and storage of firewood for those of us who just want an occasional fire with their express range and think theirs is the best wood to burn on a firepit.
If you decide to purchase from White Horse Energy, use the code craftinvaders for a 5% discount.
