bigbad littleal

by bigbadlittleal
(derbyshire)

been working on a private wood for a few years now, most of the time we have been taking birch which burns hot but fast.this year we have concentrated on holly, I don"t know much about holly,only that it is dense and green and seems to fall into the same category as hawthorn which legend tells us can be burned freshly felled. my holly is going to be stored under cover for a year so I suppose the questions are-do I need to store it for a year? And is it better to split it green, or shall I wait to split it once it has dried out and got the shakes anyway?
thanks for the site,am sitting here watching a portion of victorian beam burn! it"s been out in the wet for 9 months and is still dry inside!

Hi,

We have burned holly and once it is properly dry it is fabulous wood - hot and long burning. Ideally split your wood as soon as possible - it will dry a lot faster split and stacked than still in rounds. One year may be sufficient drying time, but two is always better - try to get a full year ahead.

Mike