Firewood terminology
What does it all mean?
In the firewood industry, we use a lot of different terms when talking about the quantity, dryness and type of firewood. Below are the most common ones we use and what we mean by them, please note that this is not an industry standard and some people may have a different meaning for the same term.Quantity of wood
In New Zealand wood is sold as a thrown or tossed measure, this means that the volume of wood is calculated as if the wood has been dumped into a container and not stacked. 1 tossed cubic metre will reduce by approx 1/3 when stacked neatly.Cubic metre
This is a measure of wood, imagine a box where all the sides are 1 metre in length (height, width and depth).
Scoop
Our scoop size is 1/3 of a cubic metre, this normally fits into a car boot and you can get 2-3 scoops into the back of a ute(depending on the type).
Bag
Our bags are approx 80 litres on capacity and approx 12 bags equals 1 cubic metre.
Dryness of firewood
DryThis means that the wood has been fully seasoned and has a moisture content under 25% (this is the New Zealand standard for seasoned wood). When we talk about dry wood this means that the wood is NOT rain wet, the wood is ready to burn as it is.
Rain wet
Our definition of rain-wet wood is wood that has been fully seasoned and ready to burn which has then been exposed to rain and has a layer of moisture on the outside of the wood, Not wood that has been left outside for months in rain and left to sit in puddles. Rain wet wood should be burnable after a few days of being stacked up in an undercover area with good airflow.
Semi seasoned
Semi seasoned wood is just what it sounds like it is wood that has been split up and is currently drying out, our wood will have a moisture content of between 25 and 40%. Depending on the content this wood could take as little as a month to finish seasoning or as much as 3-4 months depending on the wood type. We normally only sell semi seasoned wood over spring and summer to give you heaps of time to finish seasoning it.
Green/ Wet wood
This is wood that has recently been felled and split it has a moisture content of 40% or higher and will be unsuitable for burning for a long time, this should only be bought well in advance of when it is needed. We rarely sell green wood.
Types of firewood
We sell two types of firewood (shape and size not species of wood) Most of our wood is the traditional split firewood made by splitting longs up into pieces and the other is Block wood sometimes referred to as slab wood. This is made at sawmills as they cut the lengths of profiled timber to the right length all the offcuts go into a bin and to save them from landfill we buy them to sell as firewood. All out wood is the traditional split unless it states that it is block wood.Other terms
Screened or cleanScreened firewood means that we have run the firewood over a machine to "clean the wood" this removes the dust kindling and loose bark from the firewood to leave you just the good stuff.