Tips & Guides

Handy guides, tips and FAQ’s from our team of firewood experts.

Our Firewood knowledge base

Here at Bettaburn we think we’ve managed to gather quite the range of knowledge on all things firewood and want to share these with you through a mix of FAQ’s, tips and longer form guides. Check these out and do please contact us if you don’t see an answer to your question!

Wood FAQs

All species included in our Mixed Premium Hardwood are premium grade hardwoods which will burn effectively in both open fires & combustion heaters. This mix does not separate species. Species include ironbark, grey gum, stringybark and mahogany. Mixed Premium Hardwood is sourced from areas closer to Sydney from sustainable, regulation, long term suppliers. This includes the reuse of logs from land clear developments, or the salvage of firewood grade timber from SILVI CULTURE processes in government managed timber operations.

Mixed Premium Hardwood is processed on site at our Horsley Park facility allowing us to provide quality premium hardwood at an excellent value for money rate.

Moisture content is probably the most important factor to consider when buying firewood. Simply speaking for wood to burn it must also burn away any water within it, this is a direct loss of energy and subsequently the fire will burn cooler.

This leads to less combustion – the process of converting carbon (wood) into gas (heat/energy) and will increase smoke.

A hot fire, burnt in an approved combustion heater, using quality well seasoned hardwood, in the correct manner will produce little to no smoke.

No it does not.

Customers generally buy between 1 and 3 tonne over a season. There are many variables that determine this. These include frequency of use, length of season and weather conditions. You should buy as much as you can stockpile, or afford.

Firstly, there are significant cost advantages in buying in bulk – as you only pay delivery once.

Secondly, firewood is a non-perishable product that generally improves with age.

Finally, history shows that inevitably the supply of firewood during those cold wintery weeks struggles to keep pace with the strong demand. This can be for various reasons, including heavy rain at the suppliers’ end and a depletion of stocks in Sydney

Yes, you should buy kindling!

We recommend 1-2 bags of Kindling with every tonne of Firewood ordered. For best results scrunch up some newspaper or fire lighters and place 3 handfuls of Kindling over the top, finally add 1 or 2 smaller logs standing against kindling in a pyramid shape.

Once you have done this once you should be able to start a fire, EFFORTLESSLY in less than 2 minutes EVERY TIME.

The Department of Fair Trading has classified the sale of firewood by 3 methods:

  • weight – must be measured on approved scales
  • volume – must be tightly stacked
  • the lot – ie “a box trailer load”

Buying by weight is the only true means of purchasing firewood on an even playing field. All retailers selling by weight have a legal obligation to supply the correct weight, as advertised. There is no room for approximating.

The problem with volume is that the term “tightly stacked” has to date encouraged subjective clarification. In essence this term would mean each piece is individually hand stacked, like a packet of matches. However, most retailers consider the wood falling into the truck with a small amount of manual adjustment as being “tightly stacked”. As a result, the differences between one supplier and another can be significant.

Generally speaking:

  • 1 tonne Mixed Premium Hardwood = 2.1 cubic metres (approx.)
  • 1 tonne Vintage Hardwood = 2 cubic metres (approx.)

Firewood Guides