Is Silver Birch A Good Firewood To Burn?

Silver birch logs are one of the most common sites you can find in a UK wood burning stove. With its distinctive white bark, it is also one of the most recognizable trees found in Europe and the UK. But we will be taking a detailed look at the properties of birch, how it burns and its properties.

Density of Birch Wood

Like all the main types of wood used as firewood, silver birch firewood is a hard wood. However, the actual density between different types of wood can vary greatly. Oak for example, is an extremely dense hard wood that although can burn for a long time, it can be difficult to get it lit.

Silver birch is perhaps the opposite to oak in that it is a lighter, less dense wood. You may think that the less dense nature of silver birch may mean it should be written off your list, but there are many reasons why this should not be the case. Ash is very easy to light, in fact, at the same moisture content as all the other most popular types of wood sold in the UK, it is the easiest of all. This makes it an excellent wood for beginners and advanced users alike because it can be frustrating when fires take longer to light in certain conditions.

Birch can also be mixed in with denser types of wood such as oak, and this type of blend can lead to a brilliant balance between longevity, heat output and ease of lighting (as you can start with the silver birch first before adding oak once the fire gets hotter). The density of silver birch is around 660 (kg/m³) which makes it a hard wood but not quite as dense as oak for example (750 kg/m³).

Advantages of Birch Logs

The main advantage of birch logs is their ease of lighting. As covered, this is due to their lower density compared to other types of logs like oak. They also generate very few sparks when burning, which is a big plus if you have an open fire. The aroma of Birch is only slight yet will still give a small, pleasant smell when burning.

The other great advantage of birch is the aesthetics of the burning. Silver birch looks great when burning due to the large amount of flames they produce when burning. This can make a great showstopper when being used in your wood burning stoves at home and can look far better than log types such as oak which tend to smoulder when burning rather than

Birch logs also have very distinctive silver bark which not only looks great when stacked up on the log stand but also makes excellent kindling. Birch bark lights better than any other type of logs we sell and can help with the impactful visuals of burning birch.

Disadvantages of Silver Birch Logs

The biggest disadvantage of birch logs is their rate of burn. Due to the lower density, silver birch logs will not burn for as long and you can expect a typical size birch log to last for around an hour. They will also produce fewer hot embers compared to denser woods like oak due to their natural density. This means that you will need more logs on average to produce the same amount of heat output as you would with denser species of wood such as oak or beech.