Hardwood or soft?
When you order wood from us, you’ll get only hardwoods—a mix of birch, oak, ash, and maple. Hardwood burns hotter, longer, and cleaner than softwood. Pine and other softwoods may be dangerous to burn in your stove or fireplace because of the sap content, which can lead to creosote buildup and chimney fires.
Moisture content.
The drier your firewood is, the hotter it will burn and the better it will heat your home.
Wood is ready to burn for heat when it’s seasoned, or the moisture content is below 20 percent. Cape Cod Firewood sells all types: green (or “forest fresh”), which requires seasoning for six to eight months; semi-seasoned, which needs to be left outside to dry, but not for so long as green; seasoned, which is ready to burn because we’ve dried it for at least a year; and kiln-dried, whose moisture content is around 12 percent.
When you order from Cape Cod Firewood, you can tell us if you want to know the moisture content of your wood. We’ll be happy to give you a moisture reading on the delivery day before your wood goes out.
Where does the wood come from?
About half of the wood we sell comes from New Hampshire and Maine. The rest is grown locally.
Because we are committed to sustainable forestry practices and protecting the environment, you can rest assured that the wood we deliver to you is harvested responsibly. Our wood is primarily sourced from mature trees on large tracts of land. Through this process, we are paving the way for younger trees to gain root and establish themselves.
We also partner with local contractors, receiving wood from the clearing of land in the construction of new homes and reconstruction of existing ones. We utilize the wood chips from these construction projects to fire the kiln that dries our wood to ensure that all wood is properly utilized and not discarded.
Firewood measurements explained
The amount of wood you need depends on how often you use your stove, fireplace, or fire pit. The good thing is firewood won’t go bad if you store it properly and make sure it doesn’t get wet.
At Cape Cod Firewood, our residential and commercial clients can choose between a quarter cord, half cord, full cord, and full cord. The most popular size is the full cord. Unless otherwise requested, all of our wood is cut to be 16 inches long, using a firewood processor.
A full cord is 128 cubic feet of well-stacked firewood. It is measured in the following manner: 4 feet high, 4 feet deep, and 8 feet wide. Firewood be tightly stacked, with no large gaps between rows of wood. If there are empty spaces in your stack, it will not add up to 128 cubic feet.
A half cord is 64 cubic feet. The proper way to stack a half cord is 4 feet high, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet deep.
Our smallest shipment is the quarter cord, which is 32 cubic feet. This should be stacked 4 feet high, 4 feet deep, and 2-feet wide.
Bark or no bark?
While a tree is alive, bark is necessary to protect it from fire, excess moisture, and bugs. Once a tree has been cut, bark traps moisture and serves as a protective barrier for insects. Debarked firewood is cleaner; it reduces moisture, minimizes creosote, creates less smoke, and leaves less ash.
