If you are looking around the market place and perhaps particularly online for the best offers on kiln dried logs you will undoubtedly see lots of offers for them being supplied in wooden crates. You perhaps wonder why Certainly Wood doesn’t supply in crates.

Well, it’s simple, we only supply in large bulk bags or pallets of small bags because everything is sourced locally, processed and dried on site and then packed ready for despatch.

Our bulk bags are filled via a hopper and conveyor belt and ‘loose filled’ into the bag. This packing line allows us to mix the species of logs, remove the small bits of bark etc, and also to make a final inspection of the quality to ensure all product meets final spec. The product is also tested to make sure the average moisture content is below 20%. A quality control label is then completed and signed off.

We continually look to drive down costs of production and whilst we have looked at stacking the logs in crates, the cost is just too prohibitive, hence the automated filling line.

One other thing we do, as part of our quality control and in line with the Woodsure quality assurance scheme, is we periodically take a bulk bag at random from production and tip into our metal cage which is 1m x 1m at the base and either 1.2m or 1.6m high. When the logs fill level to the top of the cage we know for sure that the volume you get is correct.

More and more kiln dried logs now come from Eastern Europe from countries such as Latvia and Estonia and in order to keep transport costs down the logs are stacked in crates and of course labour costs are much lower in these countries which is why they can justify the cost of stacking in crates.

Here at Certainly Wood, we are proud of the fact that all our kiln dried logs and kindling are grown locally and therefore carrying the ‘Grown in Britain’ logo. All UK woodland needs to be managed and as part of this process involves ‘thinning’ and removing the smaller weaker trees to allow more light for the larger trees to thrive. In turn, the increase in light also helps the overall flora and fauna providing the perfect woodland environment for all species to thrive. The ‘thinning’ process and indeed any removal of trees in the UK is tightly controlled by the Forestry Commission in the form of ‘Felling Licences’ – trees cannot be felled without permission.

One other thing about our British logs, they are supplied from woodlands that contain mixed species of native British hardwoods and generally these will be oak, ash and beech as the dominant species. In contrast, much of the wood coming from Eastern Europe is of the Alder or Birch species and whilst these burn well, they are far less dense and will therefore burn much faster.