As per my separate recent post about splitting some big bucked logs I came across for free for my fireplace this winter, I have another question regarding burning pressed wood type logs products instead of my wood I'm currently splitting, for use in my open fireplace, which is very green and wet, unsuitable for burning until it dries out for the next burning season.

So to hold me over, I'd like to look into buying some press-type wood products, shaped into burning logs more or less, for burning in my fireplace. This is an open fireplace, there is no fireplace burning insert box or blower etc., so I need these guys to look and burn more or less like logs.

Do you guys have any recommendations ? I can't buy regular pre-dried firewood since I have not built a covered storage shed or rack yet, so I need to buy some very clean commercial type pressed wood products to burn instead to hold me over until next year.

I saw some sticks for sale on the Tractor Supply website, but I really need to know what specific brand products you guys have used in this way, that I could buy in bulk, since I like to burn a few times a week when it's cold. I could drive say a couple hundred miles to pick it up, since shipping that stuff would be too expensive, and I like driving, esp. out of town to new places within my own state or into a neighboring state for a one day road trip and back to pick it up and haul it in the bed of my F150.

Any recommendations you guys may have or know about would be greatly appreciated.

I burn them (along with real firewood) every year. Usually I toss a few in at night and I'll still have coals when I get home from work the next day. You obviously won't get that kind of longevity out of an open fireplace, though. They burn clean and they burn hot.

As far as brands go, I really couldn't say. The ones I get are made (semi)locally and sold through our hardware store by the pallet. If memory serves, there's 240/pallet and they go for around $300.

Well that's not bad at $1.25 per stick, if they are dense enough to burn hot and long like a piece of oak or hickory.

I imagine you're in a colder state, since I've never seen that product anywhere in my area, since winters are not very cold where I live.

Do you remember the name of the hardware store ? If they're a national chain I could give them a call them to ask, sometimes those chain retailers will ship to store for free.

It's Gambles. I doubt that they'd ship though, as the pallets weigh a ton. As in 2000lbs.

Haven't used these but a bit of googling came up with several recommendations for Bio Blocks, Link they are made in Orrville, OH.

I had researched and found a company that we could buy a pallet of wood pellets for cooking and I think they made pressed logs, you can order and have it shipped, but you might look and see if there is a local company making them where you could buy a pallet and pick it up.

Well if you're going to do that you might as well go all out and buy the Kentucky Fried Chicken with 11 herbs scented firelog.

Sometimes wallymart carries them. Box is labeled with a warning Not Actually Fried Chicken. Well duh!

KFC scented firelog LINK
.

wrightd,
I can't see your fireplace from my computer monitor. Can you add a photo of your fireplace?
My previous experience with several open fireplaces is that they will actually reduce the inside temperature of a home with a fire burning in the fireplace.
Yes, if you get up close to the fireplace, you will get some radiant heat.
But generally speaking, the smoke/flue gasses going up the chimney from a open fireplace, takes interior room air up the chimney along with the smoke/flue gasses.
As the room interior air goes up the chimney, cold outside air seeps into the home.
If you are running the fireplace for visual appearances, then I do understand the purpose of running an open fireplace.
If you are running an open fireplace to help heat your home, you are doing yourself a disservice, and wasting money on your heating bill.

At the very least, if you are trying to help heat your home with a fireplace, add a relatively inexpensive set of glass doors at the front of the fireplace.

I have significant experience burning wood for heat. My present home has a pellet stove.
Several of my prior homes had wood stove inserts installed in masonry fireplaces.
My first home had an open masonry fireplace, and when I installed a set of glass doors on the fireplace, I actually got some usable heat out of the fireplace.

Exactly what cee Kamp just said.

Hi Kamp. I'm aware of the science of an open fireplace vs a quality insert that actually heats a house. I'd prefer an insert but my wife prefers an open fireplace, so at best it's a draw in terms of energy use, but prob worse. So we use it for affect. And I pay the bills, go figure.

Just a few general comments. As to not having a covered wood holding area, while nice, it’s not essential for rotating dry, seasoned firewood for burning. I get by without, and I burn a fair amount of firewood in my Vermont Castings woodstove.

With a dryer period of days, I bring some wood into the garage, have a wood rack out the deck door, and last a good size wood box next to the woodstove. The garage wood is always bone dry, lastly, any damp wood can dry out by the stove.

In the heart of winter, I have a covering I sometimes put over part of the woodpile I’m using at the time.

As to the type of wood, processed logs, whatever, much is in the mix. I’m not going to drive 20 miles for a bunch of pine, but if it’s right in my lap I’ll mix it in. So even when firewood type(processed, etc..) isn’t ideal, a little mixing is usually just fine.

Just like those additives advertised for ‘septic maintenance’, nothing takes the place of proper chimney care & periodic cleaning.

I've had good luck with brands like Eco-Logs and Bio-Bricks. They burn pretty well and are easy to find in bulk at places like Tractor Supply or local hardware stores.

quote:

Originally posted by wrightd:
Any recommendations you guys may have or know about would be greatly appreciated.

As noted above, stop using an open fireplace. There's nothing gained from this -- you're wasting energy, heat, and dollars. Put a wide screen TV with burning log video in front of the fireplace if the look of burning logs is so important.

Nothing to be gained ? Sit in front of an open fireplace and your feet and bones receive radiant heat from the burning wood and the fireplace itself depending on the amount of brick and stone that it's absorbing and radiating onto your body, assuming you're close enough. So that's something to be gained. Not living in a cold climate, I'm not losing as much money in energy cost as I would living in a cold climate. Youtuber "The Woodyard" says 90% of his firewood customers buy firewood for the pleasure of an open fireplace, not for heating their homes, and he is in Wisconsin. I use TV fireplaces and Holiday music sometimes during the Holidays if people come to visit for dinner etc., but believe me, it's not nearly as nice as a real fire in an open fireplace. If you don't live in a colder winter region of the country, and particularly if you live in the South, I can recommend an open fireplace. So for people in that situation there's quite a bit to be gained. However, I would still prefer some type of insert with a clear window, or a full glass front with a blower etc., but as I said, I can't. But if I lived in a colder winter climate where high energy prices was a bigger deal keeping a house heated, I would otherwise agree with you, unless I was rich and could still burn an open fireplace in spite of the cost of sucking in an equivalent amount of cold air back into the house for an equivalent amount of air going up the chimney.