The future of firewood Back to Home Page

We now sell locally made wood briquettes which have all the benefits of kiln dried logs but are much easier to handle.

A by-product of manufacturing at a local family business, these briquettes are made of pure wood chips compressed under great pressure so each block is like a small log. They are also super dry which gives a long clean burn and makes them really easy to light.

Here they are being tested by us recently.

And yes this lovely fire is just a few briquettes, and was lit really easily with a few sheets of newspaper. Each bag of briquettes is £5.50 (or £5 each for 8 or more bags), and two bags is nearly the equivalent of our old green log bags so the price is about the same if not a little less than the hardwood logs we used to sell. The bags of briquettes are also very clean and easy to handle and packed in paper bags as we do not like single use plastic. They can be stacked neatly indoors near your fire, and easily loaded up in your car.

For comparison purposes, about 14 of our briquette bags fill one of the builders type ‘Ton bags’.

You do not need to check availability with us – the plan is to always have our very special briquettes in stock.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do you deliver?

We have a delivery round which covers Cardiff on Tuesdays (only CF3, CF5, CF10, CF11, CF14, CF23 and CF24 postcodes) and Newport, Chepstow and Usk on Thursdays. Of course we have to charge a little more for this service. Full details can be found here. Happily it is really easy to fit plenty of bags in a car – each bag weighs around 10 kilos, so even a small car will easily hold 20 or more bags. Feel free to come into the beautiful Wentwood Forest and try some of our briquettes between 8:30 and 3:00 weekdays (except Wednesday when we close at 1pm) and 9 to 12:30 Saturdays.

Are these a poor substitute for logs?

No, they are far superior to logs. They are clean, take up a fraction the space in storage, light easily, burn long and give more heat. Gavin (the owner of Wentwood Timber) is a convert, and is of the opinion that briquettes from clean wood waste is the sustainable way forward.

What are your briquettes made from?

Wood and only wood. Manufacturing uses huge amounts of timber and at every stage there is waste. Some clever businesses turn this waste into a useful product. Ours is from a small family business in Gloucestershire.

Are your briquettes suitable for firepits, chimineas and pizza ovens?

Yes our briquettes are ideal for firepits chimineas and pizza ovens as well as open fires and woodburners. The briquettes are made from waste wood from manufacturing, but it is pure wood – no binders, additives or extra chemicals.

Do the briquettes have any drawbacks?

Well this depends on your point of view – some people prefer the appearance of a traditional log sitting in a log basket. The only other disadvantage is that they do need to be stored in a dry place, as they are so dry to start with, otherwise they will absorb moisture.

How should I store the briquettes?

Our briquettes are a very dry product and need to be stored in properly dry conditions, so an outdoor log store is OK as long as it is not leaky or damp. As they are such a clean tightly packed product it is actually easy to store quite a few bags neatly in a porch or understairs cupboard, and leave no mess. The photo below shows how the size compares with our old log bags. The two paper briquette bags hold the same heat energy as the green bag would if it were tightly packed with kiln dried logs, but it is much more compact as you can see. In fact you can almost fit four of the briquette bags in the green log bag.

Is moisture content Important?

Yes. Our briquettes are very dry indeed – less than 10% in fact. This results in a lot of heat, less soot and less smoke

In addition, burning wood that isn’t properly dry will produce harmful deposits which can harm your flue. The author of this website burns dry wood and never has to clean the glass in his woodburner – it simply never soots up. If you find your glass soots up it may be because your firewood is not dry.

What does a smoky fire mean?

Thick smoke coming from a wood fire indicates either wet wood or incomplete combustion. Burning truly dry wood like ours will be virtually smokeless most of the time.

Do you still take back your old green bags and return the deposit?

Yes we certainly do, and will do until the end of 2021. They are being sold off as garden bags.

Are your briquettes sustainable?

Yes, they are an excellent way of heating with a by-product. Rather than burn fossil fuels which will ultimately result in dangerous increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide, when you burn responsibly sourced timber you are actually helping to conserve valuable woodlands and forests.