Whatever your Yuletide plans, a roaring fire in the hearth is sure to add to the ambience. Whether you’re hosting a big party or just snuggling up with the family, a real wood fire is a perfect way to warm your home and create a gorgeously cosy atmosphere. At Big K, we’re all about helping you to make the perfect fire in your home. However you use winter fuel; in your wood burning stove or fireplace, or if you’re burning in a garden chiminea or fire pit, we’re here to guide you so you can make an informed decision on the best kind of wood to use in your home.

We already touched on this in the above para. Basically you take your wood pop it into your log burner’s firebox and light your wood. Job done. Taking a closer look at your firebox, this ingenious chamber is surrounded by fireproof walls. What do these do? Well, the walls enclose the wood and the fire in one defined space – maximising efficiency. There are air vents too. These can be open or closed to control the airflow into the firebox. Once we control the air, we can control the oxygen level – meaning we can control the burn. Essentially we can choose between fast and hot or slow and steady. Right after you get your wood or coals burning and piping hot, all you need is a grill grate that will sit on top of the outer walls of your fire pit and you are ready to grill! It’s time to dish out your sausages, meats, burger patties and anything you can think of on top of the grill in sheer unadulterated caveman form. What better way to beat the cold weather and fill your belly up, all at the same time? This isn’t a deco question. Although we’re sure your home looks fab! We’re talking about airflow here peeps. Basically stoves require a lot of air for efficient combustion. This also means the air in the room must flow and be replaced regularly. If not, you’ll soon be living life in an oxygen starved vacuum. News flash; this isn’t much life at all. In older homes with larger rooms, you’ll usually always have a draught and good airflow. But in various new build, contemporary homes (with strong insulation) you could have a much more limited airflow. If this is the case you’ll probably to install a mechanical ventilation system. And if you have a room-sealed stove, you will need a direct air supply from the exterior of the house. In summation, if your domicile is pretty much airtight, you need a log burner that extracts air from outside ,rather than inside, the room. Each uniform fire log consistently gives around 2 hours of burn time, so you can decide how many logs to use based on how much time you want to keep your fire roaring. No more worrying about whether the wood you’re using is similar to your last batch, or trying to compare the sizes of logs to choose the precise one for your needs. It’s easy to predict and plan your fire with instant light logs. This means you’ll end up wasting less wood, too, so it’s better for the environment and your wallet. Our ranking system The TopChoice.co.uk Team selects top-of-the-line items from a wide selection and conducts rigorous evaluations on almost all the products available on the internet. We rank each product based on how well it matches our criteria.

Since our ancestors learned how to make and preserve fire many millennia ago, we’ve used flame for food, light, fuel, heat, as well as more nefarious uses – flaming arrows anyone? Fast forward to the present day, not many people would know how to kindle a flame without a fire-spitting gizmo, but there’s seldom a human who would pass up the opportunity to enjoy the warmth of a log burning fire. However evolved we may be, there will always be a primal resonance with dancing flames. It’s this instinctive inclination that still makes us enjoy gathering around a log fire to this very day.

Something wrong with this post? Thanks for letting us know. If you can point us in the right direction... If you have a cast-iron pot or pan that has not gotten enough attention from you over the years, a fire pit BBQ grill will surely give it purpose. Use your iron pot to cook up stews, curries or even a one-pot pasta dish of your liking. This will be similar to cooking on your gas stove with the unmistakable charm of cooking outdoors on an open fire. Make sure you find a suitable place for your pot to rest over the fire to avoid spillovers. Heat logs are basically manufactured ‘logs’ that are created using specific processes. Think less bearded man, axe and tree, and more finely chopped material, machine and compression. Basically we take saw dust or other biomass options, place them in a mould and compress the mixture to about 1000kg/m3. The key lies in the compression. You see the higher the compression, the lower the internal moisture levels per log – as water is extracted during the compaction process. When all is said and done, heat logs usually have an internal moisture level between 5 to 10%. This utopia of dryness delivers a better and more efficient burn thanks to higher calorific value per log.While most people have heard of kiln dried or seasoned logs, instant light fire logs are less well known. So, we’re here to set the record straight with 5 great reasons why instant light fire logs could be the perfect fuel for you this winter. 1. They’re easier to light