Stove Ready Wood

Stove Ready Wood is a self-certification scheme for suppliers of firewood in the UK. We publish logo images and informational PDF leaflets on this website to promote responsible wood burning. This material is copyrighted.

However, if you ensure that you supply firewood which has been dried to 20% moisture content or less, you are welcome to use the Stove Ready Wood logo, the information leaflet for buyers, and the term "Stove Ready Wood" in your advertising and labelling of that firewood. You do not need further permission from us to do that, and we will not charge you for this now or in the future, or withdraw your license to use the images and PDF files.

Using our material to promote the supply of wet wood with a moisture content of greater than 20% may lead to prosecution by your local council's Trading Standards office.

Firewood leaflet

This colour PDF leaflet is suitable for giving to people burning your firewood, and should also print well in black and white.

In England, the Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 require that anyone selling firewood in units of more than two cubic metres must provide advice to buyers on drying firewood. This is required even if the firewood already has a moisture content below 20%. The regulations specify the wording of the advice, and this is included in the second box in the PDF leaflet. The first box on the leaflet gives advice about the seasoned, 20% or drier firewood that you are providing, as a Stove Ready Wood supplier.

You may find the leaflet useful even when you are not legally required to provide the advice, and similar regulations are being discussed in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

This colour PNG file is suitable for including on websites, printed adverts, packaging labels, etc.

Questions and Answers

Some questions we've been asked and further explanation of the scheme and its motivations.

  • How can I use the Stove Ready Wood logo?

    If you ensure that you supply firewood which has been dried to 20% moisture content or less, you are welcome to use the Stove Ready Wood logo in your advertising and labelling of that firewood. You do not need further permission from us to do that, and we will not charge you for this now or in the future, or withdraw your license to use the image.

  • Why would I use the Stove Ready Wood logo when it is not legally required?

    Stove Ready Wood is a voluntary self-certification scheme, but by using it when selling firewood you are making a promise to your customers that your firewood is of 20% moisture or less. Customers are increasingly asking for reassurance that firewood will minimise pollution and is suitable for their wood stove. The more people use Stove Ready Wood, the greater recognition the scheme will build up.

  • What penalty is there for suppliers misusing the Stove Ready logo?

    By using our logo you are declaring that you are supplying firewood with a moisture content of 20% or below. If you instead supply wet wood to a consumer who believes they will be receiving stove ready wood then you will be in breach of the description of goods clauses of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and may be prosecuted by your local Trading Standards office.

  • Why don't you restrict the scheme to sustainable suppliers?

    This isn't something that can be effectively dealt with by self-certification. Instead, we leave that to schemes like Grown in Britain, based on criteria like the presence of a UK Forestry Standard compliant management plan.

  • What is the relation between Stove Ready Wood and Woodsure's Ready to Burn scheme?

    They are separate schemes with different purposes. Stove Ready Wood provides a recognisable way for suppliers to declare that their firewood has been properly seasoned to 20% moisture or less. We aim to promote the responsible use of firewood in the UK, for no financial gain for ourselves.

    Ready to Burn aims to be a statutory monopoly, which requires suppliers to submit to an expensive and largely meaningless testing process run by Woodsure/HETAS. As wood is a natural, variable product, it is pointless to test the dryness of a few logs each year in a lab. It is not like testing one of a series of identical manufactured products coming off a production line. Even in the new firewood regulations for England, enforcement is by local Trading Standards rather than by Woodsure, who only have the power to exclude suppliers from their scheme.

  • What is your position on firewood regulation?

    We believe that firewood regulation is a simple weights and measures problem which should be administered by local Trading Standards offices. The heavy-weight registration system which Woodsure/HETAS have successfully lobbyied for in England is unnecessary and will hamper the use of carbon-neutral woodfuel. It will have particularly severe impact on the management of small woodlands and the use of wood arising as a byproduct of farm management and arboricultural work.

  • Who is behind Stove Ready Wood?

    Stove Ready Wood has been created by individuals concerned about the direction of firewood regulation in the UK, and its wider impact on wood production and woodland management.