Can You Light Up a Wet Redgum Firewood? What to Do?

January 31, 2019

Redgum firewood is commonly used for campfire cooking, in wood fired ovens, and spit roasting. When choosing firewood for cooking and roasting food, it is important that it is slow burning with some flavour to it. This is why redgum firewood is a favourite choice among many Australians.

Red gum hardwood is well-known for the unique aromatic flavour it has on meat and foods being cooked. It is slow burning without flareups, and is ideal for use in campfire cooking, spit roasting, and in wood fired ovens. While redgum and other types of wood burn well naturally when dry, there are times when your firewood gets wet and is difficult to light up.

What to Do When You Can’t Light Up Wet Redgum Firewood?

It happens sometimes, firewood gets wet from rain, snow, or wet flooring where wood is stored. If your redgum firewood has become wet, and you are having difficulty lighting a fire, all hope is not lost because there are a few things you can do:

Start a fire with other dry wood – if the redgum firewood you have to cook your food with gets wet, start a fire with kindling or other dry wood and then place your wet redgum on top. It will smoke a bit at first as it dries out, but after a few minutes it should be dry and begin to burn normally as expected.

Chip away the damp outer layer – water and moisture will only penetrate the outer layer of hardwood, so you can use a hatchet or knife to chip away the wet outer layer of your redgum firewood, or chop it into smaller pieces to expose the dry interior of the wood to flame.

Use Heat Beads Firelighters – even though wood gets wet, with enough constant heat and flame, your wet wood will catch fire. Heat Beads Firelighters are easy to light and come in a convenient pop-out tray, just place them under your wet redgum wood and you can be sure that your firewood will catch fire, without the need of any flammable liquids or substances.

It is not advised to use flammable liquids, such as gasoline or kerosene to start a fire because these are dangerous to use, especially on wet wood.

You can find quality redgum firewood, kindling, and Heat Beads Firelighters, as well as quality charcoal, here at John Tiras – wholesaler of combustible products from local resources and quality brands.

Optimized by NetwizardSEO.com.au