Buying Logs in a Crate? Check These Three Things First

Wooden crates are another common way firewood gets sold, often labelled simply "small" or "medium." Sounds straightforward, but there are a few things worth checking carefully before you compare one crate to another — because the labelling can hide more differences than you'd expect.

1. External size vs internal size

A typical crate's external measurements run around 115cm x 100cm x 80cm — but that's the outside of the timber frame, not the actual space inside holding wood. The frame itself takes up real space, so the internal capacity is noticeably smaller than those external dimensions suggest.

Some suppliers quote external measurements, others quote internal — and it's not always made clear which one you're looking at. A "medium crate" advertised by external size can work out smaller in actual wood capacity than a "medium crate" from a supplier quoting internal dimensions. Always check which measurement you're being given.

2. Packed volume vs loose volume

Just like with ton bags, volume can be quoted as either how the wood is packed and stacked, or how it settles once tipped in loose — and these numbers aren't the same for a given amount of wood (loose volume is always larger, due to the air gaps between randomly settled pieces). If a listing doesn't specify which one it means, you can't reliably compare it to another supplier's numbers.

3. Volume of the crate, or volume of the wood?

This is the one that catches people out most: some listings state the volume of the crate itself, not the actual volume of wood inside it. Given the crate's timber frame and any gaps take up real space, these two figures can differ meaningfully. Always check the listing is describing the wood, not just the container.

We skip crates entirely

We don't sell logs in crates — every order comes in our 30 litre nets instead, so there's never any ambiguity about what you're actually getting.

To show you what that looks like by comparison, the photo above is 30 of our nets packed tightly into a standard crate — 30 x 30 litres, or 900 litres stacked. Using the same industry-standard loose multiplier we've covered before (around 1.7x, to account for how loose material settles with more air gaps than a neat stack), that works out to just over 1.5m³ loose. So a crate that size, filled properly, is roughly equivalent to 30 of our nets — no guesswork needed on our side, because you're buying by the net, not by an ambiguous crate size.

There's also a practical downside to crates that's easy to overlook until it's sat on your driveway: once it's empty, you're left with a large wooden crate to dispose of yourself. With our delivery, there's no bulky, unsightly crate left behind — just the wood, stacked where you want it.

At the moment, that same 1.5m³ equivalent comes with free kindling and firelighters as part of our Deals collection — worth checking out if you're after that quantity anyway.

No filler wood taking up space

The same issue we've flagged with loose ton bags applies here too: when wood is delivered in one large crate, it's much harder to see (or control) exactly what's inside it. When you order from us, every net is exactly what it says — Ash, Birch, Oak, or a mix of those three, and nothing else. No cheaper softwood or off-cuts bulking out the volume, and no guessing what's actually in there once it's stacked into one big crate.

Better value, not just more convenient

Splitting the same volume into nets doesn't cost more — if anything, we work out cheaper overall than buying the equivalent in a crate from other local suppliers.

Part of how we manage that: we don't need a Hiab or any heavy machinery on the back of a truck to deliver a crate. Everything comes packed in nets in the back of our compact electric van, which keeps our costs (and the price you pay) down.

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Kiln Dried Logs Jersey delivers Woodsure Ready to Burn certified firewood free across all 12 parishes.