Firewood, Information about forewood and it's uses

I've for long thought that using firewood is less useful than just slender trunks for cooking and warmth but lately I've come around to another decision.

Apparently firewood keeps you warm in winter for extended periods with the embers compared to other timber. I've not really noticed this noticed in many places, though, as slender trunks do not require an axe, which might be hard to get. ( forget stone-axes unless you plan to use it for only simple timberwork or caveman attacks )

But I also noticed a while ago that two pieces of firewood will cook a batch of roasted fish and go out usually near the end of the roasting, leaving the embers to keep the fish warm, although the fish will eventually burn. This makes cooking a bit easier as you don't have to stare at the fish being roasted and can actually do something quick in the meantime.

And you of course need firewood for smoking food. Long-lasting and delicious, although you need a house for this.
And I just thought about a storeroom ( old feature, I believe now that we have cellars ) with a fireplace, but the heat would rot most stuff in the store. Of course, you can build a separate smoking hut. I wonder if this would work for trading...?


Firewood has been a bit of a mystery for me for ages, so please share more information and ideas to clarify the use of firewood.

In the wilderness and when I'm in a hurry slender trunks are the best because you can cut them quickly and without an axe. I usually chop down a few trees and store them next to (on) the wall to be chopped into firewood as needed over the winter months (I also collect huge mounds of pine/spruce boughs for kindling and the lovely scent - my amusement). I use firewood when burning a plot for planting because the fire doesn't need much wood and it burns out faster, so I'm less likely to start a wildfire next to my cottage.

I've never noticed embers keeping warmer longer or fires being easier to start or anything else that could potentially be an advantage of firewood. In fact, I've never found firewood to be of any real use whatsoever. In the winter time my wood supply consists of lots of big tree trunks. Usually I keep a large stack of big trunks outside under a shelter (for appearances, really) and keep a smaller stack inside near the fireplace. A big tree trunk is such a lovely thing when it burns, they burn long so you don't have to feed the fire too often, and with all the time saved by not chopping wood into smaller and smaller pieces you can go out and gather twice as much of it.

if I'm not at home, a lot of times for cooking I'll just gather a few branches off of some nearby trees. It doesn't take much to get a short fire going to get a meal started.

Firewood doesn't really have much use. I suppose you could carry it around for kindling, but that won't do you much good unless you're camping out in the snow.

Oh, you get slightly more fuel when it's chopped into firewood.
1 20lb block -> 21-24 1lb units.

I just keep the blocks around if I have enough firewood. Since I can use it in crafting.

Firewood is useful when you have a cottage with a fireplace. 3 or 4 pieces of wood can keep you warm for an entire day. A single block of wood can produce enough firewood to keep you warm for days.

Firewood is also useful for farmers who want to make large fields. Place 2 pieces of firewood on every tile you want to sow and light a few of them on fire. Take a nap and when you wake up you'll have a huge field to start preparing.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, my original post is confusing, and this stems partially from my poor knowledge of firewood.

The embers are indeed useful only with a fireplace. I also noticed that you need a building of a certain size to actually smoke meat, so a small shack with a fireplace won't do... Shame, really.

I usually construct a smoking building of 2x1 tiles, and is enough. I make the door on the west wall.
Once I made it on the east wall, and I had to open it in order to smoke same food.

Yes, they burn a long time, but they are in shorter supply, not as overall long lasting, and a piece of chocolate to drag around.

Also, winter in URW is 4-5 months. It's not like you have anything better to do, unless you're more interested in raising your Weatherlore skill.