Billet (wood)

Billet (wood) was a specific and standardised form of wood fuel of significant importance in the traditional pre–fossil fuel economy. The term could also be applied to a cudgel.

Nature and use
Billets were especially designed for burning on open hearth fires, often in conjunction with spits.

Measurements and cost
The 16th C standardised a billet as three foot four inches in length, and ten inches around.

A century later, Anthony A Wood recorded a load of billet wood as costing 12s 6d; while extravagance consisted of "burning in one yeare threescore pounds worth of the choicest billet".

Literary references

 * The William Shakespeare play Measure for Measure contains the phrase "beat out my brains with billets".