What Wood Burns the Best?
Wednesday October 29, 2008
You will get the best results and more heat per wood volume when burning the highest density (heaviest) wood you can find. Dense firewood will produce the highest recoverable BTUs but all wood must be "seasoned". Seasoning lowers the moisture content and less energy is used to drive off water which limits heat efficiency.
The best burning firewood species:
- Hickory - 25 to 28 million BTUs/cord - density 37 to 58 lbs./cu.ft.
- Oak - 24 to 28 million BTUs/cord - density 37 to 58 lbs./cu.ft.
- Black Locust - 27 million BTUs/cord - density 43 lbs./cu.ft.
- Beech - 24 to 27 million BTUs/cord - density 32 to 56 lbs./cu.ft.
- White Ash - 24 million BTUs/cord - density 43 lbs./cu.ft.
Comments
Elm as quality firewood? I’ve always heard that elm is lousy firewood, giving as little as 1/3 the heat as oak or hickory.
What’s the story here?
You are right, kinda. Rock elm and some dense maples can burn as efficiently as many oaks. Density is the key. If you read my report further, you will see that the range of energy produced by an elm is better than all conifers and many soft hardwoods.
Surprised not to see White Ash on the list!
Also — I’ve heard that Black Walnut is a bad choice for firewood because the chemical (juglans?) that it contains can cause allergic reaction in some people. Is that a myth?
Yes, I have heard to that Ash is at the top, but didn’t make this list?
“Ash wood wet or ash wood dry, a King will warm his slippers by.” Don’t know who made up the verse but it is true. If you can have only one firewood pick white or green ash, white preferably. Ash splits like a dream and can be safely burned green or cured unlike any other wood that I know of. The moisture content of just cut ash is only a few percentage points higher than it is when cured and so it will burn readily in your woodstove with no start up or creosote problems. It also has good heat value though not as high as the oaks or hickories. Its desireablity is in how easy it is to split, hancle and burn np matter how wet or dry it is.
What about osage orange?
I always thought black locust burned the hottest and longest for the value..
A lot of the top woods you listed aren’t readily available out here in CA.
I don’t burn wood, but my friends who do like almond, eucalyptus, and “valley” & live oaks.
Hi Bob! I went with just the BTUs produced by the denser woods and white ash falls just below sugar maple. Still, I think I will eliminate elm/maple and only include white ash as what you and others say makes sense (especially splitting ease)….
Just to return to the walnut — has anyone had any particularly positive or negative experiences using black walnut as firewood?
Is peach wood good to burn
Y isn’t maple on the list. i have a wood stove in my house and we usually get maple to burnn in it.
walnut can be good burning but it has to be dried to get best results my opinion. green walnut does not burn so well but will burn if you have hot enough coals. White ash burns well and is good wood but seems it does not last long enough. take care
Gerre Guerrant asks about Osage Orange. I have some growing in Carmarthen, Wales. It does not grow as fast as Eucalyptus. But as its firewood can be a by-product from a vicious thorn hedge that is bull, horse, and hog proof, and was the prototype for barbed wire, also providing durable fence posts for that successor, it should be high on the firewood ratings.
The reason it is not could be that all the wood was used for making bows to shoot arrows, and things like guitars, and the value of the chemicals that can be extracted from the wood.
One of my sources said it is the nearest thing to coal for burning, so could be so used in a desperate survival situation.
I am trying to remember who told me that Coal is too precious to burn. That was about 65 years ago in an area where Alfred Russel Wallace had lived, and Mond had a Nickel smelter. Either could have originated that idea about coal that I now apply to the timber’s extractives. It was almost part of the folklore around Neath.
What about apple? I have heard it burns well but maybe it is just the aroma of the wood that delights people.
I’m not certain of the facts, but I see alot of people seem to prefer White Ash as you have it listed in your top five. I have seen many an article done on the disappearance of White and/or Green Ash as a result of insect infestation (emerald beetle?). It has been the preferred wood that has been used for over one hundred years in the manufacturing of baseball bats. Is this true? If so, should you be encouraging people to burn ash or to preserve it? Maybe a footnote is in order? Thanks.
I have been searching around for a place to ask this question, and this seems like the spot. How long do you season Osage Orange for before burning? I was thinking it must be longer than a year since it is dense, but remember reading somewhere that it actually takes less time to season.
I have lots of elms that are dying, or have died in the last couple years on my lot. I need some wood for burning this year. I know that Elm is not the best, but is it OK to burn in a normal fireplace?
is sycamore good for fire wood?
Regarding Osage Orange as firewood- It produces tremendous amounts of heat, but it sparks often and forcefully, so it can send hot embers through a fireplace screen or through the air vent at the bottom of a firebox. It needs watching. Also, as others say, it’s so useful that only the trimmings are burned. And it’s not easy to split.
We have some Orange Osage that we harvested from a downed tree. The trunk was about 3+ feet in diameter. It had been hit by lightning and the owner of the property sold it to us cheap, we just had to harvest it. The logs we got were luckily straight – the grain on Orange Osage is very very straight and splits super easy, unless you have twisted or knotty wood. It burns like NO OTHER WOOD I have burned. It burns hotter and lasts much longer. One downside is the way it goes through saw blades when you are cutting it into logs.
major league baseball now uses maple bats because of the shortage of ash, and you can really tell the difference when you watch a game…shattered bats all the time, showing no comparison to the ash bats. I’ve burned black walnut for years. You have to make sure it is seasoned well or it will soot up your stove pipe and could cause a chimney fire, but that’s why you shouldn’t burn any wood that is still unseasoned. What I like most about burning black walnut is the aroma in the house.I just picked up almost a cord of free elm trunk pieces. They’re 18-20 in long and around 16 in diameter. I used a splitting maul on the freshly cut wood and it splits easier than any wood I’ve ever found. Will have to see how it burns after I let it season.
We moved into a drafty, poorly insulated farmhouse in KY a few winters ago with a woodstove as our primary heat source. Without a doubt, Osage Orange (also known as Hedgeapple) has been our favorite so far, especially paired with Locust and/or Oak. It just gives off so much heat, which makes a huge difference in a house like ours. Hard to split, yes, but worth the effort.
Black walnut is a very valuable wood–you could send your kids to college with a single tree! If you have one and must cut it down, someone would pay you good money for it. Another valuable wood is red maple. Too valuable to burn.
What makes wood spark? My firewood is poppinga and shooting sparks– what causes this? Anyone know?
I will take a truck load of red elm over oak, hedge, ash or black locust. It drys down on the stump, vigorously burns to a clinker and splits fairly well. I just cut the pieces shorter if I get into a tough tree. I save it for January. Some woods pop and spark alot and hedge is one of them.
Locust is the all around winner without a doubt, but I’ll burn anything except Catalpa. (stogie tree). If you want to burn a house down this would be the wood of choice! No other wood blasts non-stop firey projectiles like this open fireplace nightmare wood. Stay away from this stuff!
I was hoping to get some insight on how good is peach and nectarine to burn? I have not burned it before but the price is better then Almond and is easier to handle not so big and dirty. I would think that it should burn similar to Almond due it is a very similar tree.
I have heard that osage orange (hedge) can be used as soon as it is cut. Is this true? We have an outdoor wood-burning furnace, so sparks, etc. are not an issue. Neither, really, is creosote build-up in our chimney. Please comment asap. We under-calculated for this cold winter and are running out of split wood but have an unlimited supply of osage orange at our disposal. Thank you!!
Our neighbor has offered us a HUGE dead sycamore that finally fell a couple weeks ago. Is is good firewood for a fireplace insert? Someone asked awhile ago and never got an answer. Thanks, Angel
Is the wood heavy is it dry can you lite a match it will burn good. I see why there are so many house fires now. Remember a woodstove is a area heater not a whole house furnace. You burn a reasonable fire to heat an area. I burn 2 stoves when cold, in 2 areas. My house is 2100 sq.ft. If it had an open floor plan I would have one large stove. Its been 15 below here and I have been warm, no furnace at all. You just have to be home to feed it, at -15 its hungry. Be safe be smart be alive come morning, God bless and keep you safe.
Oh I almost forgot, my favorite wood to burn so far is Eastern Hornbeam. Heavy hard and small trees make nice long burning rounds.
I have been told not to burn Hedge in my fireplace because it puts off too much creosote. Is this true?
Thank you
Good answers from all, but I am wondering if anyone has heard of a catalpa tree. And what wood family does it belong too. Also is it a fair to good wood to burn in a wood stove. Thanks