Favorite Wood

[woodsHAM]

We burn spruce and hemlock occasionally at the hunting camp, it is a very fast hot fire. I cant imagine how many cords it would take to get through a winter based on how fast it burns.

 

[woodsHAM]

We burn spruce and hemlock occasionally at the hunting camp, it is a very fast hot fire. I cant imagine how many cords it would take to get through a winter based on how fast it burns.

 

[blades]

Favorite wood- DRY

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

Overall (btu's/dry time/splitting) - Ash
Look/Smell - Cherry (I've got it to dry to <22% in 4 months)
Top Shelf Heat - Black Locust (dries quicker than white oak or hedge, but similar btu's)
Never burned much beech, but will next year. Always open to a new fav.

 

[wfournier]

Black Birch, smells good when you split it. Looking forward to cutting some beech this year.

 

[Starstuff]

I'll vote for spruces. Season easily in one summer, the wife isn't allergic. I can turn our BK down pretty low to get some sustain out of it, or crank it up and take the chill off the house in a hurry. I especially love damaged trees with baseball sized globs of sap on them, the catalyst in my stove treats sap globs like cocaine.

Sap globs are a hell of a drug.

 

[msherer]

Hedge & mulberry

 

[Omaha419]

Red oak. I just love the smell of it when it splits, and how easy it is to split.

 

[Little Digger]

ALL wood is my favorite, but if I have to make a species choice I'll take PINE!

 

[iluvjazznjava]

ALL wood is my favorite, but if I have to make a species choice I'll take PINE!

Not many would agree with you on this forum I think, but I'm sure you have your reasons.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Locust, when I can get it, which isn't often. Any flavor of oak. That's what I burn most.

 

[Firewood Daddy]

Got up at 5 and loaded up the stove with pine, poplar and a piece of white oak. When it gets really cold out I'll burn primarily oak. It is all scrounged for free so I like it all.

 

[fire_man]

Hedge & mulberry

Finally a post that mentions Hedge! Wish we had that around here.
Illinois and Indiana are the only states I have seen posters mention it.

 

[rwilly]

Red Fir.
It's plentiful in this part of the world, burns well with little ash.
I also burn a lot of Maple, Alder, Cedar, sometimes Pine.
Right now I am burning some well seasoned Alder that I picked up at an Estate sale for $35.00 for 3 truck loads.

 

[Grateful11]

1. Red Oak
2. White Oak
3. Hickory
4. Ash

We burned our first Ash last year, it's not common here on the farm, the tree was nearly dead so down she went. The Ash seems to season quicker than most. It was I think it was 117 years old by my count.

Hickory is abundant but frankly it burns a bit hotter than we like with the insert in our Den, so we burn it mixed with Oak.

We can't even stay caught up on storm damaged or dead Oaks on the 85 acres.

 

[BlueRidgeMark]

Finally a post that mentions Hedge! Wish we had that around here.
Illinois and Indiana are the only states I have seen posters mention it.

It exists in my neck of the woods, but it's pretty scarce. I haven't gotten any to burn yet. I just hear about it. I have seen exactly two hedge trees here in Virginia. I know there are more, but that shows you how rare it is.

 

[Zareth]

Bradford Pear... Splits a bit rough, but it was mostly seasoned within 6 months and it burns slow IME and I could easily get 10 or 20 cord for free per year and maybe even get paid to take it

 

[TedyOH]

Bradford Pear... Splits a bit rough, but it was mostly seasoned within 6 months and it burns slow IME and I could easily get 10 or 20 cord for free per year and maybe even get paid to take it

Yes I had the pleasure last year of burning a face cord, although I think minimum 1 year would be better, very dense, as dense as hickory.

 

[Grateful11]

Had a small bed of hot coals this morning after a 7 hour overnight burn of 3 medium pieces of Ash. Popped in 2 small rounds of Oak and 1 small split of Oak and away she went within 5 minutes.

 

[Richie]

If I could have one wood it would be black birch for sure. Burns as well as oak, smells great, and burns real hot. Only downside is splitting as most large ones are tough to split because they are stringy.

 

[Jeffm1]

Just curious to see what other's favorite type of wood is. My own would have to be beech , it's plentiful where I live, burns hot and clean , lives little to no mess from the bark and seasons quickly. Hard maple is right up there as well for me.

My first season burning in a new epa stove so my experience is somewhat limited, but so far I am hooked on the smell of burning pinion (pinyon) pine. Mmmmm, mmm!

 

[Oldman47]

Not a wood burner yet, still learning and preparing, but I had better learn to like ash, shagbark and cherry. My first woodlot, the one I planted 25 years ago, has about 1000 ash that will soon be experiencing EAB. My second woodlot has more dead and down shagbark than I can possibly use in a reasonable time. P serotina is common as fleas on a dog in the woods around here so I will also have plenty of that to deal with.

 

[Andy S.]

Wood and women... I can find something nice to say about them all but I'm an Ash man, myself.

 

[PDXpyro]

Have to say that the single most indispensable wood around here is Douglas fir, which some refer to as "red fir." It's relatively dense for a conifer/softwood, and seasons in a fraction of the time required for our native white oak, maples, alder, etc. It's also the most common tree locally, so a no-brainer.

Of course, it's ideal to have some heavier hardwoods in the stacks as well, and I'm always on the CL watch for black locust, a particular favorite. Non-native here, but can be found if you watch for it. Also like Bradford pear, which in this suburban zone is widely planted and often available. Ash is great of course, but relatively rare on the market here... the ubiquitous native bigleaf maple is fine as firewood, but barely denser than fir and takes longer to season. Lots of people burn red alder here, but meh: very wet when fresh and light when dry.

If I lived 200 miles farther south it'd be all about Madrone. Location, location, location!

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

Not a wood burner yet, still learning and preparing, but I had better learn to like ash, shagbark and cherry. My first woodlot, the one I planted 25 years ago, has about 1000 ash that will soon be experiencing EAB. My second woodlot has more dead and down shagbark than I can possibly use in a reasonable time. P serotina is common as fleas on a dog in the woods around here so I will also have plenty of that to deal with.

The double edged sword of having many years behind us. You had the foresight, gumption, and hope to plant woodlots for the distant future, and after literally decades of work, care, and devotion, some lowly bugs may lay ruin to it. I feel for you, but looks like you are prepared to make lemonade from lemons. You have my admiration, Oldman47.