Most underrated firewood: my list

[Jonathan2001]

What firewood doesn't get the love it deserves?

Here is my list:

1. Red elm (a.k.a. slippery elm): Simply great firewood in every way. It doesn't stink like American elm (smells more like cinnamon). Sub-20% mc it burns like red oak. Good flames and good heat, not too fast, and good coals. The grain is very twisty and it's hard to split -- even with a hydro splitter. But that's one of its best qualities! Those shredded looking splits can be lit with a match -- no kindling required.

2. Soft Maple (Red Maple / Silver Maple): Red Maple in particular is a fine firewood. Easy to split. Dries fast. Lights easily and leaves good coals. Silver maple isn't quite as good, but it's better than you'd expect based on firewood BTU charts. Around here, soft maple grows fast and gets huge. Scoring a big tree can give you a ton of very decent firewood that will be ready to burn in a year.

3. High BTU small trees: My favorites in SE Michigan -- hornbeam (ironwood), hop hornbeam (my absolute favorite), serviceberry, and hawthorn. I could also add deer-apple apple trees to the list. (Apples trees that grow near a bait pile in the woods and stay small because of the shade.) These are all small understory trees in my forest, although hawthorn will get bigger if it gets enough sun. I cut these small trees to length and season them for two years. No splitting required and great for balancing out big splits of pine or spruce. They probably don't make up more than 5% of my wood pile, but I never pass on small, high btu species.

 

[Newbie78]

Branches. Better wood than trunks.

 

[snojetter]

What firewood doesn't get the love it deserves?
1. Red elm (a.k.a. slippery elm)
3. High BTU small trees: My favorites in SE Michigan -- hornbeam (ironwood), hop hornbeam

Oh man, if I could get into some red elm I'd be all over it! Growing up, we had lots of it! My memory is it was not difficult to split like American elm. It was an all-around ideal wood like ash is for me today.

I've been going after hop hornbeam with a vengeance. It can take more effort to acquire any meaningful amount but most doesn't require splitting due to its small size. I've accumulated a lot of it scattered throughout my piles. Love the stuff!

I'll add buckthorn to the list of high BTU, small trees. We're overrun with this weed tree around here, so I'm cutting it quite often just in an effort to clear it out. Two inches and larger goes in to my wood piles. This and hop hornbeam I cut to about 50" long then stack several on my saw buck and very quickly I've got lots of 16-17" pieces that are ready for the stacks.

Lastly, I'll put in some love for poplar (quaking aspen and bigtooth aspen). Relatively heavy when green, but the saw goes through it like butter and so easy to split. Processing is fast, and splits are almost always uniform and "straight" making it very easy to stack. I'll burn it anytime during the season, but certainly is a nice option when the temps are more moderate.

 

[Vg3200p]

I'll second silver maple. It's probably 30% of my stash. Not great to split not great btu's but around here it's abundant and dries fast. I also like Bradford pear. It's dense it's everywhere here and people want them gone

 

[brenndatomu]

I'll give a 3rd for SM...and agree with branch wood...what's not to love, often times no splitting, and its denser wood!

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

I vote for silver maple too along with tulip poplar. Yeah, both don’t burn as long as other hardwoods but I can split them big and they are paper dry in about a year.

 

[PAbeech]

What firewood doesn't get the love it deserves?

Here is my list:

1. Red elm (a.k.a. slippery elm): Simply great firewood in every way. It doesn't stink like American elm (smells more like cinnamon). Sub-20% mc it burns like red oak. Good flames and good heat, not too fast, and good coals. The grain is very twisty and it's hard to split -- even with a hydro splitter. But that's one of its best qualities! Those shredded looking splits can be lit with a match -- no kindling required.

2. Soft Maple (Red Maple / Silver Maple): Red Maple in particular is a fine firewood. Easy to split. Dries fast. Lights easily and leaves good coals. Silver maple isn't quite as good, but it's better than you'd expect based on firewood BTU charts. Around here, soft maple grows fast and gets huge. Scoring a big tree can give you a ton of very decent firewood that will be ready to burn in a year.

3. High BTU small trees: My favorites in SE Michigan -- hornbeam (ironwood), hop hornbeam (my absolute favorite), serviceberry, and hawthorn. I could also add deer-apple apple trees to the list. (Apples trees that grow near a bait pile in the woods and stay small because of the shade.) These are all small understory trees in my forest, although hawthorn will get bigger if it gets enough sun. I cut these small trees to length and season them for two years. No splitting required and great for balancing out big splits of pine or spruce. They probably don't make up more than 5% of my wood pile, but I never pass on small, high btu species.

I always wondered why they call red maple "soft "and sugar maple "hard". I have nice dried sugar maple and it's super soft and light. On the other hand I've had red maple and even when dried it's hard as hell

 

[DuaeGuttae]

Does “vilified” firewood count as simply “underrated?” If so, my clear answer is pine.

I grew up on land that had been planted in pine for logging but was never logged. I think a lot of it was the loblolly species. It splits easily, dries fast, holds some coals but doesn’t make never-ending piles of them in cold weather, and isn’t too ashy.

The myth of the danger of pine is alive and well in many places, however, so it’s also an easy wood to get hold of for scroungers. I far prefer it to poplar.

I don’t have pine where I live in Texas, but I have a pretty dense juniper there that fulfills pretty much the same function. It’s a great combination with my super-dense live oak.

 

[MNtreewood]

Seems like I always end up processing some Red(Norway) Pine every year into my firewood stacks and to be honest I actually don't mind it. It's always straight, short small diameter branches & not many of them to trim off compared to other "Pines", seasons fast, burns decent for a softwood and leaves little ash in the stove afterwards. What's not to like?

 

[ABMax24]

Spruce

There isn't another wood out there that can make a stove run at max output like it, doesn't coal and burns down with little ash. It takes constant reloading, but if max heat to the house is the goal it can't be beat.

 

[Corey]

Haven't seen my favorite yet... 'free, close by, and already cut to length' - random scores off craigslist. Sure I've been duped a couple times... the old lady offering 'chunks of firewood', so I drove across town and found it was literally two chunks of firewood. But had some epic scores, too. Couple truckloads of hedge, couple loads of ash, the golf course which had cut/split/stacked firewood for their authentic wood fireplace, then decided to replace it with gas - so that was literally loading up the truck with firewood, driving 3 miles home, dumping it out and going back for another...lather, rinse and repeat...4, 5, 6 truck loads. Always pays to keep an eye out.

...or on second thought...craigslist is a terrible place to get wood, I don't recommend anyone to look there! lol

 

[Creekside Farms]

I'll second silver maple. It's probably 30% of my stash. Not great to split not great btu's but around here it's abundant and dries fast. I also like Bradford pear. It's dense it's everywhere here and people want them gone

'll 3rd that on the silver maple as I have an abundance of it as well. We share a similar location, actually. Never got in to any Bradford's yet.

 

[Vg3200p]

'll 3rd that on the silver maple as I have an abundance of it as well. We share a similar location, actually. Never got in to any Bradford's yet.

Welcome fellow Hoosier. Hope you stay warm next couple days.

 

[BigJ273]

I’m a big fan of cherry. Doesn’t burn as hot or long as oak, but it’s beautiful to cut and split. And the smells is amazing. Looks pretty too.

 

[BIGChrisNH]

I always say black birch is my favorite, if I could have just one species of wood to burn it would be that. It usually has nice straight grain, splits easy, seasons quickly and gives a good long burn. Plus the bark has a peppermint smell.

 

[weatherguy]

I always say black birch is my favorite, if I could have just one species of wood to burn it would be that. It usually has nice straight grain, splits easy, seasons quickly and gives a good long burn. Plus the bark has a peppermint smell.

Doesn't make a mess either, I have quite a bit for this year and I'm loving it.

 

[johneh]

I have nice dried sugar maple and it's super soft and light

If it is soft and light it is not sugar maple
Most of my wood lot is sugar maple and it is hard and heavy even dry

 

[SpaceBus]

85% of our firewood is spruce and fir. There rest is made up of a mix of hackmatack (tamarack), birch, and some red maple. We pretty much only burn "low grade" firewood

 

[River]

Mulberry is one of my top favorites. I have a few mulberry trees, here, but it is not so common as when I lived on the prairie where it grows prolifically in fencerows. Living on the "treeless" prairie, we wood burners could not be too choosy, but mulberry was one to choose when it was available!

 

[Vg3200p]

Mulberry is one of my top favorites. I have a few mulberry trees, here, but it is not so common as when I lived on the prairie where it grows prolifically in fencerows. Living on the "treeless" prairie, we wood burners could not be too choosy, but mulberry was one to choose when it was available!

Mulberry is my absolute favorite tree. I have burned it and it's great. But I hate to cut them down cause I love the berries to much. Got 3 growing in my yard and really hope more pop up

 

[Commodorefirst]

Elm, Silver Maple, Bradford pear. Three I dry and burn frequently. Besides the splitting problem of Elm, like it a lot. Also, why a lot of my stored elm are rounds.

 

[Kevin Weis]

SM not one of my favorites due to the high amount of ash left behind in my small stove. Have burned some Bradford Pear and would recommended if you can get ahold of some. Used to be strictly a landscape tree and originally was bioengineering to be sterile so it couldn't propagate. No more, the sterility is gone and now it will propagate prolifically in open fields nearby, so now considered a weed tree ironically at least in my area. Seems to compete with Serviceberry for the same territory.

 

[zmender]

Poplar and white birch. Dries fast, doesn't kill my back carrying a bunch of them, burns hot and doesn't leave a lot of coal. I do a full reload in the morning, bump up the house temperature into high 60s, and the heat dies off as outside warms up.

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

White birch, the bark is one of nature's best fire starters. Burns like it's been soaked in kerosene.

Tulip poplar, because of it's abundance, straightness, quick growth and seasoning time. Throw a couple spits of tulip poplar in with a load of real hardwood like oak, and you've got a perfect load, easy to start, helps to avoid accumulating too many coals at the end of a load.

Pine/spruce, etc. Mostly the same reasons as tulip poplar. Great as a supplement to hardwood loads.

 

[ohlongarmisle]

What firewood doesn't get the love it deserves?

Here is my list:

1. Red elm (a.k.a. slippery elm): Simply great firewood in every way. It doesn't stink like American elm (smells more like cinnamon). Sub-20% mc it burns like red oak. Good flames and good heat, not too fast, and good coals. The grain is very twisty and it's hard to split -- even with a hydro splitter. But that's one of its best qualities! Those shredded looking splits can be lit with a match -- no kindling required.

2. Soft Maple (Red Maple / Silver Maple): Red Maple in particular is a fine firewood. Easy to split. Dries fast. Lights easily and leaves good coals. Silver maple isn't quite as good, but it's better than you'd expect based on firewood BTU charts. Around here, soft maple grows fast and gets huge. Scoring a big tree can give you a ton of very decent firewood that will be ready to burn in a year.

3. High BTU small trees: My favorites in SE Michigan -- hornbeam (ironwood), hop hornbeam (my absolute favorite), serviceberry, and hawthorn. I could also add deer-apple apple trees to the list. (Apples trees that grow near a bait pile in the woods and stay small because of the shade.) These are all small understory trees in my forest, although hawthorn will get bigger if it gets enough sun. I cut these small trees to length and season them for two years. No splitting required and great for balancing out big splits of pine or spruce. They probably don't make up more than 5% of my wood pile, but I never pass on small, high btu species.

Agree about red elm, one monster tree will probably take me through winter, air dried over 10 years, deviated to locust ,osage , and apple during the 3 day blizzard, however the elm would have sufficed.