What's Your Favorite Firewood and Why?

[Woodman37]

Where I live my favorite by far is locust. Burns hot not too bad to split. It is also very plentiful here. But as long as it's nice and dry I ain't too picky.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

In my area, Douglas Fir is my favorite. There is a lot of dead standing lodgepole pine and douglas fir so we can cut what we need for free with no seasoning time required. The fir trees are a lot bigger and take more effort to process, but the BTUs are much better.

You sure about that? I always found douglas fir and lodgepole pretty similar. The only difference I found was that I can find beetle killed lodgepole pine that is <20% moisture content, but most standing dead douglas fir I've ever cut still seems to have 30% or more MC.
The other thing I don't like much about douglas fir is it oozes pitch all the time, especially if it gets left near the wood stove and warms up.
Check out this btu chart http://forestry.usu.edu/htm/forest-products/wood-heating

 

[1970roadrunner]

I find I get better burn times with the fir, in my fireplace anyway. I still cut a bit of lodgepole for the fall and spring, and keep the fir for the winter. Here are some more charts for comparison sake:

Firewood BTU Ratings Chart Best Firewood Heat Energy Content
(broken link removed to http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/residential/heating_cooling/firewood.html)

I think the guys burning hardwoods will get a kick out of two guys from BC debating softwoods! We surely have a good thing with our firewood permits here though.

 

[kennyp2339]

I'm a hard maple, red or white oak kind of guy, maple seems more prevalent is my area, not complaining, it did a great job this year; going to scrounge a few pines this spring, (sandy storm wood) and see how that works, I'm liking the idea of using the pine during the shoulder seasons, especially after this years cold winter

 

[brant2000]

White oak, easy to process and burn long with very little ash.

I've had some white oak that was anything but easy to process. Still great wood, just makes you work a little harder at it!

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I think the guys burning hardwoods will get a kick out of two guys from BC debating softwoods! We surely have a good thing with our firewood permits here though.

Yeah, but mind you, not all hardwood is all it's cracked up to be either. I've got, or had, some access to hardwoods including apple, walnut, maple and elm, in fact I've been burning my little stash of walnut lately and still have some maple in the stacks. I don't go out of my way to cut those hardwoods, I just happen to have some because I topped some trees in the neighborhood and figured it made more sense to burn it then haul it to the dump. Besides the apple, I've never really found those particular hardwoods burn much better than Lodgepole pine, or Douglas fir for that mater.
You hint at the reason I'd rather go after the softwood (especially lodgepole), I don't have a lot of room to store firewood on my property, and beetle kill lodgepole pine trees are the only wood I know I can reliably go out and cut and come back with wood that is ready to burn right away. What that means to me is I only need to cut what I need for the coming winter, and I don't have to prepare a year, or years, in advance. I have found some standing dead douglas fir and spruce I could do that with, but not a reliably as lodgepole pine.
Also, because there is such an abundance of beetle kill lodgepole out there that I can often drop enough trees in one central location so they are overlapping each other on the ground and cut a lot of the trees up a little higher off the ground, which I find easier on my back and I can fill up the truck with a full cord from one location. Sort of like one stop shopping.
Anyway, I don't know about you, but if we weren't able to cut for free out in our crown land forests, and had to rely on scrounging around for residential trees or buying wood, my wood burning days would be over pretty quick.
BTW, I don't know if I've asked you this before, but I live in Keremeos area, where about's are you located?

 

[fullofbaloney]

Gotta be red oak, splits easily, lots of it around me and it burns really well once it dries out. Only downside is the stuff is incredibly heavy when you're hauling it when wet.

 

[Lumber-Jack]

Gotta be red oak, splits easily, lots of it around me and it burns really well once it dries out. Only downside is the stuff is incredibly heavy when you're hauling it when wet.

Rumor has it that you are full of baloney.

 

[Applesister]

I guess I'd have to say Apple. Its like doing a pathology report when I cut them up. More of a autopsy.
Like Leonardo DaVini digging up cadavers to study human anatomy.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

Mostly pine. I burn mostly construction tearout wood. I do have some perfectly seasoned oak i save for special occasions and long overnight burns, THis year has been so cold im almost out of junk wood for the first time since 2008. Got a nice stack of 100 year old 2x4s in reserve.

 

[byQ]

Like Lumberjack and Roadrunner I'm in pine/fir country. For me, Lodgepole Pine is easier to get than Doug Fir (it's closer). I'm going to drive farther this summer and get some Doug Fir. I don't really have enough experience with other woods at this point. I got about 10 mid-size rounds of ash last year and it was a nice wood to process.

I'm collecting firewood for a masonry heater. For a wood stove hardwoods like oak and black locust seem better because they are dense and burn more slowly than pine and fir. And the hardwoods provide coals so the fire can be kept continually going - just add more firewood.

However, a masonry heater is a different burning philosophy. You want a fast and hot fire (1.5-2.5 hours). Fast because you want to close the damper ASAP to trap the heat. And hot because the energy is being absorbed into the thermal mass. So the actual heat comes from the the heated thermal mass not so much from the fire itself. So a short hot fire is an advantage not a disadvantage as it would be in a wood stove.

So pine and fir with their pitch, hot fast burning and lack of coaling suit a masonry heater well. Hardwoods are still good but pines and firs become more valuable than they would be in a wood stove application.

 

[1970roadrunner]

Yeah, but mind you, not all hardwood is all it's cracked up to be either. I've got, or had, some access to hardwoods including apple, walnut, maple and elm, in fact I've been burning my little stash of walnut lately and still have some maple in the stacks. I don't go out of my way to cut those hardwoods, I just happen to have some because I topped some trees in the neighborhood and figured it made more sense to burn it then haul it to the dump. Besides the apple, I've never really found those particular hardwoods burn much better than Lodgepole pine, or Douglas fir for that mater.
You hint at the reason I'd rather go after the softwood (especially lodgepole), I don't have a lot of room to store firewood on my property, and beetle kill lodgepole pine trees are the only wood I know I can reliably go out and cut and come back with wood that is ready to burn right away. What that means to me is I only need to cut what I need for the coming winter, and I don't have to prepare a year, or years, in advance. I have found some standing dead douglas fir and spruce I could do that with, but not a reliably as lodgepole pine.
Also, because there is such an abundance of beetle kill lodgepole out there that I can often drop enough trees in one central location so they are overlapping each other on the ground and cut a lot of the trees up a little higher off the ground, which I find easier on my back and I can fill up the truck with a full cord from one location. Sort of like one stop shopping.
Anyway, I don't know about you, but if we weren't able to cut for free out in our crown land forests, and had to rely on scrounging around for residential trees or buying wood, my wood burning days would be over pretty quick.
BTW, I don't know if I've asked you this before, but I live in Keremeos area, where about's are you located?

I'm up in the Prince George area. Lots of lodgepole beetle kill up here still as well.

I used to burn a bit of birch, but only because I had access to some private land that they let me cut on. It burned all right, but I could never get enough and I had to cut green and pile it somewhere to season. With plenty of dead standing available and ready to burn, I moved away from the birch. Why move the wood twice if you don't have to? The fir and pine goes right from the bush to the woodshed, ready to go.

Some of the doug firs are big enough for a couple of cords of wood. The smaller firs get cut the first but sometimes the big ones are all thats left.

 

[Wooderson]

Quercus marilandica

Blackjack Oak is my favorite in the Cross Timbers region of Texas. Much preferred to Post Oak. Super dense and dries ok when you have 100 days of 100º weather each summer with wind. About 18 months to season out to <20%. The only downside is that with all of the crooks, knots, and crotches I can't post pics of my woodpiles here for fear of the ensuing laughter.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Not sure I have an absolute favorite but we burn a lot of ash, oak, soft maple, elm and cherry. There are a few others but those are our main burners. Of course there are many other types that are great but we try to do all our cutting on our own place so are limited to what we have. No problem; we have plenty.

 

[tsquini]

I've had some white oak that was anything but easy to process. Still great wood, just makes you work a little harder at it!

It depends on how green the wood is before you start chopping it. Oak freshly cut is about 50% moisture content and splits like a charm. If it starts to drop below 30% the grain tightens up and makes it more of chore.

 

[firefighterjake]

No real favorites . . .

I like white and yellow birch for reloads . . . always nice to have a built in tinder source.

I like apple and cherry for their smells when processing.

I like ash as the all-around, go to wood -- easy to process, seasons relatively quickly and is a decent burning wood.

I like beech, sugar maple, oak and black locust for those long, cold winter nights.

Heck, I even like my white pine for burning in the shoulder seasons.

 

[BEConklin]

I guess I'd have to say Apple. Its like doing a pathology report when I cut them up. More of a autopsy.
Like Leonardo DaVini digging up cadavers to study human anatomy.

Apple's great stuff - it smells wonderful when it's burning and throws out plenty of heat. My problem with apple is that it's so good for smoking meat, I almost feel guilty burning it for anything else. I suppose if I had access to more apple I might feel differently....

 

[razerface]

I burn mostly oak, but my favorite is whatever wood my son splits and stacks. It makes me smile more then the wood I have to split.

 

[mstoelton]

My favorite wood is "FREE"

 

[shoot-straight]

not a huge fan of splitting white oak. great btus but too stringy most of the time.

hands down- chestnut oak. its literally falls apart with a maul. even easier than red oak. only downside is its long time to season. i just split and stacked 2 cords in record time with my maul only this weekend. for me, its all about ease of processing. large rounds, yeah you get plenty of wood from them, but what a pain in the a$$.

in the end, any wood that is easy to process is ok with me.

 

[ChipTam]

Birch. It's the only hardwood available in Nfld. plus the bark works better than fat-wood sticks as kindling. The only other choices would be fir (not Douglas) and and spruce.

ChipTam

 

[kingston73]

Where I live my favorite by far is locust. Burns hot not too bad to split. It is also very plentiful here. But as long as it's nice and dry I ain't too picky.

Same here, I had never used it until last year, always thought it was just a trash species until reading here and trying it myself. It's killer on saw chains though.

 

[jillybeansisme]

Well, since I don't yet have a stove . . . I'm guessing I'll like whatever my nephew c/s/s for me! (But I'm looking forward to it)