Best type of wood or fire log for recreational use

If you don’t want to wait for coals to die down burn soft wood, pine won’t leave much for coals but sparks a lot, otherwise you can burn whatever you want as long as it is dry, keep your splits a bit small. Don’t put in a huge knotty piece of oak, even in a fireplace they can burn for a while and will produce a heaping bed of coals. Duraflames are garbage now. I used to occasionally burn Duraflames, they were pretty good. They would give a nice full fire for almost 3 hours. I bought a box to use while I was renovating the dump I bought. They light up nice then die down fairly quick and seem to smoke a lot. I remember the old ones being very bright burning and almost smokeless. I had read that they had to change them to be safe to use in the cheap prefab metal fireplaces builders were installing, supposedly the old logs burned too hot. Anyway, I never finished the box I purchased. I burn only wood. I have some tulip for this coming winter, I bet that would be good for a quick fire that doesn’t linger. I save my big chunks of oak for when I’m going to be home all day.

If this is truly just for recreational use (i.e. romantic view of the fire) I would go with well seasoned softwood . . . mainly since a lot of softwoods will result in the snapping, crackling and popping that make a fire quite enjoyable to watch. Just be sure to have a screen for the fire place and observe proper clearance requirements since it would be kinda bad if a romantic fire ended up burning down the house due to an errant spark -- that's kind of a mood killer.

Enjoy your fire.

bholler said:

I don't know about Canada but in the us you are not supposed to burn wood in a bedroom for very good reasons.

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So many older homes actually century homes have fireplaces in bedrooms. I'm not really sure where one can get insurance for such a set up ?

100 plus years ago it was a valid heat source to have one in a bedroom. Nowadays most if not all have been converted to either gas logs or a gas insert. Can't get insurance otherwise in most cases. Try telling your home owners insurance you have a wood burner in your bedroom good luck. Better start shopping insurance.

I agree probably unsafe. I'd convert it to gas if budget and situation allows. Simple push button instant heat and ambiance , push button again it goes out.