Favorite hardwoods?

[ElmBurner]

I like cherry. The ones on my property are pretty much straight up and down, with few branches of any size. This makes cutting and splitting a breeze.

If it doesn't put out as much heat as oak, that's fine with me. The other redeeming properties (good for birds, grows fast, smells good, spreads pretty well on its own, good pioneer tree) make up for it.

My next choice might be elm. If you have enough acres of them, it's basically firewood sitting ready on the stump. Just look for the ones that have died and shed all their bark and they are probably ready to burn as they stand. Just cut and split and put it right on the porch to burn. Don't even need to mess around with wood piles and a shed and tarps and all that other stuff.

 

[Omaha419]

To split, red oak. Easy to split and smells fantastic. Takes longer to season though.

All around I would say locust.

 

[sportbikerider78]

Honestly, I don't have a clue what trees are what. I couldn't be picky in my first year.

 

[begreen]

Black locust and madrona here. Oak and hickory are very rare. Fruit wood is nice when I can get it, but locust burns like coal.

 

[splions]

Black Birch...I will take a truck load of this over any other wood hands down.

 

[Jon_E]

Black birch is my favorite wood. The other species I'd like to have in my stacks all the time are black locust, shagbark hickory, beech and yellow birch. I don't like oak and don't harvest it unless it's an easy free scrounge.

 

[Hasufel]

Red oak, because of how it smells, splits, and burns. Worth the wait.

 

[Kosmonauts]

Whatever is available locally is the best wood choice. All wood has about the same energy per weight as any other. Hard wood, being more dense, simply means fewer loadings to get the same heat over time than a soft wood.

http://woodheat.org/firewood.html

In our case my local woods of choice are Black Locust, Turkish/Austrian oak, and Chestnut. I also throw in a bit of trimmings from Walnut, Mulberry, and various fruit trees, but simply because I have those on our property.

If I had to pick just one of the local wood, it would be Black Locust. It seasons quickly, and it is cheap.

I use a lot of black locust myself

 

[Kosmonauts]

Black birch is my favorite wood. The other species I'd like to have in my stacks all the time are black locust, shagbark hickory, beech and yellow birch. I don't like oak and don't harvest it unless it's an easy free scrounge.

I have a big stack of black birch drying for next winter. Pretty excited about it!

 

[Kosmonauts]

Way too many to choose from around here in Pa., very blessed and fortunate that way, but Saturday I scored some more Apple and thought "I really like Apple for fuelwood, smells nice, throws great heat" so in my current state of mind I'll say "Apple"!

There is quite the variety in pa I love it

 

[firefighterjake]

This type of thread pops up here a lot . . . and my answer is always the same.

Variety is the spice of life . . . and I love all the wood species . . . each brings something special to the proverbial table. Some split easier. Some light up easier. Some season faster. Some burn longer. Some put on spectacular light and "fireworks" shows. Some coal up nicely. Some are good for quick, hot fires.

However, if pressed . . . white ash. Easy to process. Seasons quickly. It's the woodburner's "go to" wood . . . that one player on the team who may not be a standout in anything in particular, but just a good all-around player who is dependable each and every time you go to them.

 

[StihlKicking]

Just curious, does hickory not grow in a lot of you guys areas. Only three people mentioned it so far. The only reason I would place red oak over hickory is because it's easier to split. Hickory seems to burn hotter than anything else to me. So hot that I usually have to mix other wood with it. It's a toss up between oak and hickory but i certainly place hickory above all birch, beech, ash, maple, locust and the likes. I also would place white oak at the top. My favorites list would look something like this.
1. Red Oak/Hickory
1.5. White Oak/Ash

 

[Oldman47]

Around here shagbark is so common it grows on trees.

 

[Hasufel]

Just curious, does hickory not grow in a lot of you guys areas. Only three people mentioned it so far. The only reason I would place red oak over hickory is because it's easier to split. Hickory seems to burn hotter than anything else to me. So hot that I usually have to mix other wood with it. It's a toss up between oak and hickory but i certainly place hickory above all birch, beech, ash, maple, locust and the likes. I also would place white oak at the top. My favorites list would look something like this.
1. Red Oak/Hickory
1.5. White Oak/Ash

I have hickory but don't like it as much for two main reasons: 1) it's a lot harder to split than oak, and 2) it starts to go bad super fast once it's in contact with the ground. I have some hickory rounds that are unusable because the wood has turned balsa-like and crumbles rather than splits. Oak, on the other hand, may get a little punky around the edges after a few years but the heartwood stays pristine.

Also, I put red oak above white mostly because I have much more of the red and it seems easier to split. I recognize, however, that my perception about ease of splitting could be due to just bad luck with what little white oak I've processed.

 

[StihlKicking]

I have hickory but don't like it as much for two main reasons: 1) it's a lot harder to split than oak, and 2) it starts to go bad super fast once it's in contact with the ground. I have some hickory rounds that are unusable because the wood has turned balsa-like and crumbles rather than splits. Oak, on the other hand, may get a little punky around the edges after a few years but the heartwood stays pristine.

Also, I put red oak above white mostly because I have much more of the red and it seems easier to split. I recognize, however, that my perception about ease of splitting could be due to just bad luck with what little white oak I've processed.

Nope I think your absolutely right, red oak is easier to split. I cut a lot of white oak but it's harder to split. Hickory is definitely way harder to split than red or white oak. I don't have any issues with the "hickory rot" problem you described. My hickory seems to burn hotter than oak and lasts just as long in the stack. As far as being tough to split, I use hydraulics to make quick work of it.

 

[Babaganoosh]

Red oak, because of how it smells, splits, and burns. Worth the wait.

How do you guys like the smell. It's terrible in my opinion. Smells sorta like rancid piss. Flies love it too. Burn quality is top notch though.

 

[TheAardvark]

How do you guys like the smell. It's terrible in my opinion. Smells sorta like rancid piss. Flies love it too. Burn quality is top notch though.

Red oak smells great. Its the white oak that smells like cat pee when you split it. The last time i had white oak to split the smell went away after a week or so of being stacked. I always wanted to have a red oak scented candle, along with a bacon one.

 

[StihlKicking]

How do you guys like the smell. It's terrible in my opinion. Smells sorta like rancid piss. Flies love it too. Burn quality is top notch though.

Depends on what time of the year you cut it. In the summer when the sap is flowing they both stink. In the winter neither do much.

 

[Lcback]

I have never burned hickory. Don't see much of it in my neck of the woods. Mostly black cherry, locust, silver maple, and lots of poplar

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Beech. I love oak as well but nothing burns quite as vibrant, hot, and long as beech.

 

[Hasufel]

Red oak smells great. Its the white oak that smells like cat pee when you split it. The last time i had white oak to split the smell went away after a week or so of being stacked. I always wanted to have a red oak scented candle, along with a bacon one.

Haha, please let me know if you ever find those candles! Red oak is one of my favorite smells (along with bacon of course). It reminds me of sweet fermented fruit. It's funny that people here seem to either love it or hate it. Either the soil affects the smell or there's something about people's sense of smell that makes it register so different (kind of like gasoline--some people are said to really love the smell). Hey, I've got an idea--red oak smoked bacon! Wanna start a business?

As for white oak, I've only split one tree and it was already pretty weathered so there wasn't much smell, but it still seemed pleasant (in a barrel-aged wine or whisky kind of way). Someone here compared the smell of hickory to a horse barn, which isn't far off because I find it to have a faint manure-like smell. Definitely not one of its advantages!

 

[Slimjim]

Haha, please let me know if you ever find those candles! Red oak is one of my favorite smells (along with bacon of course). It reminds me of sweet fermented fruit. It's funny that people here seem to either love it or hate it. Either the soil affects the smell or there's something about people's sense of smell that makes it register so different (kind of like gasoline--some people are said to really love the smell). Hey, I've got an idea--red oak smoked bacon! Wanna start a business?

As for white oak, I've only split one tree and it was already pretty weathered so there wasn't much smell, but it still seemed pleasant (in a barrel-aged wine or whisky kind of way). Someone here compared the smell of hickory to a horse barn, which isn't far off because I find it to have a faint manure-like smell. Definitely not one of its advantages!

Red oak is by far my favorite. So easy to split plus its good exercise with the fiskars instead of using the splitter.

Most of the white oak I have split stinks for the first week or two..after that it doesnt bother me.

 

[Jags]

I think smell is not only subjective, but can change based off of different stages of the natural dead/decay cycle. Just an observation...

 

[Flame On]

Just curious, does hickory not grow in a lot of you guys areas. Only three people mentioned it so far.

In southeast PA, hickory is hard to come by. Ash (which is my favorite, so easy to split), maple, red oak, cherry and walnut seem to be the species that end up in my wood pile the most. I've also seen mulberry and locust.
However, there is a small stand of shag bark hickory at the entrance to my work. I have to drive by it every morning and afternoon and man it is painful. Every time we have a storm I can't wait to see if one has fallen, but they never seem to.

 

[Rustyreel]

Hard Maple!