Hardwoods vs. Softwoods in the Stash

[PDXpyro]

After several years of mostly wood-heating here in the moderate-temperate Pacific Northwest, I've concluded that having at least 50% softwood in the stacks makes life easier and more pleasant. We get extended periods of sub-freezing weather only rarely, and our typical winter temperatures run more into the humid 30s and 40s.

Doug fir is our primary softwood, and it's easy to season fresh-cut fir to well below 20% over a single dry season between spring and fall, say six months. But the dense hardwoods take two or three years, and therefore take up much more seasoning space, which is somewhat limited here.

With softwoods, I've found that it's much easier to modulate the daily fires to suit the weather: a hot, quick fire can be built easily, and throwing another chunk or two on during relatively mild days keeps things going. Those long-stored hardwoods are always available for colder weather and extended burns, but softwoods are our real staple, and that seems to work out best in our situation and climate.

Overall, I guess my point is that a fetish for hardwoods can sometimes overshadow the advantages of softwoods... ironically, burners in the very coldest northern regions are often *stuck* with softwoods exclusively, while we in more moderate climates with access to both hards and softs can get hung up on a somewhat prejudicial preference for the hardwoods.

 

[Woody Stover]

I have a little Red Pine kindling, and another one to take down in the yard, but other than that soft Maple or Tulip is about as "soft" as it gets here. Tulip is used for kindling. I would have to go out of my way, off-site, to get any softwoods. I can get a fairly short fire with a few splits of soft Maple or Cherry.

 

[Little Digger]

When a tree service first started dropping off pine, I was in heaven since that is my more favorite of woods. Then when the hardwoods started coming in, elm, ash, walnut, and cherry, the driver who was also owner of the company said those were a treat. But to me the treat was the pine. If I had a choice between having all hardwoods or all soft, especially pine, I would take the soft.

My addiction is wood, it doesn't matter the species nor whether it's hard or soft wood, it all burns and provides heat for my home. Or for the warmer weather, a smallish outside fire to just enjoy during the evening.

 

[BenTN]

i think a lot of the prejudice comes out of labor/per BTU. hardwoods obviously have the upper hand in the amount of work it takes to produce a few million BTUs. this of course goes for the folks who scrounge/collect, C/S/S their own wood. i do agree that softwoods(pine) has their place in burning, i especially enjoy them for outdoor/camp fires.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

Location, Location, Location. The favorite wood, be it soft or hard, will vary depending on where you live, what you do with it, and the climate.

 

[firefighterjake]

For every species there is a season . . . turn, turn, turn.

Been burning pretty much pine and poplar with a few hardwood chunks thrown in so far this heating season . . . haven't touched the hardwood yet.

 

[spirilis]

Loving my poplar chunks from cutting my free scrounge splits short... I'm only 1/2 way through the first of 2 large bins of cutoffs/uglies, haven't touched the actual splits yet. I have a source of good hardwoods (oak/hickory forest on my dad's property) and in the next year or 2 I may consider buying a cord of pine/poplar if the price is right.

 

[Seanm]

I would think that for the people who have smaller plots of land softwoods would be the best choice since its pretty hard to store 3 years worth of oak on a residential lot. I could do this but I wouldn't have any room for anything else and I don't think the wife or the city would like it much. If I had the space to put 3 or 4 cords of oak and forget about it for 3 years I definitely would. I live in a small mountain town and have easy access to lots of fir, lodgepole pine and larch. Ive been burning some white birch lately and find that it tends to have much more coals nearing the end of the burn not to mention the amount of ash compared to larch.

 

[AmbDrvr253]

Ive burned some white birch. Great stuff for shoulder seasons. Not so good for overnites. I would not snub my nose at it. Easily lights and burns hot.

 

[ElmBurner]

My preference is max BTU for minimum effort. So far on my property, this has lead to timber grown cherry trees. There's a lot of positives: They grow tall with few branches relatively quickly, they split easily, dry fast, burn well, smell good, and get damaged often enough by the wind that I don't need to cut down anything that hasn't already been damaged. Good wildlife food source, too.

Basswood is kind of the same way. I have a few growing on the edges of my timber that I keep for the bees, but also have some doozies in the timber that are probably 16 - 18" dbh and basically all trunk for a good 60 ft or more. Even though the wood is not that great, it's so easy to process.

Oak is great, but there's a lot of top to process and I don't feel right about just dumping it all back into the woods. Takes forever to dry too. So, generally, I don't go looking for it. I'd rather look at it than burn it, really. I just take the standing dead or storm damaged trees.

If I had pine to burn, I'd burn it for sure. Lots of pros to it. But there is not a lot of it native to my area, what little that is native is pretty scarce, and the deer tend to eat it up anyway.

 

[Seanm]

Ive burned some white birch. Great stuff for shoulder seasons. Not so good for overnites. I would not snub my nose at it. Easily lights and burns hot.

I loaded the stove at 11 pm last night with birch and didnt have to reload the stove until 1030 this morning. House was 72 and outside was 12 when I got up (full disclosure... outside at midnight was 23). Birch is the best stuff we have here but its hard to find since you cant cut live trees and any that are dead rot so I typically use larch for overnights. They are so close in btus you need a chart to tell you birch is better. Larch is straighter so it packs the stove better and wont rot like birch.

 

[Seanm]

If I had pine to burn, I'd burn it for sure. Lots of pros to it. But there is not a lot of it native to my area, what little that is native is pretty scarce, and the deer tend to eat it up anyway.

and not all pines are created equal! Id be curious to try some white pine to see how quickly it burns compared to my higher btu lodgepole pine.

 

[usmc1371]

I am a big fan of lodge pole pine it makes great kindling and its very abundant where I cut wood. Tamarack (western Larch) is the is my fav mostly because I can spot a dead standing one from miles away. Red fir is another that I really like but I have a hard time telling a really dead one from a really dead white fir. White fir not so good IMHO.

 

[Seanm]

I have a hard time telling a really dead one from a really dead white fir.

I wonder if I have white fir out here? Ill have to look it up. Youre thinking it has low btus? My first thought is that I dont since it doesnt seem familiar to me.

 

[Longstreet]

My preference is max BTU for minimum effort. So far on my property, this has lead to timber grown cherry trees. There's a lot of positives: They grow tall with few branches relatively quickly, they split easily, dry fast, burn well, smell good, and get damaged often enough by the wind that I don't need to cut down anything that hasn't already been damaged. Good wildlife food source, too.

Basswood is kind of the same way. I have a few growing on the edges of my timber that I keep for the bees, but also have some doozies in the timber that are probably 16 - 18" dbh and basically all trunk for a good 60 ft or more. Even though the wood is not that great, it's so easy to process.

Oak is great, but there's a lot of top to process and I don't feel right about just dumping it all back into the woods. Takes forever to dry too. So, generally, I don't go looking for it. I'd rather look at it than burn it, really. I just take the standing dead or storm damaged trees.

If I had pine to burn, I'd burn it for sure. Lots of pros to it. But there is not a lot of it native to my area, what little that is native is pretty scarce, and the deer tend to eat it up anyway.

If I could triple like this post i would.

Black cherry is hands down the single best tree in my mind. Good fire wood, great timber, great for smoking, wild life food, wine.....

 

[PDXpyro]

not all pines are created equal!

That's for sure, Seanm. I got some ponderosa a couple of years ago, and thought it was crap compared to other local softwoods: stringy and tough-splitting, and then almost balsa-light when seasoned, but still putting out thick black smoke.

On the other hand, got some wood that I'm virtually sure is pine from a tree guy last year -- don't think it's a native species, but boy is that stuff sweet to burn, and the splits feel twice as heavy as similar ponderosa chunks.

 

[Jay106n]

I'm in New England and have been using a pine, cherry, and ash mix to get some coals going on the colder nights. So far it has not been too bad but, but I have a ton of dry pine so I don't mind burning through it. Most people around here nose up to pine, so its easy to find and hoard it up. I have not touched any of my oak yet this year as it has been fairly mild so far.

 

[Seanm]

not all pines are created equal!

That's for sure, Seanm. I got some ponderosa a couple of years ago, and thought it was crap compared to other local softwoods: stringy and tough-splitting, and then almost balsa-light when seasoned, but still putting out thick black smoke.

On the other hand, got some wood that I'm virtually sure is pine from a tree guy last year -- don't think it's a native species, but boy is that stuff sweet to burn, and the splits feel twice as heavy as similar ponderosa chunks.

I have found the same thing with ponderosa pine. For me I have to highway drive 45 minutes minimum before I get out of our valley to where its a bit milder and we find ponderosa pine so I dont bother. I can drive as little as 7 minutes to get the higher btu lodgepole pine so its a no brainer for me. Years ago I remember bringing home a truck load of ponderosa and my axe did lots of bouncing off the rounds. I wouldnt notice this much these days if I did bring some home as I have an electric splitter.

 

[Oldman47]

A little softwood in the piles would be nice but Northern red cedar is rare in my wood lot and even that is not as flexible as the nonexistent pine/fir/spruce that many here use for shoulder season. My shoulder season wood is wild black cherry and similar semi-soft hardwoods.

 

[johneh]

My bush lot is 90% hardwood mostly Maple so I only burn Hardwood
Oak ,Ash , Cherry , and hickory all go to the mill and I clean up The tops
Very few Fir and any Pine left is well over 100 years old and I just let them
grow

 

[Squisher]

I have found the same thing with ponderosa pine. For me I have to highway drive 45 minutes minimum before I get out of our valley to where its a bit milder and we find ponderosa pine so I dont bother. I can drive as little as 7 minutes to get the higher btu lodgepole pine so its a no brainer for me. Years ago I remember bringing home a truck load of ponderosa and my axe did lots of bouncing off the rounds. I wouldnt notice this much these days if I did bring some home as I have an electric splitter.

Lodge pole is definetly the superior pine for certain in BC. I rarely burn any pine at all. Fir, larch, or birch are my go to woods. I owned my own tree service for a decade that I sold this spring. But up until then most of the wood was dumped on my farm and so I've messed around with a lot of different hardwoods that were residentially grown too.

Before my residential tree service days I was a logger and that was when I had the access to the best/easiest firewood ever. Grab a big dry larch with the loader, hold it over the truck bed and cut rounds off right into the box, side shift the loader and repeat. Honestly I highlead logged for my whole career and generally I'd bring my own pickup on a Friday and let the buckerman know that I had a case of beer for the crew to share at the end of the day once my truck was full of rounds. Rarely was it ever not full by quitting time. A case of beer for a pickup full of standing dry rounds. It was heaven.

In contrast I find residential trees to be much less quality of wood and way harder to process with their usually open grown characteristics. Comparatively the slow growing mountain forest trees are tight,straight, and often have lots of clear.

Right now I'm sitting on a couple years supply atleast of fir mostly and then an assortment of hard/mixed woods. That's based on about five full cord a year burned between my house and my shop.

 

[Seanm]

Lodge pole is definetly the superior pine for certain in BC. I rarely burn any pine at all. Fir, larch, or birch

Yeah I burn it because its a easy fuel for me to get and great for when I'm working from home like today. Larch is my favorite wood as well and makes up about 60% of my stacks followed by fir, lodgepole, birch and a bit of spruce. I didn't know you had larch in your area, that's great! We have another member on here that lives in another part of southern BC from you and I who wishes he had access to some. I like birch but its a pain to try and season if you don't have a wood shed (I know get a wood shed!) and the trunks don't seem to be all that straight. I like being able to pack the larch in tight!

Grab a big dry larch with the loader, hold it over the truck bed and cut rounds off right into the box, side shift the loader and repeat.

That sounds like a sweet set up!
I think its time for a stove reload!
Welcome to Hearth Squisher.

 

[Squisher]

Thanks for the welcome. Larch is hard fought for around here too. But when I was logging still I came across it often as a big old soldier dry snag. Prime for the picking. Wood like that would get tucked away on a landing until one of the crew brought their truck the next day or possibly bucked up and in a crummy riding home the same day. We often accumulated logging truck loads of real nice fire, birch, larch, the occasional nice pine.

I haven't had a nice larch in years though. I removed a handful of larch residentially over a ten year span and burned some but nothing like a tight grained big old forest specimen since I stopped logging.

Larch is around enough that I've seen people fell and buck up perfectly healthy green ones thinking they were dead because they've dropped their needles.

 

[Seanm]

Thanks for the welcome. Larch is hard fought for around here too. But when I was logging still I came across it often as a big old soldier dry snag. Prime for the picking. Wood like that would get tucked away on a landing until one of the crew brought their truck the next day or possibly bucked up and in a crummy riding home the same day. We often accumulated logging truck loads of real nice fire, birch, larch, the occasional nice pine.

I haven't had a nice larch in years though. I removed a handful of larch residentially over a ten year span and burned some but nothing like a tight grained big old forest specimen since I stopped logging.

Larch is around enough that I've seen people fell and buck up perfectly healthy green ones thinking they were dead because they've dropped their needles.

We get city folk coming to their cabins over the christmas holidays and from time to time drop a few needless larches as well. What a shame.... This picture was taken this fall. You can see we have a few of them!

 

[Wainwright63]

Ive always been under under the impression that pine, was not good for burning indoors. I heard they produce more creosote. But reading on this site has me tempted to try some. I get my wood from a local tree guy. So i usually have a large selection. Oak is most of my wood, but i get cedar, pine, sweet gum, hackberry, maple and hickory regularly. I sell Firewood but tuck away my wood first.