One Wood to Rule Them All?

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richg

Minister of Fire
Nov 20, 2005
888
Alluding to The Lord of The Rings, if you could burn only one species, what would it be? One wood to rule them all. Some criteria that come to mind:

-BTU output
-ease of splitting
-Seasoning time
-availability

While I have never burned it, black or honey locust looks to be hear the top (I do have about 1/8 of a scrounged cord of black locust and look forward to trying it). White Ash would also be another top pick, and I've burned a lot of it. Oak has great heat output, but takes a long time to season. Hickory cranks out heat, but can be beast to split and isn't all that common, at least around here. What do you think?
 
What ever I can get my hands on in sufficient quanity to last the winter.
 
Ash and pignut hickory would be my first choices, Oak is probably prefered because of availability and ease of splitting.
 
Sorry can't help there. Variety is the spice of wood burning. I would be boord with just one wood.

Billy
 
Hickory.

I burn a lot of stuff. White oak is probably my primary fuel, osage, locust, maple, elm, basically anything found in the midwest will end up in my pile. BUT my answer to a single source of fuel - it would be hickory. Splits fine, seasons in a year, excellent btu content, excels at holding coals.

In my opinion, it is probably the best "all around" fuel with the best overall burn characteristics of any single wood type.
 
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shagbark hickory. i don't get alot of it but when i do, i covet it and keep it in it's own pile and use it for special occasions - like when it gets cold out! it used to get cold here every winter, but lately, its a special occasion. last year we had one night at 10 below, other than that it barely ever went below zero. i probably could have survived last winter burning pine.
 
beech or hard maple
 
Tough question to answer. I would say Black Locust for the middle of winter (dries fairly quickly and really puts out the heat) but I wouldn't want to be burning Black Locust in October or April. Personally I burn a lot of oak (red and white) because it's available and easy to split, and I have enough wood to be able to give it the drying time it needs. For the shoulder season I burn chunks and softer woods like cedar and pine. It's pretty hard to pick just one species.
 
I find that free wood burns the best. If we were to further classify, I would take hedge for the cold days and ash for the not so cold.
 
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I find that free wood burns the best. If we were to further classify, I would take hedge for the cold days and ash for the not so cold.
Lol.....Is free wood a species......???? :)
 
hedge is my favorite to burn,but not to process, we have alot of it. i like pecan, tall and straight no limbs for 40' or so and alot of wood in a 30" tree. but i burn it all, what ever is easy to get !
 
I had a good bit of black locust last year. it splits great, seasons quick and burns hot.
I have an equal supply of hard maple, ash, cherry, hackberry, elm, mulberry, sycamore.
I should have a better idea next year.
 
Silver Birch. Loads around here, nobody else even looks at it for burning, it seasons fast, burns hot, and it splits easy.

I have no idea why I have over 3 cords of oak in my stacks........
wink.gif
 
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If dreaming, I'd choose "hickory".
If a real choice for my location, "birch".
 
80% Black locust 20% anything any other hardwood (besides oak)
 
If allowed only one type to burn, I'd ask for oak. However, it does require enough space for 3 years worth of stacks and the drive to gather 3 years' worth all at once. Once you get there, ya only have to get a years worth every year. Oak burns great for both the deep winter and the shoulder seasons. Fortunately, we have a range of species to burn and the real fun in loading the stove for different times and needs is in figuring out what varieties to mix in the load. But if only one could be had, I vote oak.
 
I'd have to say red oak.
 
I have access to roughly equal amounts of Red/Black/White/Bur Oak & mostly Shagbark,a little Bitternut Hickory.White Oak is close to the Hickory in density & heat value.But the Hickory dries much faster & is normally no harder to split.So that'd be my choice if only picking one.

When doing the occasional scrounge or getting paid for removal/cleanup I'll see pretty much all the midwestern woods others have mentioned.Only one I wont bring home is Ailanthus.
 
My first choice would be madrone here in the west. Burns hot, coals up, lasts forever in the woodpile, and its around. It is not cheap though. It is a highly preferred firewood up and down the west coast. I burned a lot of black locust here this year and a lot of people here are not that keen on it. I got a half cord split and dried from a guy that has a tree biz. He was getting rid of it and commented that I would need a hot burning stove to burn it. My stoves ate it just fine, thank you. His stuff was getting pithy after 2 years though, so it does not seem to store as well here in this wet climate.

My list in order of the best species that I will get off my butt to go after:

Madrone
Oregon White or CA Black oak (burns great but rots faster here than most woods)
Locust (burns hot)
Bigleaf maple
Apple/pear (makes pretty colors in the fire)
Alder (light, but great during the shoulder seasons, smells great)
Doug Fir (smokes, but lasts forever and burns hot)
Cherry (rots pretty fast though, light burning, smells great)
.
.
.
The wood I do not bother with any more (even for free)
Grand fir
Willow
Cottonwood/Aspen/Poplar
 
Call me crazy, but if I could only pick one it would be CHERRY.
I know it doesn't last as long as locust or hickory but...
Some of us have 10, 20, or more cords split and stacked, could you imagine the smell of your yard if it was ALL CHERRY!
 
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My first choice would be Oregon Ash or Douglas Fir. Easy to split/easy to season, and still about 90% BTU's as any hardwood.
My second choice would be Alder or Oregon Bigleaf Maple.
Madrone is the alternate best, but it's harder to find in the Willamette Valley, so it's not top.

I have plenty of Oregon White Oak, but because of the long seasoning time, and the hard to split nature, I'd prefer Ash or Doug Fir, because it's not worth the extra year seasoning, and the hard nature to split for 10% more BTU's. I can process about double the loads Doug Fir or Ash, in the same time as a load of Oak.
 
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