Your Favorite Wood (for stoves and fireplaces)?

[hickoryhoarder]

Mine is red oak. It catches quick, burns hot, lasts long. Makes great-looking fires when combined with hickory and/or cherry. Plenty of sound, too.

Love to split it -- the color, texture, and smell.

Of course it needs plenty of seasoning.

My ideal woodlot would be about 1/2 red oak, with a mix of hickory, cherry, and other oaks. Maybe throw in a little sassafras for entertainment.

 

[Woody5506]

So far I'd have to say ash or various maples. But at this point I like anything that's truly seasoned, including soft woods.

 

[firefighterjake]

Seasoned . . .

 

[TheAardvark]

Depends on the situation. If I get it already dry...you cant beat oak. If I cut it green I would say Ash due to the quality of wood combined with quick seasoning time.

 

[Blazing]

I'm at about 75% red oak. White oak and hickory make up the rest. Red oak splits so nice and burns great so I reckon it has my vote for number one. That said I sure enjoy the smell of the others when I'm processing them. Hickory is kind of a rare gem even though we have plenty and boy it's hard on chains.

 

[Bmore]

I have mostly burned red oak but lately have gotten ahold of plenty of Black Locust. Dries faster burns hotter, bark peels off cleanly when split. Love it!

 

[shoot-straight]

favorite wood- red and chestnut oak are great, split nice and burn long. But, they both take too long to dry. I hate having to put oak up for 2-3 years. Ash is similar, but lower in Btus but dries very quickly when split and stacked. Splits nice too.

 

[adrpga498]

Locust, hands down. Burns hot,hot,hot. Although I haven't haven't burned Osage orange yet, I hear thats even better.

 

[Tar12]

Top dog here for me is Hedge(Osage Orange) followed by White Oak,Red Oak,Locust,Elm,Hickory and Ash...I am 3 years ahead on Oak and want to maintain that...my logger buddy just called and wants to cut up 3 massive Red Oak logs that didn't cut the grade for sale at the mill...it will be a 660 thanksgiving...

 

[Jay106n]

I'm with you on the red oak. I've been sitting on some for 3 years now it is just awesome to burn.

 

[bob95065]

I'll burn any hardwood I can get for free but my favorite is eucalyptus. It is straight as a telephone pole, splits easy green, seasons fast and burns as hot as oak. Being straight it stacks tight too. The downside is you get splinters easy when it is dry.

Number two is coastal live oak. Burns real hot and there is lots of it around here.

Really my favorite is any hardwood I can get. It all looks the same when you take it out of the wood stove.

 

[splions]

Black Birch for me. I started burning locust this year and I like it a lot. I have plenty of Red oak...easy to split but takes forever to dry...great heat though.

 

[Woody5506]

After a bit more deliberation and wood processing this past weekend I'm gonna go ahead and just say Ash takes the cake. Looks good, smells good, splits good, burns good, and seasons quick like others mentioned. Plus its fairly abundant around here. I'm a bit jealous of the guys who seem to have an endless supply of oak, as I barely get any, but I'm too impatient anyway to wait 3 years to season it. Holding off on my locust for another year has been testing me enough.

 

[venator260]

After a bit more deliberation and wood processing this past weekend I'm gonna go ahead and just say Ash takes the cake. Looks good, smells good, splits good, burns good, and seasons quick like others mentioned. Plus its fairly abundant around here. I'm a bit jealous of the guys who seem to have an endless supply of oak, as I barely get any, but I'm too impatient anyway to wait 3 years to season it. Holding off on my locust for another year has been testing me enough.

Ash would be my all star as well. Unfortunately, I don't have too much more left to go get. The EAB decimated the local ash population in my area. The trees still standing are starting to get to the point that they're not worth too much, as they've been dead for some time. I'll be burning it for another 2-3 years from what I have put up already. After that, I'll be starting back to a greater mixture of woods based upon what dies or blows over in the woods behind the house and if I can find a log yard to clean up.

 

[Wood Duck]

Firewood is my favorite too, wait, what was the question?

 

[HisTreeNut]

I am partial to Freebius Beeteeyouibus. Have a lot of that in my stacks.

 

[fbelec]

locust for the bitter cold. it dries way faster than oak. maple for normal burn it dries in a reasonable time and make a great fire. apple or cherry for the nice smell. and low grade maple or pine dries and burns quick for the shoulder season

 

[hickoryhoarder]

I'll burn any hardwood I can get for free but my favorite is eucalyptus. It is straight as a telephone pole, splits easy green, seasons fast and burns as hot as oak. Being straight it stacks tight too. The downside is you get splinters easy when it is dry.

Number two is coastal live oak. Burns real hot and there is lots of it around here.

Really my favorite is any hardwood I can get. It all looks the same when you take it out of the wood stove.

We don't have a lot of those in the East. Never tried them.

 

[bob95065]

We don't have a lot of those in the East. Never tried them.

I grew up in Calumet City, Il and went to college in NE Indiana. Before I moved here I hadn't seen these type of trees either. The eucalyptus are not a native species. People say they were planted for different reasons-lumber, railroad ties, windbreak, etc. they grow very fast and tall. The trouble with them is the green wood checks very easily. I have put a 24" round in the sun and a week later it is split in half. They are terrible for lumber but they make great firewood.

The live oaks are a white ink that is very dense. You better split it green or you'll have a fight to get it done. It is good wood to burn but if it sits on the ground through a enter it will begin to rot. Eucalyptus can sit on the dirt for a few years before it starts to rot.

Another type of tree that I like are madrone. They have a red wood that is SLO's dense. They are very slow growing and have lots of twists in the branches making them hard to split and stack.

 

[dafattkidd]

My favorite firewood is sugar maple. It dries quick, smells great, burns clean and hot, it's pleasant to handle and there's something about it I just really like. I haven't had much luck getting any in the past few years. But my favorite wood for the coldest nights is locust. It burns hot and long- generally splits easy, but smells terrible when burned.

 

[fbelec]

locust smells like puke when it's green and the bark slips off and slimy

 

[Woody5506]

Honey locust smells great when splitting.

 

[KC Matt]

If I could pick only one wood to burn overall it's an easy pick: Honey Locust. Grows big and straight, splits easily, seasons in 1.5 years, smells great, burns HOT makes great coals. Splits stack nicely and it's beautiful grain. Lasts forever in any form.

Hedge burns better but the hedge around here is in rows which grow like a grape vine. Not an inch of straight wood in it, PITA to split. Full of dirt, eats chains. Beautiful wood though and lasts longer than locust. Used as fence posts, they last a hundred years or more. In the open hedge grows like any tree and that would be amazing for firewood. I know of a city tree, shaped like a red oak and 4 feet diameter. I dream of turning that into firewood.

 

[drz1050]

Beech might be my favorite to burn so far, but it can be a pain to split sometimes. Kinda surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[Vikestand]

If I could have a stack with 70% Ash and 30% Red Oak, I'd be a happy man.