Best Wood To Burn In Your Fireplace

[caption id="attachment_3871" align="alignleft" width="311"] Best Fire Wood To Use[/caption]

If you have a fireplace, then you know important it is to get the right wood. If the wood has gone bad, then your room will smell awful. If the wood is wet and mossy, then the wood won't burn as well. Here are some tips for picking the right wood to use:

The best firewood is of course the type that best suits your needs which can vary depending on whether you are cooking or using the wood for heat in a fireplace. There are many types of wood which are suitable either for the fireplace or for cooking. Here I will repeat some of the basic important principles that are important when choosing wood. After that is a detailed list of several common types of firewood and their characteristics.

"Seasoned" Firewood - Seasoned firewood is wood which has been left out to dry for an extended period of time. Wet wood, including green wood which has recently been cut from a tree, is more difficult to burn and burns with less heat. Avoid using wet wood and always use seasoned firewood if at all possible.

Energy Content - BTUs (British Thermal Units) - This is a measure of how much heat is given off by a certain amount of wood. The hardwoods have the highest BTU content and thus are considered the best firewood for high, intense heat. The highest of the high include rock elm, sugar maple, and red oak. Softwoods, like white pine, basswood, green ash, and white spruce, are much less dense and thus do not burn as long with as much heat output.

Hardwood versus Softwood - Hardwoods are very dense. They pack more BTUs of potential heat energy per volume of firewood. Therefore they tend to be the best firewood types for heat and for cooking. However, they are more difficult to get ignited in the first place. Softwoods are less dense and also tend to be more resinous. This means they ignite much faster, and thus can be good as a starter wood to get your fire going. However, they tend to give off less heat and burn faster.

Some examples of hardwoods
Best Firewood - Ash, red oak, white oak, beech, birch, hickory, hard maple, pecan, dogwood, almond, apple (incense-like perfume, nice scent); high heat, easy to burn, no heavy smoke, overall excellent

Good - Soft maple, cherry, walnut; medium heat, easy to burn, no heavy smoke.

Fair - elm, sycamore, gun, aspen, basswood, cottonwood, yellow poplar (bitter smoke); low to medium heat, can be a bit harder to burn, medium smoke, ok for kindling but not as much heat and more smoke.

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