Heating your home with firewood is a great way to save money and warm a house quickly and efficiently. We have heated our home primarily with a wood stove for almost 40 years. From experience, choosing the correct wood ( when you have a choice) can make the difference between a warm, comfortable winter with less work or a cool uncomfortable home with extra work, or somewhere in between.
What are the best types of wood to burn? The best types of wood are generally hardwood that has been properly seasoned. However, there are times when softwood can be burned efficiently. Let’s take a look at the different hardwoods and softwoods.
Hardwoods
It is always best to burn hardwood when available. Hardwood is denser and heavier in weight and has more volume of matter to burn. When you pick up almost any piece of hardwood, it is obvious by the weight with a few exceptions of softwood that hold large amounts of moisture in the wood.
Once the wood is dry or seasoned, hardwood will stand out as a denser, heavier wood always in comparison to dry softwood. Hardwood also cuts (with a chain saw) harder and slower than softwood. These qualities also make it a better burning wood. Here are some examples of the best burning hardwoods with their typical weight and BTU rating per cord.
Applewood is an excellent hardwood that not only burns well but has a great smell to the smoke. Applewood is used to make pellets for smokers and chips for standard grills because of this quality. Apple trees are not very large, so the wood generally does not require splitting to burn. It takes several (maybe 10) apple trees to make a cord of apple wood.
White ash was one of my favorite woods to burn until the emerald ash borer wiped out most of the plentiful ash trees in northern Ohio and across the mid-western U.S. over the past 15 years. The large supply of the plentiful and excellent burning white ash trees have almost disappeared from the area. The ash wood would split easily, burn hot, and leave a small number of ashes when burnt.
Cherry wood is similar to apple wood in burn quality and has a nice aroma to the smoke. It is also a small tree and takes up to 10 trees to make a single cord of firewood.
Dogwood is a good choice when available, requires little splitting because of its small limb size. Dogwood is not plentiful in the mid-west, so it is rare to get for firewood.
Black Locust wood is also a great wood to heat with, but it is difficult to split due to its stringy grain. This means the split pieces do not “pop” apart like ash wood. Instead, the wood must be split along the entire piece of wood as it “sticks” together. It does burn well and has a long constant heat.
Maple wood is a marginal hardwood. It is very common and available wood in the northern US. It splits well and burns well but leaves more ashes than most hardwoods.
Red and White Oak (White oak is readily available in most of the U.S., red oak mostly in the south) are both excellent burning wood. White oak splits second only to white ash, generally very easy with a “pop” when it is struck. White oak is very available to the wood burning general public and leaves the least amount of ash of any wood that I burn.
The wood from Osage orange trees is available but not in large quantities. It has one of the highest BTY ratings of wood available in the northern US of 32.9 million BTU’s per cord of wood.
Black walnut is also an excellent burning hardwood. There are plenty of black walnut trees available and are generally removed from yards because of their annoying large green nuts that are of no value. The dark wood is, on the other hand, desired by woodworkers for crafts and projects.
Hickory is a nut tree that is one of my favorite burning woods. It is not as plentiful as in the late 1900s. It is a medium, easy splitting wood that “pops” when hit correctly but can have knotty areas. It is second in BTU’s only to Osage orange and is slightly hotter burning than white oak.
Hardwoods and Their Statistics
| Species | Green Weight Per cord | Dry Weight Per Cord | Millions BTU’s Per Cord | Ease of Splitting |
| Apple | 4850 | 3890 | 27.0 | Medium |
| Ash, Green | 4180 | 2880 | 20.0 | Easy |
| Ash, White | 3950 | 3470 | 24.2 | Easy |
| Beech | 3760 | 27.5 | Easy | |
| Cherry | 3690 | 2930 | 20.4 | Easy |
| Dogwood | 4230 | 27.0 | Difficult | |
| Hackberry | 3980 | 3048 | 21.2 | Easy |
| Black Locust | 4620 | 4020 | 27.9 | Difficult |
| Maple | 4680 | 3680 | 25.5 | Easy |
| Sugar Maple | 3900 | 2750 | 19.0 | Medium |
| Mullberry | 4710 | 3712 | 25.8 | Easy |
| Red Oak | 4890 | 3528 | 24.6 | Medium |
| White Oak | 5570 | 4200 | 29.1 | Medium |
| Osage Orange | 5120 | 4728 | 32.9 | Easy |
| Black Walnut | 4584 | 3190 | 22.2 | Easy |
| Hickory | 5400 | 4650 | 29.2 | Medium |
Medium Woods
The next group of wood species identified is medium wood. This group, in general, has a very high moisture content when cutting but very low moisture content when it is dry or cured. I would typically only burn this group of wood in the early fall or late spring when I do not need as much heat. I would also verify that the wood is dry and seasoned to the 15% to 20% moisture content level.
Plentiful in new growth woods in the mid-west is Basswood. East to split but heavy on ashes, it is not a great burning wood but will do when you only require 10 to 15 degrees F of heat rise in the spring.
Birch is actually one of the better burning woods in this category at 20.8 million BTU’s/cord. It will dry out fast and eventually burn like paper so don’t let it set too long (3 – 4 years).
Horse chestnut or Buckeye tree in Ohio is also in this category. This wood loses more than half its weight when seasoned. Not the best burning wood but again, okay for early fall.
Cottonwood is very plentiful across the U.S. This tree is considered a nuisance because it constantly drops limbs and the flying “cotton” from the tree in the spring is awful on allergies. It burns better than most in this category when cured, and it splits easy. Cottonwoods are quickly replaced when cut because they grow 20-30 feet in several years.
American Elm is the best burning wood in this group as it comes in at 20.0 million BTU’s/cord. It is a stringy, difficult wood to split. It does add a good fragrance to the smoke.
Silver maple is added to this category with a 19.0 million BTU’s/cord rating. It splits medium and has a good fragrance. I had not mentioned it earlier, but as in the hardwood category, silver maple creates good hot coals after it burns. This promotes a good base to add wood to so the fire continues to burn hot.
Sycamore and willow finish off this category of medium woods. Sycamore is a difficult wood to split and willow an easy splitting wood. Both burn about the same in the upper end of this group of wood types.
Here is a list of stats on these species.
| Species | Green Wt. Per Cord | Dry Wt. Per Cord | Millions BTU’s Per Cord | Ease of Splitting |
| Basswood | 4400 | 1980 | 13.8 | Easy |
| Birch | 4310 | 2990 | 20.8 | Medium |
| Horse Chestnut | 4210 | 1980 | 13.8 | Medium |
| Cottonwood | 4640 | 2270 | 15.8 | Easy |
| American Elm | 4460 | 2870 | 20.0 | Difficult |
| Silver Maple | 3900 | 2750 | 19.0 | Medium |
| Sycamore | 5090 | 2800 | 19.5 | Difficult |
| Willow | 4320 | 2540 | 17.6 | Easy |
Soft Woods
The final category of wood species is softwoods. Burning these is typically a last resort for me. I generally do not waste time or energy on soft wood as the heat that it produces is so minimal it is not worth the effort.
If some are thrown in with a load that was delivered to me, I usually move it to my campfire wood to burn outside. If softwoods are all you have available, then here are some of the types and details of these woods. All of these softwoods split easily.
White fir does make a good kindling wood. This would be used to start a fire quickly. When split into 1″ x 6″ pieces, this will quickly ignite and hardwood can be placed on it to start the real hot fire.
White pine is plentiful across the western states and Canada and is used heavily in construction. It burns quickly when dry but also has a high content of pine sap which adds to creosote buildup in chimneys. Pine creates a lot of ashes.
Spruce is in the pine family and has similar qualities as pine for burning and ash content.
The statistics on these woods are listed in the table below.
| Species | Green Wt. Per Cord | Dry Wt. Per Cord | Millions BTU’s Per Cord | Ease of Splitting |
| White Fir | 3580 | 2100 | 14.6 | Easy |
| White Pine | 2900 | 2250 | 15.9 | Easy |
| Spruce | 2800 | 2240 | 15.5 | Easy |
Drying Wood
Wood for burning should be dried or seasoned to 15% to 20% moisture content. As you can see by some of the charts, this can reduce the weight of the wood by 1/3 (most hardwoods) to as much as 50% in some softwoods. Allowing the wood to dry and lose its moisture is necessary for the wood to burn properly. Wood that is too “wet” will waste heat as the heat created is used in drying out the wood.
Wood should be cut and split at least six months and preferably 12 months ahead, so it has sufficient time to dry. It should then be stacked in single rows, off the ground to let air move through the wood to dry it thoroughly.
Wood that has been dried to the proper moisture content will provide the maximum BTU’s per cord and will leave the least amount of ashes to be removed from the wood burner.
Properly seasoned wood will also burn “safer” as it will produce less PM or Particulate Matter. These are the contaminants that exit the chimney and stick to the walls of the chimney causing creosote buildup.
Properly seasoning your firewood is an efficiency issue as well as a safety issue. Plan ahead to have your wood supply delivered, cut, and split well in advance of the burning season.
Storing Wood
Once your wood is cured to the proper moisture content, the wood should be placed in storage. You do not necessarily have to move the wood. It should at least be covered. A simple tarp will do. Just covering the wood with a watertight cover will maintain a consistent moisture content where it is for several years.
A wood shed is an option to dry and then store wood in without moving the wood. A wood shed has a roof to protect the wood from rain and snow but has open (6″ gaps) in the walls to allow air to move through the structure and through the wood.
Storing wood inside an enclosed barn or shed is fine also. I would not recommend this long term. The gaps in wood storage allow mice and other critters to nest in the piles. Having a cat or mouse traps to reduce the population is highly recommended, or the pests will take over. The wood will remain dry for long periods of time but rotating the supply will keep it fresh and disrupt the mouse population.
Burning Wood
Burning the almost 30 species of wood discussed is the point of the article. Finding, cutting, splitting, drying, storing is all done to burn the wood and produce heat. This is why I will spend more time finding quality wood that will produce more heat than finding wood quickly that produces little heat and a lot of ashes.
If I can purchase one cord of osage orange wood, it is better than two cords of cottonwood that I can pick up for free from a friend’s downed trees.
The properly dried hardwood will ignite easily and burn longer and hotter than a softwood every time. Once the fire is lit and burning, the base of coals should be maintained to keep the fire burning as new wood is added. A two to three inch base of coals should be left from the last batch of wood to set the new load of wood on as it is added to the stove.
The hardwoods that I have listed in the article all have good to excellent characteristics when it comes to leaving a long-lasting, hot burning coal. Adding wood to the fire while the coals are still hot is key to keeping the fire consistent and crucial to maintaining a warm home.
A new tool for wood burning stoves in this day of technology is a thermometer that will alert the homeowner on a smartphone app when the stove is too hot or too cool. The Tempsure wood stove thermometer will enable you to view the wood stove temperature on your phone.
Ash Removal
Removing the ashes from a wood burner is another task that is required. The species of wood has a large effect on the amount of ash that is produced and remains after a fire is burned.
Just as I prefer to burn wood that provides more heat, I also prefer to burn wood that provides less ash. Anything I can do (after 40 years of burning wood) to reduce the amount of work to make heat is advantageous to me and you.
The majority of the hardwoods in the list have low ash after burning content. The softwoods generally have the opposite. They have higher ash after burning content. This is just one additional reason to find and burn hardwoods over softwoods.
Conclusion
Burning wood for heat can save money and provide a warm, comfortable home in the heart of a cold winter.
Choosing the correct wood to burn can make the stove burn hotter and longer. The correct wood will also provide a better coal base and fewer ashes to clean up.
Additional Questions
How much wood will I burn in a season? Typically, a wood stove will burn 3 to 4 cords of wood in a season. There are many factors that affect the amount. Check my article on How Much Wood Will a Wood Burning Stove Burn in a Season?
What are the best places to find local firewood? The first place to look for firewood would be local tree trimming companies. I have several other suggestions in my article on The Best Places to Find Local Firewood