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Whats Your Big 3 of Firewood?

Started by ReggieT, January 26, 2014, 06:41:19 PM

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ReggieT

I've had the opportunity to burn a ton of different firewood, some excellent-some not so great!
Over the years I've developed a fondness for 3 species: Osage Orange, White Ash, Shagbark Hickory.

If you had only 3 woods to burn until you left planet earth...WHAT WOULD BE YOUR "BIG THREE?"

Also is there any wood you LOVED, but can no longer access or any wood you just flat out...HATED?? LOL

Look forward to the feedback,
Reggie

clww

My favorite three will be what we have in the mountains: Oak, Hickory, Locust.
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Dave Shepard

I like hard maple and white oak. Don't like splitting knotty hard maple by hand. I use the sawmill. :D
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davidlarson

I like about any wood that is dry.  People around here don't like white pine, which is very available, because they say it fills the chimney with creosote, but if I dry it well before burning it, it is a good firewood, though it burns fast.  In some areas, especially in northern places, pine is about all that is available.  My conclusion is that most any wood is good, if it is dry.
David 

pineywoods

Mostly red oak. Dries quickly, splits easily, burns clean, little ash. I have plenty of it. Cut and split in the spring, stack in the barn.  This last year, I did cut and split a water oak, it was a blow-down on my property and I had to clean it up anyway. I give away the slabs off my mill to needy neighbors.
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blackfoot griz

I would love to have access to oak, hickory etc.
Here in MT, we have pine, fir and larch. :-\

ahlkey

Would say the most popular firewood that I sell or use is Beech, Hickory, and Hard Maple.  The first two with little bark seem to dry faster. 

Oak is very close once it dries but it takes longer than the first two.  Ash probably splits easiest of all the hardwoods and it burns well so in the end I agree any hardwood that is dry is really the best.

AnthonyW

My big three would be (1) hardwood, (2) straight grained, (3) ant or bug free.
'97 Wood-Mizer LT25 All Manual with 15HP Kohler

Shetland Sheepdog

White Oak, Red Oak & Sugar Maple! Hickory & Beech are also good choices
White Ash & Red Maple are good, but don't have as much heat output.
Heat output is a direct correlation to wood density!
JMHO, Dave
Proud operators of Sunset Tree Farm. 130 acres of "hilly" forest, and part of the American Tree Farm System.

bobby s

Mine are sugar maple, red oak and a beech. All abundant on my property.

ST Ranch

Premium firewood in these parts is western larch and paper birch.  My preference is a mix of logdepole pine [2 needle pine] and douglas fir [or western larch]. However, I have a lot of white spruce on the farm and if it is well seasoned, it is OK in the spring and fall or during the day, but at night it is nice to load up with the D-Fir and Larch.
Tom   
LT40G28 with mods,  Komatsu D37E crawler,
873 Bobcat with CWS log grapple,

beenthere

Red oak and White oak, but currently burning White ash too.

The ash is okay but the oak doesn't leave as much ash after the burn, although takes a full two seasons to dry after splitting green for best heat. The ash after one full season burns well.

But really depends on what is available.

My friends who have moved from WI to OR and WA really miss the oaks.
south central Wisconsin
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r.man

If I was going to burn green wood then I would take half a load of ash and half maple or beech. With a hydraulic splitter the criteria becomes how well it heats only instead of including how hard it is to split. If I was burning dry wood I would take mostly maple with a bit of ash available for starting. I grew up in a wood heat only house and was taught how to fire by my father over many years. I picked up his habit of liking to have a variety of length and size available to manage different conditions. This is not particularly important with an OWB but old habits die hard.
Life is too short or my list is too long, not sure which. Dec 2014

gspren

  Oak, red or white, Locust, then cherry. Right now I have a few pieces of hickory in the stove and it would rate higher if it didn't make so much ash, I'll burn almost anything that falls down or dies in my woods.
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thecfarm

I call oak my money trees. Sounds good anyways. I have some big hemlock that I think are not much good for logs. One year I burnt all white pine that was pasture pines. Very crooked stuff. I had my land logged and there was alot of cut offs from white pine that carried me for a  couple years. Fir, be it dead or alive burns well too.Then when all that runs out I have a meadow that has some white maple on it. It's all rotted hearted,will make some good fire wood.No good for anything else.
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Jack72

I would say

1-Any Oak

2- hedge 

3  hickory if I can find


Hate - cotton wood   Big trees but you get no heat out of it.   And it gets in my pool and air conditioner in the summer go_away smiley_furious

Jack
13 Chevy Duramax
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trapper

stihl ms241cm ms261cm  echo 310 400 suzuki  log arch made by stepson several logrite tools woodmizer LT30

Dusty Rhodes

Oak (Red, White, Chestnut, Pin, Black) Hickory ( Shagbark, Pignut, Red, Bitternut) and
Black Locust. Some of the reason for my top three listing is based on availability to me.   I would love to try Osage Orange but have never run into any around here.   Having listed my top three I loved burning Sugar Maple and Beech when I lived in Maine.  I just do not seem to run into much Sugar Maple or Beech for firewood here in Central PA.  I would rate Sugar Maple and Black Birch right up there with my top three. Depending on the year, I burn the top three listed and Black Birch, Red Maple, White Ash, Cherry, and Elm.  We are blessed to have so many Fair to Great hardwoods for heating.  When your frozen rear end backs up to the furnace to get warm, it does not really care what wood is in the furnace, just that it burns and puts out heat  :)

Ken

Sugar maple, yellow birch and beech.  Doesn't get any better than that around here
Lots of toys for working in the bush

firechief

1. Red Oak
2. White Oak
3. Cherry
These are the 3 that are abundant in my area.  Love that Red Oak, easy to split, plenty of btu's.  Have more Red Oak in this area than anything, lucky for me.

doctorb

1.  Black Locust - available to me, splits great, stores forever, great heat.
2.  Oak - red or white - available, splits well, slower drying, great heat.
3.  My third place is a distand third.  Probably cherry.
My father once said, "This is my son who wanted to grow up and become a doctor.  So far, he's only become a doctor."

Corley5

Ironwood, sugar maple, yellow birch, and beech in that order.  I'll burn anything.  We're on a mix of yellow birch, white and red pine, basswood and popple right now.  That'll run out in a week or so and then it's back to green sugar maple
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

petefrom bearswamp

I have been on a steady diet of White Ash since 2009 when I had my ash harvested.
My best hardwood is Sugar maple, followed by Beech and then ash.
I have a good bit of cherry too, but the btu content is quite a bit less than the other 3.
Google btu content of woods and you will find a couple of charts that lists btu content.
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57 acres of woodland

Al_Smith

I'm right in the middle of the midwest hardwood country so I have a lot of choices .Probabley in order,any of the hickorys followed by any of the oaks and probabley black locust .

For that matter all this EAB killed ash does well as does sugar maple . Silver or red maple does okay but to get more heat out of it you need to split it a tad smaller .The faster it burns the more BTU's per hour ,just takes more of it .

lynde37avery

best
1.hard maple
2. cherry
3. ash
i could trade ash or cherry for an oak. only gave me 3 choices.

worst
.white birch, popal, basswood.

Detroit WHAT?

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