Your Favorite Type of Wood to Burn?

[PartTimeJack]

What is your favorite type or specie of wood to burn?
Mine would be Cherry and Hickory...mainly because it smells so good when you burn it, and they both seem to burn hot and at a even pace.

[hardtailjohn]

It depends on where I'm burning. If it's in the house, I like Lodgepole Pine. It burns fairly hot and doesn't generate much kreosote or ash...that equals less mess and my wife likes that. If it's in the boiler for the shop, I prefer to burn Western Larch or Douglas Fir. They seem to burn a bit hotter and longer, but have more of a mess than Lodgepole.
John

[CTYank]

Depends totally on the season and anticipated low temp.

For shoulder seasons, pine and silver maple are fine. Approaching peak heating season, black cherry and white ash morphing into oaks/black locust/sugar maple.

I can afford to get picky, because the little "Squirrel" burns so little wood. Even with the gas furnace "cold iron" for the past 6 seasons.

[KBforester]

beech!

[Norm]

White oak for me.

[gunman63]

Junk, odds and ends, the left overs from my firewood processing, to me its free(not really)  but its stuff that i dont want to sell  to a customer.

[pineywoods]

Nothing but red oak. Burns hot, lots of btu's, very little ash or creosote.

[thurlow]

Burn mostly red oak, 'cause that's what I've got the most of;  will also burn other local hardwoods.......ash, hackberry, hickory, pecan, honey locust, etc.  A few years ago, the county highway department was cleaning up the sides of the roads;  neighbor asked if I wanted the black locust which had been pushed down.  I cut enough firewood to last about 2 years;  county then came back and piled and burned the tops and stumps.  It burned hotter/better/cleaner (for me) than anything else I've burned.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I like anything that is free. Sometimes that is Aspen sometimes its Maple. hahaha

[clww]

Red and white oak or hickory. That's 85% of the hardwood trees we have in our area anyway, which works out well.

[MHineman]

  I like Ash best as I can cut it, and split, and add it to an already burning fire in a few days, or start a fire with it in a few weeks.
  Soft Maple, poplar, and other light weight wood when I only need a small or shorter duration fire.  I do like some Hickory or Oak to mix in for longer medium heat fires.

[DeerMeadowFarm]

I'm not fussy. Most of the hardwood in my area is red oak, white oak and ash so that's what I burn the most of by default. I basically burn anything that I can get for free as long as it's hardwood. That includes cherry, maple, birch and hickory. Right now I am cleaning up trees from last year's tornado still and tonight I am picking up some wood that a guy I work with cut down and bucked for me. It's all white oak and cherry. I've taken 3 dumptruck loads from him already and he figures he has 2 more for me tonight.  8)

[Ron Scott]

Northern Red Oak is preferred, but use most all the northern hardwoods as they are freely available.

[JohnW]

I don't have it very often, but I like ash the best.  It seasons well, and burns well at any speed.  Hickory's not that much different, but I don't have it vey often either.  There's nothing better than good firewood.

[NWP]

I like the smell of walnut burning.  Of course only low grade top material.

[sparky1]

well Im really partial to the kind that family and friends drop off and stack in my wood pile, with out me having to lift a finger!! 8)  It happened a couple times last year.   It would be better if it happened more frequently though. 

If im burning im my fire place though I like elm without the bark.

[ohsoloco]

If I could only choose one it would have to be white oak. 

[doctorb]

Black Locust for me.  The firewood is arguably superior to all with respect to BTU's and burning, and the trees grow quickly.  The trees are certainly not as majestic in appearance as red or white oak, so I don't mind felling them.  Their water content is relatively low, even for high quality firewood, compared to oak.  So while any good hardwood is great fuel, give me Black Locust, if I had a choice and a magic wand. ;)

[BBTom]

Red elm would have to be my pick,  especially after it has died, lost its bark and stood to dry for a couple years.  Nice clean wood that burns very hot and long.  Of course I have to make trailer deck out of anything big enough to saw good.  Best wood I have ever used for trailer deck,  Extremely tough wood that gives but doesn't snap. 

Second choice would be Black Locust or Osage Orange(Bois De Arc).

[SwampDonkey]

Sugar maple, sound beech, yellow birch. I say sound beech because a lot of ours is half dead and rotten from disease. So in other words I don't want beech if it's junk. ;D

[MrMoo]

We have alot of beech so that is what we burn. We also burn black birch surprisingly it has a high btu content. Some red maple.

[tcsmpsi]

My favorite kind of wood to burn in my woodburning stove in the house, is dry and well cured (sweetgum, oak, hickory, pecan, pine, cottonwood...).   In my outside woodburner on the deck, I like sasafrass. 

[hockeyguy]

Sugar maple, beech or red oak make me happy. They're plentiful around here and all burn well.

[stavebuyer]

My favorite is locust..dead and bark-free but I don't have any in my woodlot so I burn mostly hickory which is plentiful and comes in a close second for heat value.

[hardtailjohn]

It kind of tickles me.... what most of you are burning, we'd be hoarding like mad here!  ;D
I guess that location is everything!
John