Aspen, basswood and willow trees all have very soft wood of generally poor quality for burning and producing heat. Some deciduous trees also don’t make good firewood. Even if you get hemlock wood to the point where it can be burned, it produces sparks sure to discourage you from ever burning that type of wood again. The wood of hemlock trees (not to be confused with the poisonous plant of the same name) features extremely hard knots that make the trees difficult to split into burnable logs. One coniferous tree you probably don’t want to burn at all is hemlock, as it’s roughly akin to burning a rock. These woods also tend to produce more sparks and smoke, which can spoil the mood that you want to generate by starting a nice, cozy wood fire. Creosote can stick to the walls of your chimney and become a fire hazard. You can certainly burn it, but the wood from coniferous trees also contains pitch and is notorious for creating creosote buildup when it burns. As their “softwood” nickname implies, coniferous trees usually have softer, less-dense wood than deciduous trees, which have leaves, meaning softwoods provide less fuel for the fire and usually produce less heat. Horia Varlan/Flickr The Worst Firewood Coniferous Trees in GeneralĪs a general rule, most coniferous or “softwood” trees-the types of trees that have needles rather than leaves-are not well-suited for use as firewood. The bark of many mature birch trees is quite flammable, making it good for easily starting fires.White ash weighs less than most other types of quality firewood and is easier to split into burnable logs.Sugar maple has a good reputation for burning with few sparks and less smoke than what’s produced by other woods.White ash, sugar maple and birch trees also produce excellent firewood, albeit not quite as good as oak and hickory. Not surprisingly, the same density and durability that makes black locust good for fence posts also makes it among the best firewood trees. The species has a fairly limited range, growing in just a handful of states through the Appalachian Mountains and into Missouri and Arkansas, but it produces a strong, dense wood famous for making fence posts. One lesser-known tree that makes great firewood is black locust. The wood from the hickory family of trees, which includes pecan trees, is also very dense and prized for use as firewood, being of similar quality to oak. The wood from these oak trees is prized for its strength and density, and that density makes it one of the best at producing heat. The best-known firewoods are white and red oak trees. With that established, here are a handful of trees stand above all others when it comes to producing quality firewood. If, on the other hand, your main interest is creating a fire to add ambience and atmosphere to a winter evening, you might be fine with a lower-quality wood. If you use firewood as the primary heat source for your house, you’ll want a high-quality wood that produces a lot of heat. Also, what constitutes the “best” firewood varies depending on its planned use. I’ll preface this by saying that wood from many trees can make quality firewood, and highlighting only the very best excludes some very usable trees. (And to help you avoid the risk of chimney fires, read how to manage and minimize creosote buildup in your chimney.) The Best Firewood To help you avoid this, here are some tips to help with your firewood selection. However, with so many different types of wood, learning which trees make good firewood can be a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Just as some types of wood aren’t suitable for making some products (it’s not a good idea to make a cutting board, for example, from softwoods such as pine or fir), some types of wood aren’t suitable for use as firewood. (For more on saving time and effort splitting wood, see our Beginning Farmer’s Guide to Log Splitters.) Choosing the right kind of firewood is an important decision to ponder. It’s hard to top the cozy feeling generated by the sight, sound and smell of a wood fire burning in the fireplace on a cold winter night, sending warmth through your house as the firewood crackles and the fire creates an ever-changing display of hypnotizing patterns that can entertain for hours on end.īut to create a real wood fire, you’ll need firewood.
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