Best Fire Wood (poll)

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What is the overall best fire wood to burn

  • Birch (white, yellow or black)

    Votes: 7 2.6%
  • Maple (hard or sugar)

    Votes: 33 12.1%
  • Oak (all of them)

    Votes: 137 50.4%
  • Poplars or aspens

    Votes: 3 1.1%
  • Hickories, beeches, gum or other nut trees

    Votes: 40 14.7%
  • Fruit trees, orange, apple, cherry...

    Votes: 19 7.0%
  • Elms

    Votes: 16 5.9%
  • Iron wood

    Votes: 18 6.6%
  • Conifers (pine, spruce, fir, cedar, larch, hemloc...)

    Votes: 12 4.4%
  • Free Wood

    Votes: 93 34.2%

  • Total voters
    272
I picked oaks - Being a syrup maker, it ain't in my heart to cut a sugarmaple down! Some of the maples I've done though, split good, except for the crotches, they can be a real s.o.b.
 
Oh it's hard to say because my CB outdoor unit loves em all :heart: BOING! When it gets into the heart of winter coldness here I like to think that my wood stash was all oak or hickory, but it never happens!

And there's no option in the poll for wood that someone cut, split, and gave to you either.:hmm3grin2orange:
 
Douglas-fir, Western larch....then Western birch (leaves too much ash - but good heat):greenchainsaw:
Agree I think birch is way over rated at least compared to are white birch.I rather burn pine as it is close and easy to get but DFir is on top of my list not much choice here I do get the odd Manitoba maple I think they call it Box Elder in the states? but takes a long time to season.Poplar is very easy for me to get just a phone call away for free wood but it leaves allot of ash and I like to drop my own trees.
But bottom line I will burn anything.
 
I voted for conifers because that's about all we've got around here with any consistancy. Oak, and Juniper is concidered the Cadillac's of burning wood around here, but hard to come by.
As far as the conifers go, I sell the Pine and burn the Doug Fir.

Andy
 
ASH +1, grows nice and straight (most times), compact crown with few branches, easy to split quick to dry, low initial moisture content, decent BTUs, burns well, grows fairly quick. Can't think of many negatives to ash, sometimes get a lot of suckers off the trunks, but they snap off easy.
 
Ash isn't on the list but it's my favorite wood. It's an easy take to C&S and I can make a lot of production cutting it...almost no limbs to speak of.

Here we burn ash, elm, maple, black cherry, poplar and apple...and whatever junk wood is in our way.
 
Got my first fire going tonight. Put in a big piece of cherry and it has been burning for an hour or so with some smaller pieces of ash and cherry. I burned mostly maple last year. It did not last very long burned a cord up very quickly.
 
I voted Birch, because its probably the best I can get around my area in Alberta, Canada. Unfortunatley birch is even hard to come by. Mosty soft wood in these parts. Poplar is llike a weed, its so common.

You guys are super lucky you have access to so much hard wood like oak, which is unheard of hear in Western Canada.

I made some calls yesterday to get prices on a cord of Birch, most places are charging $350 and you gotta pick it up yourself. What would someone in the U.S charge for a cord of Birch or cord of Oak?

Around here $85 per cord Oak delivered 8 foot logs but usually a 10 cord load or they wont do it.
 
Another vote for madrone. I usually burn a mix of oak and madrone....mainly because they're free and easy to get to. I'll burn almond whenever I can....I actually like it better than the other two. Almond used to be plentiful for firewood but now they're chipping all the orchard removals.

Incense cedar for kindling and pitch chunks shaved off of a Doug Fir butt cut make good fire starters.
 
if i could have it delivered i wood choose hickory, white oak ,
red oak, then cherry. since thats not an option i go for red oak (pin oak in peticular) then hickory, then white oak(the kind used to make whisky barrels), last cherry. gum and elm get in the way so i rate them last.
 
Here is a pile of rough sewn oak 3''x8''xanything from 2 to 4 feet long. Its scrap or should I say fire wood from a shoring job I'm doing and some of my osage orange cut down 4 or 5 years ago. This winter will be time to cut at least another 20 wheat truck loads of logs. Winter is the best time to cut as your coat will keep you from getting cut up from the thorns. I hate to say it but this will probably be the last time my dad and I cut together. Years of hard work have taken there toll on him and he shor aint no spring chicken.:)
 

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