What wood burns hottest?

[LondonNeil]

After slinging a few splits of Yew on my stove last night, and experiencing for myself the 'hotter than plutonium' burn I'd read about, I'm left wondering this morning, what wood burns hottest? In your experience.

 

[cornfused]

Hedge (Osage Orange)...
It's by far the hottest burning wood I've ever used. Rocket Fuel!!!

 

[Marine5068]

Hickory and Maple seem to burn pretty hot to me.
Wood needs to be at lowest moisture to burn hottest of course.
I've heard that about Osage Orange but have never burned it.

 

[LondonNeil]

Osage Orange? Is that what we call crab apple?

 

[Jeffkrib]

Hottest I’ve burnt is purple Gidgee and Mulga, burns hotter than coal makes Iron bark look like willow. Actually had me worried it was going to soften the metal in my fire box.

 

[Adam08ski]

Fruit trees IMO from the crap I get

 

[LondonNeil]

I know what you mean! I was looking at my stove top and flue thermometers reading 320C and thinking 'that's high enough now, thank you!'. The air was shut as much as possible but I had blue jets wooshing from the secondaries

 

[Adam08ski]

Fruit trees IMO from the crap I get

 

[LondonNeil]

I get virtually no fruit, which seems odd to me, urban gardens have plenty of Apple, pear, plum etc. Oh I do get a bit of prunus, not my favourite, never seems to dry well.

 

[Adam08ski]

I get virtually no fruit, which seems odd to me, urban gardens have plenty of Apple, pear, plum etc. Oh I do get a bit of prunus, not my favourite, never seems to dry well.

Prunus = spikey ****

 

[homemade]

Ther is a ton of btu charts all over the internet. But that is total btu output usually per pound of wood over a period of time or until the wood is gone. So one pound of oak might have a bit rating of 200,000btu per pound and take 3hrs to extract that, and a red pine might only have a btu of 150,000btu per pound and take 2hours to consume it.

That being said, the same red pine will achieve a hotter stove temp, but not last as long. So when you ask what wood is hotter, it’s a open ended question. Are you asking total btu or highest output temp?
For me, I’ll use pine and soft wood all day because It seams that it all I get, and save the oak and hickory for the overnight burn.


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[Ash_403]

I still have a few chunks of Honey Locust. Cut, split, stacked under top-cover of rain for the past 6 years. This stuff is the hottest burning wood I've personally burned. With a few pieces of this stuff loaded and going, I have to watch the draft a little closer. Hellfire, would be a good description.
I guess I save it for the colder nights, since I started with a full cord, 6 years ago. Now down to about a dozen pieces. Last winter wasn't too cold in this area.

I would love to get hold of some Osage Orange. I grows in this area, but I just haven't come across any.

 

[LondonNeil]

Yeah I meant hottest temps, the wood that seems to just go nuclear. It may not last long, but you are probably grateful or doesn't!

 

[svk]

Just as a preface, BTU charts show how much energy there is within a certain volume of that species of wood. Different species will have different rates of burn (as will different trees within a species and even the location within the tree). I'm assuming the OP is looking for which ones burns hottest (temperature wise) versus which ones put out the most total output.

We do not have Osage here so I cannot comment on that. Up here Tamarack is king. It has the reputation of being able to melt stoves with thin walls if you load them up with pure tamarack.

I've used it in my sauna a bit and will say it gets you heat immediately. Won't burn as long as oak but will have the place hot much quicker.

 

[jrider]

Hottest wood I've burned is Locust.

 

[CentaurG2]

Hottest stuff we have around here is locust followed by hickory. Both burn really hot and make nice big long lasting coals. Good for the dead of winter but almost too hot for fall or spring fires.

 

[reddogrunner]

Locust, by far even over hickory.

 

[JeffHK454]

Osage Orange..no doubt the biggest heat producer but I've got stuff I like better.

 

[Coldfront]

Eastern Hophornbeam (Ironwood) burns hotter than coal.

 

[Ted Jenkins]

Home has the right answer it all depends. The charts that I have relied on for ages measure by the cubic foot not by the lb. Olive is the hottest wood that I have ever worked with and the heaviest. When it is dry it comes in at 7000 to 8500 lbs per cord. Once you get it going it is similar to coal. Open up the air drafts and watch every thing turn red. Thanks