This one differs from the FHC BTU chart but has the familiar favorites. I wish I had seen these charts 20yrs ago. There has been a bunch of missed opportunities for good firewood because of my oak programming. https://burlybeaver.com/hottest-burning-firewood/
Thats why i like beech over oak. And you know why i like black locust. The FHC was an average of several different btus charts.
That chart makes me even more anxious to try my honey locust. But it was taken alive so I’m guessing it’s 3 years out if’n I get it processed soon. Hoping to get most of it done this weekend
Out of all of those I only have access to a limited selection in my area. Red oak, white oak & hickory. If you think about it, not a bad selection to be stuck with. Mike in Okla
Not all hickory is created equal. The Shag Bark variety is one of my favorites. It’s the hottest burning wood available to me on a somewhat regular basis. The issue is, somewhere on the web, you can find a site that proves the earth is flat. Buyer beware.
Beech had me opening windows when I first loaded up the stove with it. Similar results with hickory. I never ran a full load of 100% hickory, nor have I felt the need to even when it’s in the single digits outdoors. I always do mixed loads with lesser woods to balance it out.
It’s interesting that sycamore is rated as high as it is. I’ve heard splitting it can be a pain which doesn’t bother me, but also that it leaves a lot of ash which is enough to steer me away from it.
I burned some Dogwood recently and thought it burned hot. It lights up quickly too. Cornus florida is not on the FHC btu chart either. Has anyone burned Hophornbeam? Anyone seen a big one? I’ve planted some, but don’t recall ever seeing naturally occurring hophornbeam. The trees that share common names confuses things. Hophornbeam is in the birch family
buZZsaw BRAD I think this may be a Scarlet Oak by the color. I don’t have the manual of woody landscape plants in my back pocket to confirm leaf and acorn.
IME, this chart is low on honey locust. Gambel oak? Stress anyone really burn that? It's more of a shrub. Now, there's no Western live oak, madrone, manzanita or eucalyptus. The BTU rating of sycamore is about 25% higher than all the other charts show it as. Since sycamore is a soft maple, the charts that have it around 20 mbtu a cord sounds about right. This one has it at 25 mbtus or so, which is more than sugar maple is. That isn't right. Ash over sugar maple? Nope. This chart is pretty suspect.
It depends on what time of year you cut it too. I had some seasoned 3 years and it barely burned, It would have burned better after 4 years. It was cut in the middle of the summer, so it had a lot of moisture in it.
I've seen one it was about 25" dia. I didn't get to cut it tho. I always thought it was up close to hedge. I was thinking the same thing. Different charts have different ratings. https://hearth.com/articles/chimneysweep/howood.htm
Not a one of them available here. But, I disagree with equating BTUs with "hottest." Wouldn't a hotter wood warm up the stove/house faster than a "less-hot" wood? And isn't that more related to the burn rate than the total BTUs of the wood? Speed of burn is largely driven by the operator. Beyond that, the softer woods burn faster, and gets the stove/house hot faster. Of the woods available here, Aspen is probably my hottest, and Tamarack (Western Larch) is my highest BTU.
I tend to agree with this. Quick heat is dry Pine or Soft Maple. Long term heat is the higher BTU denser woods. Pretty subjective I think.
Agreed. A couple winters ago it was a mild year and I burned sugar maple almost exclusively. Once I got a decent bed of coals going, I could feed it one good size split at a time about every 4 hours and it kept the house consistently warm. Once the sugar maple was gone I was burning all ash and went through more of it, and more often to maintain the house temperature. I’d get a good fire going with the ash, to the point where the house would get too warm, then the coaling stage left much to be desired and it became hard to keep it consistent. I guess that’s the difference between open and closed grain woods as far as burning goes.
