I thought I loved honey locust until I started burning my stash this year which has been split for two years. Definitely needs at least another year. 2 would make it better, meaning it will need a total of 4 years to be optimal. I dont have space or desire to let wood sit and season for 4+ years. If the powder post beetles didn't love honey locust so much, making piles of dust all over it, then it may not be as pressing of an issue.
For me it’s Black Locust. Splits ok, dries faster than Oak, and cranks out the BTU. But man, it sure does throw off slivers too - got one today in my finger loading the stove.
Overall I’d have to say beech as we have a lot of it close by. It dries fairly quickly and carries s lot of btu’s. I just wish it all split real easy. Sugar maple is a close second with oak rounding out the top three. But I also like to burn pine, spruce and fir at times. It’s hard to pick a favorite.
I like white oak for my favorite but it would be shag bark if I had much of it. I've been burning a lot of hickory that's not shag or pignut but pretty good wood that dried well in 2 years covered and burns hot. Next is beech then sugar. I think beech is the absolute best wood for a fireplace and although I dont have one my son does and I supply him wood.
I like a variety also, but I burn what I have available, mostly oaks, maples, hickory, beech and a half dozen or more of the rest. I enjoy the mixing and matching what's available. With past smoke dragons, I only cared about having serious hardwoods, but with my EPA stove , I like having the mix.
This ^ ^ ^ the stuff's hard to beat. Most of the time I like a mixture...Oak, Ash, and Silver Maple makes a great fire! But I'll burn almost anything...
Some people poopoo alder but I like it for the same reasons you do. For the low amount of BTUs in it, I've got some surprisingly long burns out of it. Its biggest drawback is the amount of ash it leaves. My favorite has changed a few times. Right now it's Douglas fir because of how little ash it leaves. There was a time when bigleaf maple was my favorite. But after processing about 10 cords of it from 2 trees on my property, I don't like the mess from the bark and moss. Maple takes a little longer to dry, and the trees can have a lot of knots and crotches.
I too have a variety of wood to burn and don't know if I have a favorite. What I have the most of right now is ash and buckthorn, so maybe those are my favorites this winter. Have some good stacks of oak for a year or two down the road so may be revolving favorites.
Best wood in my area is Red Oak........worst wood is American elm, which has one million splinters per log!
I would go with larch since its the highest readily available btu native wood in our area next to birch. Larch has 19 mbtus per cord, doesnt rot like birch and has a nice crackle when burned not to mention its a real cool tree. Doug fir would be my second.
I like oak in my pizza oven, but in the wood stove, I seem to get better results from less dense wood. I have enough thermal mass in the house that I really don't need long runs with the stove so the coaling from oak isn't critical. Pine gets started a whole lot faster and easier and I've heated more with pine than anything else.
I burn Red Oak almost exclusively with a bit of Red Maple on occasion. I have just started hoarding Beech and hope to burn more of that in the future.
If there was a good supply it would be dogwood. not much here in the east anymore due to disease. i only cut dead when i find it. Hickory and locust next. Yes i'm a wood snob.
Red oak. Plentiful and easy to split, burns long, so throws heat for a long time. I don't mind the smell when fresh, or the seasoning time. I have plenty in the pipeline. Also it's slow to rot. Lots of old punky oak out there worth burning.
For me at the moment it is elm only because it seems to be one of the few trees around that I can cut, split and burn right away. I have to use hydraulics for it and it makes a mess but that provides more kindling than I'll ever need. Once I get a good stash of dry wood my favorite may change.
