Mine happens to be wild cherry because it is easy to split and puts out good heat the smell is good too.
Favorite is Black Locust. I have them everywhere, they grow fast, easy to process, don't rot, burn hot and long... What's not to like.. My top 3 would also include cherry and hackberry... Cherry for the smell and seasoning time and hackberry for the seasoning time, good burning properties, and abundance.
i got both kind of locust around here though i prefer to stay away from honey locust not unless you like pulling thorns out tires and boots i cut some hackberry but the majority here is sugar maple.
My favorite is free wood 'Easy to get' is my second favorite I think ash is one of the best woods. Abundant, lots of standing dead, dries fast and easy to process
Lol. We've got White pine too. Wisconsin is extremely diverse in our land / soil make up, and subsequently, our trees. It depends where you are in this state. Yes, in the northwoods, there's a lot of pine, Norway or red, with white pine, spruce, tamarack, poplar, birch, cherry, red maple, cedar, and red oak. Head south, you'll find locust, shagbark hickory, beech, hophornbeam ( ironwood) red and white oak, sugar maple, ash, basswood, elm, red maple, box elder, willow, poplar, cedars, walnut, mulberry, and probably a few I'm forgetting a few. There's really not any Osage orange here. A little way South close to Illinois.
My favorite would be Apple. Only because of the smell when burning, Heat wise would be, Oak, Hickory and Locus. I have a little Osage Orange that will not be ready until next year. Can't wait to try it in the stove.
I am fixing to x2ut down several hackberry trees and was wondering if they are any good for btu's or not.
For sure. They burn about like ash, but are kind of a pain to split sometimes. But if you have a hydraulic splitter it wont matter. They're a pretty common tree here and it's easy to find them fallen over or broke. Here's a big one... Plenty of BTUs there.
I thought the same thing with honey locust... Until I processed one. It actually wasn't as bad as I thought. Still, I'm mindful to not process one where I'm going to be using anything that requires a rubber tire and air... There's plenty of standing dead honey locust here that I'm cutting this winter. The thorns on those easily crush beneath my feet.
I know it doesn't have the best BTU's or burning time, but I sure like burning douglas fir. I burn black locust and alder the most, primarily because that's what I have most abundant on my property. For overnight burns or cold days I'll stick primarily to the black locust.
