MOTHER'S WOOD-BURNING ALMANAC

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Truth be told, there is no clear best. Ounce for ounce and pound for pound, any given kind of firewood delivers virtually the same amount of heat as any other kind. A pound of pine, a pound of hickory, a pound of poplar, a pound of willow — each, properly seasoned, will produce about 7,000 BTU. It's density that makes a difference: An armload of pine weighs less than an armload of hickory, and thus yields less heat. The denser the wood, the higher the fuel value, and the higher the fuel value, the fewer trips you have to make to the woodbox to carry in an evening's warmth.

So goes conventional wood-burning lore. But BTU are only one measure of a wood's worth. Each species offers its own unique combination of properties: ease (or difficulty) of splitting, ash content, aroma, seasoning time, flame size, tendency to smoke or throw sparks. Black ash burns nicely but only after a long period of seasoning. White ash needs little seasoning. Rock elm ranks high in heat value but is hard (some say impossible) to split. Aspen and balsam poplar split easily but throw off a lot of smoke.

RELATIVE FUEL VALUE

High
21 to 26 Million BTU per Cord

Apple
Beech, American
Beech, blue (American hornbeam)
Birch, black
Birch, yellow
Dogwood
Hickory
Ironwood (hardhack, hop hornbeam)
Locust, black
Maple, sugar
Oak, black
Oak, red
Oak, white
Osage orange
Persimmon
Serviceberry, downy (shadbush)

Medium
17 to 20 Million BTU per Cord

Ash, black
Ash, green
Ash, white
Birch, gray
Birch, white
Cherry, black

Elm, American
Fir, Douglas
Locust, honey
Maple, red
Maple, silver
Pine, longleaf (Southern yellow)
Pine, red (Norway pine)
Sweet gum (red gum)
Sycamore, American
Tamarack (Eastern larch)
Tupelo, black (black gum)
Walnut, black

Low
11 to 16 Million BTU per Cord

Aspen, bigtooth
Aspen, quaking
Basswood
Box-elder
Butternut (white walnut)
Catalpa
Cottonwood
Fir, balsam
Hemlock
Pine, white
Poplar, balsam
Poplar, yellow (tulip poplar)
Spruce, red
Willow, black

Some woods — particularly conifers and other low-density softwoods — burn fast, releasing all their heat in a few fiery moments. Others — notably dense hardwoods such as hickory, oak and ash—burn slowly, holding their coals hot and long. Each can serve a purpose: the quick burners for kindling, for fast heat, for a batch of biscuits on a cookstove; the slow burners for a romantic flickering fireplace or for strong, steady heat in the ole box stove. Likewise, each can be managed to serve the other's function: Split hardwood extra small, and it burns hot and fast. Refuel and tend your stove carefully, and low-density wood makes a perfectly acceptable heating fuel.

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