MOTHER'S WOOD-BURNING ALMANAC

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Probably the most important factor in choosing the "best" firewood for you is accessibility. Obviously, you're pretty much limited in your choice to whatever woods are available in your area. (Little wonder BTU charts like the one here irritate westerners, who have little access to high-ranked hardwoods and who have always heated their homes just fine, thank you, with such woods as fir, aspen and pine.) If you buy wood for heating your home, it probably pays to spend a little more to get the densest species available in your area. But if you cut and haul your own wood, the less work you can make of it the better. Is that hickory 300 yards off the road — and downhill, meaning you'd have to lug it up — really all that much better than the abundant yellow poplar growing (on level ground, yet) just a hoot 'n' holler from your back door? Also, consider the value of any tree — both monetary and environmental — before you cut. It's often better to thin lowgrade wood from your lot for burning (or better yet, glean downed wood from construction sites and other clearing projects) than to topple healthy high-heat hardwood.

The chart here can serve as a general guide to firewood based on two important considerations: relative heat value and ease of splitting. But don't forget to weigh other factors, and don't hesitate to try whatever woods — including the so-called inferior types—are available to you. In many cases, it's not which wood you use, but how you season and burn it, that's important.

WEDGE-RATED GUIDE TO WOOD "SPLITTABILITY"

KEY

Wood

Ease of Splitting

Wood

Ease of Splitting

Apple

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print