BS: Best wood for a fireplace

Subject: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Wesley S
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:47 AM

We'll be moving soon to a new house that has a fireplace that actually burns wood. So what type of wood should I look for? And since I don't plan to chop it myself - how much is a cord of wood where you live?

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:48 AM

Tree wood, I find that's always the best kind.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bert
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:49 AM

If it's an open fireplace avoid Chestnut.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Melissa
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:53 AM

if it's an open fireplace, also avoid Hedge..it makes good heat, but pops.

In a woodpile, Oak smells like catshit. Aside from that unfortunate feature, it's what I prefer to burn.

Are you burning for heat, or fun?

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 11:58 AM

The main thing in my experience is to make sure that it is DRY. Burns better, hotter, doesn't choke up your chimney and is safer.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: pdq
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:02 PM

Avoid any kind of coniferous wood such as pine, fir or juniper. They create a black coating on the flu which can lead to a chimney fire.

Any "hardwood" will do as long as it has been stored in a dry place (woodshed) for a year or so. Fresh ("green") wood does not burn well.

Also, you might consider a pellet stove insert. Pellets are easier to store.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:07 PM

Ebbie's right - dry and well-seasoned is crucial. Get a local recommendation for a supplier, because I've had damp, unseasoned wood delivered in the past and it's been a real pain. I find soft wood (pine usually) is good for getting the fire going, and then hardwood (oak usually) for the heat and longer burning.

However, this year it's been really cold and I wanted to get as much heat out of the fire as possible - so I've been using coal quite a lot of the time - long burning, good heat and cheap. I keep a few logs in for when company comes. :)

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:13 PM

As the song says, "Hickory, ash, or oak." Ash will burn even when it's green. Any hardwood, actually, that's been seasoned for a year or cut about this time of year (before the sap rises) and dried until late Fall.

Maple is nice, too.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:18 PM

In Virginia we used oak in our wood stove. Cherry smells lovely if you can get it.

Never use conifers as stated above. That black oily creosote will line the flu and ignite. AND it cannot ever be properly cleaned out once there.

Never burn any treated wood or wood composite (MDF) indoors as they will let off toxic fumes.

I miss having a fire place so much.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: artbrooks
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:23 PM

Besides the wood (and I agree with what's been said above), get a good set of fireplace doors. Otherwise, all of the heat in the house will get sucked right up the chimney as soon as you start the fire.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: bobad
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:24 PM

Here's a chart of the relative BTU value of different species of wood. Main variables of burnability are size and moisture content.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:25 PM

I really don't think its a good idea to build a fireplace out of wood............Stone or bick would be better.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bert
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:28 PM

Hmmm, good point Spaw!

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:41 PM

First of all, you need some softer woods to get the fire going... Pine is great for it and seems that there's always a construction site around with a pile of 1-bys that are easily split with a hatchet... About 6 to 8 pieces roughly 18" long and split to 1 to 2 inches will do fine... If you have woods around you can also roud up sticks which will also work... You'll nedd to put the oak or whatever hardwood you are burning on top to get it burning and once everything is going then all will be well...

Hardwoods gburn the best... Yeah, some are stinky but that's part of the deal... Oak is very good and available almost everywhere... Locust is very good... Hickory and ash are good... Gum??? Not so good and hard to split... Poplar is junk... Good for starting fires but burns hot and fast...

Cords (4 feet X 4 feet X 8 feet) will run you around $120 to $150 depending on where you live... Be careful when buyin' wood becuase some of it isn't dry, imspite of what the guy tells you... If water sizzles out of the end of it when it is burning it wasn't dry... Also, quantities are deceptive... Lotta sellers sell you a "load" which is a pickup truck full (8 ft. bed) and telll you it is a cord.... It isn't... A level pickup load is a little more than a half a cord.... Yeah, it looks like a lot of wood until you stack and measure it...

Hope this helps...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:49 PM

Good advice about oak, hickory, and importance of dried wood. If the new place does not have a covered shed for the wood pile you might want to consider that or at least a small covered area for stacking wood before snowfall or rain. The wood will burn wet if you get a good fire started with dry wood, but I preferred to keep the wood dry if I could.

I also found that a mixture of green and dry wood worked well in banking a fire for overnight if the fireplace is actually used for heating, but the most efficient burning comes from the use of dry hardwood.

The length of the wood you have cut would be determined by the width of the fireplace. The ideal mix of firewood would include six to ten inch diameter logs with some split and some still round and a few two or three inch pieces which are useful in starting fires. You can split larger pieces of dried logs to get starter wood.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: pdq
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:49 PM

Another minor tip: look at how carefully the wood was cut. If a piece has both ends cut at an angle, you will have a very hard time splitting that piece into kindling because it will not stand up. A whole cord of sloppy-cut wood is a pain.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: gnomad
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 12:52 PM

You may first need to find out what is available to you in your area. In alpine areas of Europe variations on the softwood theme are frequently all that is available, so chimneys are built accordingly and people cope. Timber to burn will rarely justify the cost of moving it very far from the source.

I knew someone years ago who burned teak for several years having bought up old parquet floors when some substantial local buildings were demolished (they wouldn't get sold off for a song these days) He reckoned it a first class fuel, and ready-cut into handy pieces too, but these days I would expect folks to recycle it as flooring.

Fruitwoods from grubbed-out orchards are a possibility in some areas, and nicely aromatic if you can obtain them, but most well dried hardwoods are OK. Avoiding elm is a sound policy, it smokes and stinks.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:03 PM

A cord of wood is a stack that measures 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet. That is before cutting it up. If it is cut and split up in stove lengths a cord of wood is 128 cubic feet.
Don't let anyone sell you a "Face cord" that is nothing but a half cord.
I would never use soft wood for anything. Take your axe, cut up some small pieces of DRY hard wood like you were making shingles or clap boards, lay a few pieces on a bed of balled up newspapers and light it. When the kindling is burning well then lay some hardwood on the kindling.
Burning soft wood is asking for trouble.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:12 PM

Chimney Fires


People in the town where I live burn a fair amount of wood. Each year we fight fires caused by what's said in the above link. We have been lucky, only ever lost one complete structure because no people were home and the house was fully involved when we were paged out. That said, there is an excellent piece of an article from Wiki which I will post in its entirety (because this is an important thread):

"Creosote in Chimney Flues

Burning wood and fossil fuels at low temperature causes incomplete combustion of the oils in the wood, which are off-gassed as volatiles in the smoke. As the smoke rises through the chimney it cools, causing water, carbon and volatiles to condense on the interior surfaces of the chimney flue. This leaves a black oily residue referred to as "creosote", which is similar in composition to the commercial products by the same name, but with a higher content of carbon black.

Over the course of a season creosote deposits can become several inches thick. This creates a compounding problem, because the creosote deposits reduce the draft (airflow through the chimney) which increases the probability that the wood fire is not getting enough air to burn at high temperature.

Since creosote is highly combustible, a thick accumulation creates a fire hazard. If a hot fire is built in the stove or fireplace, and the air control left wide open, this may allow hot oxygen into the chimney where it comes in contact with the creosote which then ignites - causing a chimney fire.

Chimney fires often spread to the main building because the chimney gets so hot that it ignites any combustible material in direct contact with it, such as wood. The fire can also spread to the main building from sparks emitting from the chimney and landing on combustible roof surfaces.

In order to properly maintain chimneys and heaters that burn wood or fossil fuel, the creosote buildup must be removed. Chimney sweeps perform this service professionally.

73% of heating fires and 25% of all residential fires are caused by failure to clean out creosote buildup.[4]

Since 1990 the number of creosote caused fires has decreased in the United States by 75%. [5] This is partly due to the use of efficient wood stoves that fully burn the volatiles in the smoke, and partly due to the decrease in the use of wood heating during two decades of milder Winter weather, and low fuel prices.

Two types of fuel are more likely to produce creosote buildup in the chimneys: wet wood and wood from trees with high oil content. Resinous softwoods such as pine and cedar are known to produce higher levels of creosote as well as particularly oily hardwoods such as Osage Orange.

The best practices to avoid chimney fires are:

Use a high efficiency stove or heater that fully burns the volatiles in the smoke.
Make sure the wood is dry before burning.
Avoid burning wood from trees with high oil content.
Clean the chimney annually. "

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:18 PM

Most of the kindling you can buy round here is softwood - I've had open fires and multi-fuel stoves for about 15 years, and I've never had any trouble. You just need to get your chimney swept regularly.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:26 PM

Open fires, you can burn softwood. Closed fires you can't. Always use dry wood.
Invest in a fireguard for your open fire, you can't be there all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: olddude
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:28 PM

locust burns so hot amazing, i get it free they use it for grape posts in he fields, i snatch them up when they change them

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: EBarnacle
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:38 PM

Spaw, you beat me to it.

If you want extra heating and have a free standing fireplace, there are devices which look like 55 gallon drums and which are actually heat exchangers to get a bit more heat out of the exhaust before it goes on to warm the outside air. There are also tubular andirons which superheat the air and send it back into the room.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: pdq
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:45 PM

...from the song "Copper Kettle"...

"Build your fires of hickory
Hickory or ash or oak
Don't use no green or rotten wood
They'll catch you by the smoke"

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 01:49 PM

answers are right in the DT database

More Wood

relevant text:

"When the kindling is dwindling, the bottom logs get soggy
Those ricks of sticks and racks and stacks
It makes you wonder where they go and barnfuls of armfuls
They only last a week or so
And then you'll be hurting for wood.
Well the sassafras it burns too fast,
It starts the fire but never lasts
And swamp oak likes to smoke you blow it till you think you'll choke.
But hickory is just the tree to remind you of the ecstasy
Of having a pile of good wood, I said ..."

But even better:

LOGS TO BURN

cho: Logs to burn, logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn,
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodsman cry.

Beechwood fires burn bright and clear, Hornbeam blazes too,
If the logs are kept a year, to season through and through.

Oaken logs will warm you well, if they're old and dry,
Larch logs of pinewood smell but the sparks will fly.

Pine is good and so is Yew for warmth through wintry days,
The Poplar and the Willow too, they take too long to blaze.

Birch logs will burn too fast, Alder scarce at all,
Chestnut logs are good to last, cut them in the fall.

Holly logs will burn like wax, you should burn them green,
Elm logs like smouldering flax, no flames with them are seen.

Pear logs and Apple logs, they will scent your room,
Cherry logs, across the dogs, they smell like flowers in bloom.

Ash logs, so smooth and gray, burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way they're worth their weight in gold.

Trad: English
From singing of Johnny Collins
filename[ LOGBURN

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:13 PM

Well, Wesley, a fireplace is a romantic thing. However my newspaper just had an article on them. A fire in it sucks air out of the whole house and sends it up the flue.

Up goes the heating bill!

They suggested closing off the room where the fireplace then opening a window in that room only to supply the fireplace. That way, the rest of the house keeps its heated air.

Needless to say, the fireplace should be kept for special occasions.

I don't have one, but friends who heat with wood say that Osage orange (known as 'hedge' here) burns very hot. Someone above above said it pops, so watch out for that.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:34 PM

Osage Orange, Maclura pomifera, does indeed burn well, but is not readily available in most areas. It is native to Oklahoma, southern Kansas, a bit in Arkansas & Texas, but the early settlers took cuttings back east, and it can be found in various places now, though not in huge amounts.

I LOVE it for woodturning, as it is durable and pretty stable..(doesn't distort much)

Here is why I hate to see it burned Osage bowl

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:37 PM

Depends on where you are. For instance... here in SE NB Canada, you ain't gonna get no ash of size.

A mix of birch (20% max), maple, beech, oak,

If it's just for company, hot and short fires are best.

As for "dry", well, yes. But many peeps dunno how to tell. Look at the wood before you agree. At the ends, there should be open "slpits" radiating from the centre.

And, you can buy "wet" wood cheap this year or early in the spring and pile it correctly... three to four months of summer drying is fine.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:38 PM

Here in Calgary, most houses of the last 50 or so years were built with a fireplace as a "feature."

Some years ago there was a campaign to stop their use, as the smoke and gases from them were distasteful and contaminated the air; this was taught to children in school, and was the subject of letters to the editor, etc.
As a result the fireplaces are either natural gas (older ones converted), or used to display something. Wood fireplaces may be used at Christmas or other times of celebration but not for heat.
In the outer suburbs, wood continues as the fuel in many of them.

Pine, spruce and other woods with high resin should not be used because deposits build up in the chimney, causing a number of fires. If these are the only woods available, chimneys must be cleaned on a regular basis. Advice from the Fire Department.

Burning of any kind of rubbish is prohibited by by-law. Outdoor picnic fires are permitted, but the same by-law prohibits burning rubbish.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 02:59 PM

Gosh Bill that is a gorgeous piece of work. I'd live to own a piece like that

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: fretless
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:14 PM

Oak, always oak. Except we save the trunk of each year's Christmas tree, cut it, dry it over the summer, and then burn it for the first fire on Christmas morning. Windfalls for kindling. If you've got trees on your property, you should have a nearly endless supply of that.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:15 PM

Bill, I always though that song was made by Dillon Bustin?

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:20 PM

"More Wood" is from Bustin...

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:29 PM

why, thank you John... I have made a number of Osage pieces..mostly courtesy of a friend who had some trees near here.

here's one earlier piece

I have to note...Osage does not retain the VERY orange color forever. Light gradually darkens it to a golden-brown.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:37 PM

That bowl is a very beautiful work of art, Bill. Bravo.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:38 PM

Both of them.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: olddude
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 03:43 PM

Holy Cow Bill what a great artist wow !!
beautiful work

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 04:25 PM

I'd like to test something, but let's leave this thread to ideas for firewood....

go here

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 04:31 PM

Bill... cool!

Ever work with Birdseye Maple?

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 04:41 PM

sure...several times. Mostly just 'spalted' Maple, though. That Birdseye stuff gets sold as boards mostly.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 05:15 PM

Well, I've got twp of Bill's pieces here in my house and ghlad to have 'um...

BTW, back to dried wood for burning (sorry, Bill)... Some guys who sell you wood will say that the tree has been down for a year... That isn't dried wood... Dried wood is wood that has been cut, split and properly stacked to let air get to it for a year...

BTW, Part 2... Have a nice fire going in the woodstove... 20 outside and pushing 70 inside thanks to that stove... And the dried wood, of course...

BTW, Part 3... Small woodstoves are just fine for most applications... Unless you are burning wood in a basement or outside stove small ones put out alot of heat... Mine is from Ireland and is called a "Reginald" and burns coal or wood... Really humms and puts out the heat...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: kendall
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 06:47 PM

The Yotel is also a great stove. We have a brand made in Maine I believe called Finest Kind.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 06:59 PM

I had a Morso Squirrel. It was a brilliant little stove - threw out loads of heat.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 07:48 PM

Birches
(Bill Morrissey)

They sat at each end of the couch,
watched as the fire burned down,
So quiet on this winter's night,
not a house light on for miles around.
Then he said, "I think I'll fill the stove.
it's getting time for bed."
She looked up, "I think I'll have some wine.
how 'bout you?" She asked and he declined.

"Warren," she said, "maybe just for tonight,
Let's fill the stove with birches and
watch as the fire burns bright.
How long has it been? I know it's quite a while.
Pour yourself half a glass. Stay with me a little while."

And Warren, he shook his head, as if she'd made some kind of joke.
"Birches on a winter night? no, we'll fill the stove with oak.
Oak will burn as long and hot as a July afternoon,
And birch will burn itself out by the rising of the moon.

"And you hate a cold house, same as me. Am I right or not?"
"All right, all right, that's true," she said. "It was just a thought,
'Cause," she said, "Warren, you do look tired. Maybe you should go up to bed.
I'll look after the fire tonight." "Oak," he told her. "Oak," she said.

She listened to his footsteps as he climbed up the stairs,
And she pulled a sweater on her, set her wineglass on a chair.
She walked down cellar to the wood box -- it was as cold as an ice chest --
And climbed back up with four logs, each as white as a wedding dress.

And she filled the stove and poured the wine and then she sat down on the floor.
She curled her legs beneath her as the fire sprang to life once more.
And it filled the room with a hungry light and it cracked as it drew air,
And the shadows danced a jittery waltz like no one else was there.

And she stood up in the heat. She twirled around the room.
And the shadows they saw nothing but a young girl on her honeymoon.
And she knew the time it would be short; the fire would start to fade.
She thought of heat. She thought of time.
She thought it was an even trade.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 08:42 PM

Bill... between NB and PQ, we have the most of the birdseye... I know a guy that used to run the kiln at UNB. He sold bowl blanks, mostly birdseye, all over the world (mainly Asia). If you are interested, I could contact him to see what's on the go. Last I heard, some years ago, he had his own kiln and was importing rare woods from all over.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Jan 10 - 10:26 PM

hmmm... I know of places in Pennsylvania that has birdseye and various other forms of Maple. I actually spend money on wood a lot less often anymore. (Piles under the house & on the back porch that I may never get to...maybe I do need to think about firewood!)

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: EBarnacle
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 01:36 PM

We have one exception to the rule about painted wood: As we take used or broked parts from our boats for replacement, we make exact copies with new wood and burn the old with the window open in the library to encourage the draft. "Tain't fitten to throw out somethin' which has been our friend." All of our boats are dry stored, so we are not sending bottom paint into the fire.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: open mike
Date: 31 Jan 10 - 02:13 PM

see my p.m. re" osage oranges i am growing

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 02:00 AM

"Piles under the house & on the back porch that I may never get to..."

My goodness, Bill, you remind me of women who sew. We are always joking about our fabric stashes.

I liked your bowls, especially the maple. It resembles an elaborate blossom.

I know some people who have an 80-acre farm in Kansas. They heated the farmhouse with Osage orange cut from their fence row. By the time they had got to one end of the row, the trees at the other end were ready to harvest.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Raedwulf
Date: 01 Feb 10 - 04:56 AM

Chatting to a friend's father, when they were in to renovate my bathroom last year, he mentioned a poem he part remembered (I have a wood burning stove as my only central heating). Naturally, I went hunting... ;-) Below the line is the assorted information I collected as a result.

Speaking from my own experience over the last couple of years, the most important thing is to make you sure that you lay in enough wood! It's a good idea, I think, to buy it in the early spring, and then stack it somewhere under cover. That way, even if it's not as dry as the seller claims, it should have a good 6 months to season. Having to burn wood less than perfectly seasoned is a pain!

The woods I've had so far have been poplar (mostly), chestnut (at the moment, not fully seasoned), willow & conifer (probably leylandii) from my own garden. Willow, as with chestnut & conifer, will spit, but since all of this has burnt inside my stove, I'm not fussed. I've not so far encountered any of the problems cited above or below with any of the woods. Except for the wood being damp - the cure, if you have to, is to get as much of the damp stuff stacked around the stove / fire as you can (provided it's safe to do so) while you've you've still got dry wood to burn!

I suspect that the comments about poplar being smoky and / or poor fuel are more in relation to improperly seasoned wood than anything else. Seasoned, it certainly burns well enough, though quickly. I suspect most softwoods, being less dense, will do this.

Apart from this my advice is only the obvious - small pieces are good for starting or encouraging a fire, but burn fast (greater surface area / volume); big lumps are better for long burning fires. I like hitting things with an axe, so splitting my own wood is not an issue, indeed preferable. I tend to accumulate a range of kindling & trimmings for fire-starting; middling size bits & 1-2" thick branch sections for the next stage of building, & for packing; and once that's settled down to burning well & levelled out, I'll add 2 or 3 large pieces, pack some more middling bits around, & keep the fire burning like that.

======

LOGS TO BURN

Logs to burn, logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.
Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
the proper kind of logs to burn.

OAK logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
LARCH logs of pine wood smell,
But the sparks will fly.
BEECH logs for Christmas time,
YEW logs heat well.
SCOTCH logs it is a crime,
For anyone to sell.

BIRCH logs will burn too fast,
CHESTNUT scarce at all
HAWTHORN logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall
HOLLY logs will burn like wax
You should burn them green
ELM logs like smouldering flax
No flame to be seen

PEAR logs and APPLE logs,
they will scent your room.
CHERRY logs across the dogs,
Smell like flowers in bloom
But ASH logs, all smooth and grey,
burn them green or old;
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.




Note that all woods burn better when seasoned and some burn better when split rather than as whole logs. In general the better woods for burning that you are most likely to come by (including non-native species) are:

Apple and pear – burning slowly and steadily with little flame but good heat. The scent is also pleasing.

Ash – the best burning wood providing plenty of heat (will also burn green but you should not need to do this!)

Beech and hornbeam – good when well seasoned

Birch – good heat and a bright flame – burns quickly.

Blackthorn and hawthorn – very good – burn slowly but with good heat

Cherry – also burns slowly with good heat and a pleasant scent.

Cypress – burns well but fast when seasoned, and may spit

Hazel – good, but hazel has so many other uses hopefully you won't have to burn it!

Holly – good when well seasoned

Horse Chestnut – good flame and heating power but spits a lot.

Larch – fairly good for heat but crackles and spits

Maple – good.

Oak – very old dry seasoned oak is excellent, burning slowly with a good heat

Pine – burns well with a bright flame but crackles and spits

Poplar – avoid all poplar wood – it burns very slowly with little heat – which is why poplar is used to make matchsticks.

Willow – very good – in fact there is growing interest in biomass production of coppiced willow as a fuel.

==========================================

A Different variant on the same subject...

Beechwood fire burns bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year.
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new year holly cut beside.
Chestnut`s only good they say
If for years `tis stored away.
Birch and firewood burn to fast
Blaze too bright and do not last.
Flames from larch will shoot up high
Dangerously the sparks will fly.
But ashwood green and ashwood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.
Oaken logs if dry and old
Keep away the winter cold.
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke.
Elmwood burns like churchyard mold
E`en the very flames are cold.
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
So it is in Ireland said.
Applewood will scent the room
Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom.
But ashwood wet and ashwood dry
A king may warm his slippers by.

As can be seen from this old English poem the best woods to burn are Ash, beech, birch, hornbeam, sycamore, oak, holly, apple, and cherry, and nearly all the coniferous woods burn freely when really dry. Sweet chestnut, elm, Turkey oak, and larch are less poplar, as they throw out sparks and splutter as they burn. Alder, willow and poplar all rank as poor firewoods owing to their high water content , unless well seasoned.

It is very important to remember that you must dry any wood out very thoroughly before you burn it, in your stove or open fire. If you try burning unseasoned wood you might as well use the contents of your wallet as fuel. If the wood contains water or sap any heat will first be used to boil any water in the wood, and this will come off as steam before any real heat is given off.

It is often said that ash will burn green, and it does so better than any other wood. This is because ash has a very low moisture content, when I have taken a 10inch diameter x 3 foot log of ash to a show in the summer to turn on my pole lathe. I notice the cleft billets dry out so quickly and a quarter section can be dry in a couple of days, where as oak will retain its moisture for week or months.

It is always best to cut any wood for whatever purpose in the winter when the sap is down, avoid cutting in the spring as the sap is rising, I have heard of tree surgeons getting sprayed with sap when working in the spring.

Split the wood into the size you want to use it in, and stack in place where the air circulates freely and wait at least a year before using it. With this in mind, the wood should be piled in a place where the sun can warm it and the wind can blow through it. As the sun heats and evaporates the water from the wood pile the wind blows it away. When its time to burn it indoors, try and have a big stack next or near your fire so it can really finally dry out before burning. The less water in the wood the more heat you will get from it.

Do clean your chimney regularly as a chimney fire, if not caught in time will spread to the rest of your home.

If you have access to them, burn softer woods like poplar, willow, aspen and birch in the autumn and spring and save the more valuable fuels like ash and oak for the coldest part of the winter.

Wood is a carbon neutral fuel, as it is part of a natural cycle of trapping carbon and then releasing it when the tree dies and rots. In theory it is an ecologically sound and sustainable energy source if the same, or preferably a lot more, of trees are planted for the ones cut down. The key to this is to ensure that the forest remains healthy, maintains a stable level of variously aged trees and provides a good habitat for a diversity of other species, both plants and animals.

You can do your part by insisting that your firewood is harvested using sustainable forestry practices. Ask your firewood supplier about where the wood has come from and make it clear that you are concerned about the sustainability of our forest resources. Don't demand a load of perfectly uniform pieces; there are better uses for long, straight logs than burning them.

Do not use firelighters for lighting your fire, this is just pure laziness and you are using none sustainable fossil fuels by doing so. The number of times I have seen people try and light their fires using a box of firelighters and 3 big logs is just mad.

If you cut your own logs then do as our forefathers did, and cut up every branch and every twig, then all you will need is one sheet of newspaper and the ready prepared kindling in the form of twigs and smaller branches. There is nothing wrong with burning small diameter logs especially if you are not going to leave this brash in piles for the wildlife.

It is easy to make your own kindling by choosing a straight grained, knot free log and splitting it into smaller pieces by chopping with an axe. When the pieces get so small that they fall over do not hold them and swing the axe or you might chop a finger instead. Rest the axe on top of the wood, hold it in place as you lift the wood and axe up with your other hand and drop down removing your grip on the wood just before it hits the chopping block, this way you can split each piece exactly in half each time.


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And a slightly different variant of the second...

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
But Ash green or Ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown.

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But Ash wet or Ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Clontarf83
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 02:15 AM

On the west coast of Canada Douglas Fir is the best option--make sure it is at least a year old. Start with a hot burn, to reduce risk of creosote. Avoid alder--useless as firewood. Clean chimney annually. Avoid driftwood from the beach--smells like urine.

Subject: RE: BS: Best wood for a fireplace
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 02 Feb 10 - 08:03 PM

The source of the "Logs to Burn" poem cited a couple of times above appears to be here :- author Honor Goodhart, 1926 - written during the General Strike when coal would have been unobtainable.

Ross