What is the Best Firewood for Home Heating?

[BigBoxaJunk]

In my experience, the best wood that I've used to heat my home with is the wood that's easiest to cut, haul home, and split. When I started to heat with wood, I cut down quite a few "yard trees" as a favor to friends and family. I did get some good wood that way, but when you couple that with stressing about putting the tree on the ground without hitting a building or crushing the rose bushes, and feeling like you've got to clean up all of the limbs, it's not worth it. Cutting standing dead wood from a woodlot where all you have to do is drop it, cut it up, and stack it in the truck, that's the bees knees. I've burned all kinds of wood, but I've never felt like the difference in heat value made as much difference to me as the time/energy/stress it takes from tree to stove.

 

[Leadeye]

Wood closest to the stove burns easiest.

 

[indyjohn]

We really haven't discussed the classics for the OP yet. Native Indiana trees that burn well are White Oak, Red Oak, Pin Oak, Hickory Varieties. Wild Cherry, Tulip Poplar, Beech, Maple (both hard and soft). Sassafras. And a few others I'm forgetting.

My process is to start with a softwood like Sassafras, soft Maple or Poplar to get the fire going and build a good coal bed. Then I can add pieces that take some heat to get started and burn hot like Cherry, Oak, Hickory, Walnut.

Stoves and fireplaces are not as easy to run as those "newfangled" deals that sit outside and heat water. I admit I know very little about them.

 

[daddyusmaximus]

Wood closest to the stove burns easiest.

and FREE wood has the best BTU per dollar output...

 

[Max Volume]

Save straight grained osage for selfbows. People pay good money for it. Of course the problem being straight, clean osage.