What is the best wood to burn?

[Stilllearning]

Now I know that the best wood is anything that is free, but other than that, what species burns best/hottest/longest?

Around here we have lots of Oak, Chestnut, Hornbeam, Acacia, Ash and some Beech.

What species do forum members prefer?

[Wanted]

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year;
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new-cut holly laid beside;
Chestnut's only good, they say,
If for years 'tis stored away;
Birch and fir-wood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last;
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
Dangerously the sparks will fly;
But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold;
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke;
Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold;
It is by the Irish said;
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,
Apple-wood will scent the room,
Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;
But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.

[tree monkey]

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year;

Store your beech for Christmastide

With new-cut holly laid beside;

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for years 'tis stored away;

Birch and fir-wood burn too fast

Blaze too bright and do not last;

Flames from larch will shoot up high,

Dangerously the sparks will fly;

But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown

Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

 

Oaken logs, if dry and old,

Keep away the winter's cold;

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke;

Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold;

It is by the Irish said;

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,

Apple-wood will scent the room,

Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;

But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry

A King may warm his slippers by.

 

Worth noting this is based on an open fire and contains some bloopers, elm wood as an example burns lovely in my stove

[Dalslandia]

Birch is the wooden Rolls Royce

[Stilllearning]

Worth noting this is based on an open fire and contains some bloopers, elm wood as an example burns lovely in my stove

Indeed, Chestnut spits but in our big wood burner, I don't care.

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year;

Store your beech for Christmastide

With new-cut holly laid beside;

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for years 'tis stored away;

Birch and fir-wood burn too fast

Blaze too bright and do not last;

Flames from larch will shoot up high,

Dangerously the sparks will fly;

But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown

Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

Oaken logs, if dry and old,

Keep away the winter's cold;

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke;

Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold;

It is by the Irish said;

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,

Apple-wood will scent the room,

Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;

But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry

A King may warm his slippers by.

 

Poem by Lady Celia Congreve, but no mention of Acacia or Hornbeam.

[Wanted]

or pallets...

[Victor Vectis]

Any that's free.....

[rasputin]

Birch is the wooden Rolls Royce

 

Birch, Awful stuff, Burns too fast and tars your chimney up.

 

Ash is best, but always nice to have a bit of oak around, Just felled a massive oak today, That's next years wood sorted.

[The Toad in the Hole]

poplar is really hard work - used for matchsticks because it burns slowly, also for old cart brake blocks for the same reason.

 

Chestnut smolders rather than burning brightly,IME, but I've never tried it in a stove.

[tree monkey]

poplar is really hard work - used for matchsticks because it burns slowly, also for old cart brake blocks for the same reason.

 

Chestnut smolders rather than burning brightly,IME, but I've never tried it in a stove.

Sweet chestnut has burnt well for me, never tried horse chestnut

Agreed about Poplar, it's ok if properly seasoned but only ok

[Machpoint005]

Beech-wood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year;

Store your beech for Christmastide

With new-cut holly laid beside;

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for years 'tis stored away;

Birch and fir-wood burn too fast

Blaze too bright and do not last;

Flames from larch will shoot up high,

Dangerously the sparks will fly;

But ash-wood green and ash-wood brown

Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown.

 

Oaken logs, if dry and old,

Keep away the winter's cold;

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke;

Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,

E'en the very flames are cold;

It is by the Irish said;

Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread,

Apple-wood will scent the room,

Pear-wood smells like flowers in bloom;

But ash-wood wet and ash-wood dry

A King may warm his slippers by.

 

 

I've seen this several times before, but does the fact that it is expressed in rhyming couplets make it any more authoritative?

[FadeToScarlet]

 

I've seen this several times before, but does the fact that it is expressed in rhyming couplets make it any more authoritative?

Of course it's obvious to me

That couplets make it plain to see

The wisdom present in each phrase

To take to heart, your live-long days

 

But even if you drop a clanger

And make it up, you stupid... Spanner

People will believe your poem

We know what rhymes is well worth knowing.

[Mac of Cygnet]

Birch is the wooden Rolls Royce

 

And about as much use (as a wooden Rolls Royce). The trouble with birch is that the bark is so impermeable that it rots before it dries if not cut and split.

 

As for that poem...........

[Athy]

 

I've seen this several times before, but does the fact that it is expressed in rhyming couplets make it any more authoritative?

OK, let's try it your way:

 

Beechwood fires burn bright and clear

If the logs are kept 12 months.

 

It doesn't have quite the same ring and appeal, does it? Reminds me of:

 

See a pin and pick it up

And all that day you'll have a pin.

[valrene9600]

Any free wood is good no matter what type. The energy you use cutting and splitting is very satisfying. Dry it as best you can, I always split and cover asap, but above all clean the chimney regularly. Ours gets cleaned two or three times during winter because of the lack of time the wood we gather has to dry thoroughly. It takes no time at all to be safe.

[David Schweizer]

 

Birch, Awful stuff, Burns too fast and tars your chimney up.

 

Ash is best, but always nice to have a bit of oak around, Just felled a massive oak today, That's next years wood sorted.

 

I hope that is the gnarled branches, and not a sound trunk you are planning to burn.

[rasputin]

 

I hope that is the gnarled branches, and not a sound trunk you are planning to burn.

 

yes I did look at the great length of trunk after it came crashing down and thought what a waste, it is one of two that came half way down due to wind that needed bringing down for safety sake. too difficult to take it out for timber so firewood it is.

 

Sycamore is my usual foray

[FadeToScarlet]

Any free wood is good no matter what type. The energy you use cutting and splitting is very satisfying. Dry it as best you can, I always split and cover asap, but above all clean the chimney regularly. Ours gets cleaned two or three times during winter because of the lack of time the wood we gather has to dry thoroughly. It takes no time at all to be safe.

I can thoroughly recommend "Norwegian Wood" by Lars Mytting if you've not read it already- wood gathering as a philosophy for life!

[Neil Smith]

I use roof joists and rafters from demolition jobs, burns hot but fast but its free so it makes me happy, I don't think the wood work would agree.

 

Neil

[Mac of Cygnet]

I can thoroughly recommend "Norwegian Wood" by Lars Mytting if you've not read it already- wood gathering as a philosophy for life!

 

I got it for Christmas from Son No. 1! Apparently my woodpile means that I am a satisfactory husband. Mrs Mac fortunately agrees.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Mac of Cygnet

[Peter Reed]

I can thoroughly recommend "Norwegian Wood" by Lars Mytting if you've not read it already- wood gathering as a philosophy for life!

I always thought it was written by Lennon and Macca?

[tillergirl]

Hawthorn is great if you can get some big enough pieces. We are currently burning Ash that was very kindly left by National Grid.

[Stilllearning]

Hawthorn is great if you can get some big enough pieces. We are currently burning Ash that was very kindly left by National Grid.

I would agree about Hawthorn, a lovely dense timber but can be a bit small. In my hedge-laying days I used to get a fair amount of large stuff too.

[Peter X]

My father who was an ex-Scout Master, knew a thing or two about this, although that experience would all have been of making camp fires in the open, not stoves. His source of wood was to send the scouts into the nearest available woods to pick up dead wood off the ground, so he'd have been burning a pretty wide variety of wood, some of it damp, though the smoke wouldn't matter much outdoors.

When I was a boy in the 1960s he was often out in the garden splitting logs with his axe to make kindling for our domestic coal fire (open, not a stove), and I remember him saying that ash was very much the best wood. I think he was talking about both for that and for camp fires.

 

I provided a small amount of apple wood to my brother last winter, who reported that it was good, and in particular smelt nice.

[tillergirl]

Blackthorn is also good if you get your hands on it