The hotter the wood burns, the warmer the house, obviously, and the more heat for your money if you are buying cords of wood. A few other hot hardwood benefits include less creosote in your chimney and a more efficient burn with less smoldering, resulting in less air pollution. Hardwood's, like madrone, live oak, eucalyptus, walnut, black oak etc., are the choice of the serious fire burner. You may pay $300 for a cord of oak, and only $250 for a cord of fir. BUT, because the oak is more dense, it weighs much more than the fir. So you actually get more for your money with hardwood. In fact, you may get almost twice the fire for the money! Because hardwoods are denser, they provide more available fuel in the same space. So, hardwoods burn longer. If hardwoods are properly seasoned, they do burn very hot. (Look for oak mixed with madrone.) The fuel available in hardwood enables stoves or inserts to sustain high temperatures for significantly longer periods. Also, unless the stove is shut down tight, hardwoods may keep a hot live coal bed for days. So as a rule, airtight stoves, or inserts, perform best with dry hardwoods. It is, however, always important to have a large supply of really good kindling - because hardwood is difficult to start. Having a quantity of fir on hand is great source of good kindling.

I have to disagree with some of the things that "canadianhelper" has said. A heavier or denser wood doesn't necessarily mean a better fuel. When it comes to potential energy of the fuel, we talk about stored energy in joules, not density. I agree that some oak trees work, because they are available. However, I prefer redwood or pine because it has less smoke and burns brighter and hotter, and only for a slightly lower duration. Do not- I repeat, Do not burn the following. It was foolish of "canadianhelper" to suggest them: Eucalyptus- not only the leaves are poisonous to us, the bark and wood contains harmful substanaces, which are released upon burning, much the way that poison oak oils can spread to you through smoke. Walnut- Buring the husks of the walnut and the wood releases often odorless toxins, which are breathed in by us.

I sell & Burn alot of Oak & Cherry beech Maple . the softer wooods like gum & Pine burn fast and will cause resins to build up in your chimney if you dont maintain a regular prevenitive maintenence with chimney cleaning. I sell a cord for $140 delivered . I wouldnt pay more than $180. Talk to your local tree companies they will be able to hook you up with the right person. Size and length may vary . but the wood is the same as the high dollar loads. usually the expensive guys have firewood processors and have to buy their wood in logs. causing their overhead to be higher than the tree removal companies that get the wood for free or are paid to remove it. a little gum or poplar mixed in with your hardwood isn't going to hurt your chimney or devalue the cord. the best thing you can do is familarize yourself with the different barks of the wood so you have some idea of what you are buying.

I prefer and burn Oak.

Free wood; all jokes aside however the term, "best wood" covers a wide category. Almost all wood, gives off an equal amount of BTU(British Thermal Units)in heat. The key difference is that the denser the wood, the heavier it is, therefore, for example only, 10 pounds apple, one of the highest rated woods for heat value output will burn for a substantially much longer period of time than say willow, which is a very soft and poor wood. Heat value is not completley equal, say oak to willow, and oak does have somewhat of a higher heat value(BTU's) than willow. My example is generalized but close enough. If you're burning in an open fireplace then buy wood thats reasoanbly priced because you're burning more for esthetics(abimance) than any amount of heat you'll receive. if however you're suing a wood stove tahn buy well seasoned hardwoods of most any kind; remeber the denser the wood the longer it will maintain a fire and heat output. And if hardwoods are of limited availability to you and pine is available use it, and disregard all the old wives tales and misconceptions about the pithc will buildup excess creosote. Some pine will burn almsot as hot as some oak-oak being the predermined mantra of most wood burning folks. Yes there is pitch in pine; yes pitch is flamable, thats one reason it burns hotter than most think it does, and yes it will increase creosote buildup IF, and I say IF it is not seasoned long enough for the creosote to also ahve dried. The moisture(water) may have dried out of it in 4-6 months, but not the pitch. To properly season pine to permit the pitch to dry down to where it is not a major issue for ceosote requires about twlelve months, dependent on one's climatic conditions(humidity in the air).

Free firewood is out there. This year we decided to burn wood and scoured the internet to learn all about woods and how they burn, seasoning, etc. Some people speak with disdain when talking about free wood. But it is out there. I brought home 2 cords of mulberry today. A landscaper I called, called me and off I went. I will get 5 more cords out of this one huge tree. One problem many landscapers face is that they have a lot of people who want the wood, but won't go get it! Whats up with that? If it is free, better go and get it. I have a 20 foot trailer hooked up to a Ford F150 and I am Johnny on the spot. I want that wood. So far, beginning in April, I have 13 cords of wood. I will only need 7-8 to burn for the winter, but the wood is there, for the asking! A chain saw would also help. Hey, if it is free, why worry about how hot oak is over fir? If it is free, it is free. BUT, you gotta work for it and go get it. IF a scaper calls, you better go if you leave your name. My heating bill is normally $250. a month last year and this year it should be $350 with rising energy prices. We have a blower on our insert we had it installed July 30. of this year. I also have a 20 ton splitter and a Stihl chain saw. I really got into it. A lot of my wood is dry now but I have some elm and cedar which is still seasoning. We live in the SW and the dry air helps with a faster seasoning time. Good luck.

dry

I normally use the Hardwood or sometimes use charcoal for the fireplace!

I use Maple mainly because its more available and less expensive than oak in my Southern Ontario area. It burns best when cured for two years or more. Remember to air dry your wood and not let it get wet from rain or snow. If it's good and dry, large round 12-16" diameter logs should split easy when hit with a maul. I can split up to 18" long and 24" diameter logs with only my maul and a good chopping block log. Maple splits easier than oak due the finer, smoother grain structure. I would put the top three woods as Maple, Oak and Ash. At least in my area of North America.

Yeah well what I want to know is, why do I get smoke in the house even when the vent is opened. Then I usually get a huge headache after the fire is out.

wood from a tree.

personally i would steer away from pine for the simple reason that the creosote builds up much faster from this type of wood.

If you are interested in finding the hottest burning wood and most BTU's for the money I would suggest you go to www.chimneysweeponline.com and look at their BTU chart. Most of us in the country can burn only what they have available in their area. Mulberry burns hotter and longer than Oak by their chart. I use pine for kindling, also fir. I can get all the oak I want out of Dallas,Tex just by looking on Craigs list. Look under "Free firewood" old Billy Bob has his back 40 acres filled with oak trees and wants them cleared. It will be green, but when it dries it will be good to burn. We have no oak in NM-to speak of, so the landscapers have given me over 100 cords of wood since I started collecting wood 2 years ago. I use a hydraulic splitter (20 Ton) and two chain saws, which I rarely use. The scapers cut them to size just to cut them down and move them to my trailer (15,000lbs) YOU also have to have the time to go get this stuff. I am retired and 62. Fairly good health, but not enough to use a maul. That Marine will find out soon enough it goes faster with a splitter. I know, I am a Marine myself!. Make sure the wood is DRY, seasoned and let it sit out in the sun for minimum of 8 months. In a high humidity area, I would wait longer,as some one mentioned above up to 2 years.

Flammable.

I like cedar for the smell, but hickory is nice too.