What is the best wood to burn?

A very common question asked by customers looking at wood stoves is “what type of wood is the best to burn?”

The best type of wood depends on what you want to get out of the wood you burn. More dense woods contain more actual wood fiber allowing for higher BTU output and typically a longer burn time. Harder more dense woods will be a bit harder to start based on the more tightly packed wood fiber.

Good high BTU hard woods, like Oak, Madrone, & Walnut, are all good high performance woods that dry and season quickly and are all easily available from most quality cord wood suppliers.

Softer woods such as Pine, Fir, & Redwood are much less dense than the harder woods. They contain less wood fiber so they ignite quickly but burn for shorter periods of time. People often use softer woods for start up and hotter initial fires.

Probably the best is a mix of softer woods for kindling, start up, and initial burn and then harder woods for the long overnight burns. We try to use a good fir/oak mix, the two work really well together.

A lot of people ask about burning Eucalyptus because it is so available in our area. Eucalyptus is a high BTU content wood that burns hot and gives off a nice aroma when burned.

Take advantage of whatever wood is available and is cost effective, sometimes the simplest answer to the question of “what is the best wood to burn?”