What is the best firewood? Tips on how to light a good fire including comparison of hardwood to softwood and the amount of heat they produce.
Nothing takes the chill out of a room like a crackling fire in a fireplace or wood stove. But trying to start or maintain a crackling fire and ending up with a sputtering, smoky mess instead can quickly put a damper on your enthusiasm.
The secret to a good fire is all in the wood you choose. Generally speaking, hardwood is preferred over softwood for the amount of heat produced. There are exceptions, however.
The following trees are classified as hardwood and produce medium to high heat: Red oak, white oak, birch, beech, hickory, ash, hard maple, pecan, dogwood, soft maple, cherry, walnut, mesquite, elm and sycamore. Aspen, basswood and cottonwood are considered hardwood trees, but they produce less heat than other hardwoods.
Douglas fir and southern yellow pine are softwood trees, but they are high heat producers. Most softwoods produce low to medium heat. Examples of softwood trees are: Spruce, larch, tamarack, eastern white pine, western white pine, sugar pine, ponderosa pine, firs, juniper, eastern red cedar, western red cedar and white cedar.
Regardless of whether you go with a hardwood or a softwood, the wood must be thoroughly dry. This doesn't happen overnight. Depending on how the wood is handled after a tree is cut, drying can take six months to a year. Dead wood, however, has the advantage of having been dried by Mother Nature, and wood from a fallen tree might be ready to burn as soon as it is cut into smaller pieces. A lot depends upon how long the tree has been dead and whether it has been lying on dry ground or submerged in water or snow.
Be aware, though, that dead wood often is inhabited by a lot more bugs than a live tree. The last thing you want to do is move a family of ants or termites into your living room. If you choose to burn dead wood, make sure it is not home to any flying insects. Crawling insects might be a bother, but if you bring in only as much as will fit directly into an already-burning fir, the heat and flames will kill the insects before they have a chance to crawl out. Flying insects are quicker, and could zip out into the room before they are killed.
After cutting a tree, the logs must be split in order to dry properly. For large quantities, most people prefer to use a gasoline-powered wood splitter rather than an ax. Although it tends to be rather noisy, a wood splitter makes short work of a daunting task. Chunks of wood are placed on a flat surface of the machine, and when a lever is pulled, a wedge-shaped piece of metal comes forward and forces the log into two pieces. If the pieces are still large, they can be split again. The more inside surface that is exposed, the quicker the log will dry. If you are only splitting a small quantity of wood, or if you are not in any hurry, splitting with an ax can be a satisfying way to burn off energy and increase the strength of your back and arm muscles.
After the wood has been split, it should be stacked in an area that is protected from rain and snow, but that still has air flow.
