Best Firewood Test: Which of these three woods burns the longest? (Pecan, Red Oak, Post Oak)
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- Опубліковано 3 лип 2024
- Which firewood burns the longest? Today we're testing pecan, red oak, and post oak.
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Also in Texas - our live oaks tend to give us enough dropped/broken branches for the many bbq's we do. We honestly only have to heat our home less than 15 days a year so we don't need to be too picky with our heating firewood.
I’ve got red oak in my bundles now. Customers love them! The small splits from the spring were ready for burning recently so I’ve been doing some resplits and moving that. My white oak isn’t there yet and I’ve got some hickory I need to do some burn tests on. Here in CT it’s common for me to be able to find red oak on the Facebook marketplace. Bucking some more up tomorrow and bring it home.
I live in the mountains of western North Carolina. My favorite is red oak. It splits well and burns hot and long
I agree!
Nice experiment, Glen. I was expecting the Red Oak to to burn the longest. I also expected it to burn the hottest and catch on first. We primarily burn oak (red, white, pin oak, etc.), cherry, and maple here in northwest PA. Oak is always my favorite. -Chad
Thanks, Chad!
Glen I’m in north Alabama and we have lots of red oak too. I like to burn cherry it burns clean seasons quickly less ashes. It doesn’t really matter though the main thing is that it’s dry. Take care, Ben.
Someday I want to try some Cherry. I've heard a lot of good things about it. I agree, the main thing with any wood is that is dry! Happy Thanksgiving, Ben!
I live in the Stateline area of Northern Illinois/Southern Wisconsin. We have a lot of Northern Red/White Oak, Black Cherry, Shagbark Hickory and various species of Elm. Red Oak and Cherry are my favorite. Red Oak (White Oak is great too)for it's density and how easy it is to split and Cherry for it's well balanced properties and quick seasoning. Hickory burns excellently but it's horrible to split and takes at least as long as Oak to season. Elm is just a pain to split and doesn't really offer anything over the other types around here. Hawthorn burns really well too but it's kind of a small shrubby tree. Cherry is a great balance 👌
Western NY, here. It depends on the usage. I don't heat with wood, so it's just for cooking and recreational fires. For cooking, My faves are cherry, apple, and red oak. Because they all smell fantastic and impart good flavor. Apple and oak are also very dense, and make good hot coals.
For recreational fires, I like Ash, Red Maple, and birch. Pine, too. Ash smells great, and creates a hot coal bed. Birch and pine are also for aroma, and because they burn brightly. Red maple is the least dense of the 3 common maples up here, and burns like crazy when it gets going. Beech is also a good one- similar to oak, for burn time just without the aromatic smoke. This would be a great choice for heating.
The woods up here are extremely diverse, species-wise- so I like to try a bit of everything. I currently have hawthorn, honey locust, pignut hickory, sugar maple, cherry, and some crab apple drying in my racks for next year or so. Also white birch. The locust is all 2" or less diameter limbwood (free! trimmed off dead limbs), so perfect for my little grill/firepit. Great burning stuff- long duration, LONG lasting coals. The crab apple is a new one to me- a few pieces were dry enough to burn, so I tried it. Burns forever! Not a big bright burner- more an all-nighter or BBQ variety. Wood smells fruity, and has a light smell to the smoke, similar to apple. This stuff is rock hard, too. Besides the cherry and birch, the others are new to me. We'll see in 12-18 months!
I have to add, that Sugar Maple has eclipsed pretty much everything else as far as favorite to burn. Same BTU value as red oak or Beech, but smells much nicer than either- and has coaling properties just as good. Excellent for smoking and direct grilling. Great heating wood, too. Just an all-around all purpose wood.
I live on 5 acres here in central Arkansas primarily covered by post.white and black oak along with hickory. I must say of the variety of hardfwood trees we have on the property I love the smell of the hickory burning.
North Arkansas here.
Hickory is terrible to split by hand though. I always use a hydraulic splitter for
Favorite firewood? Maple beech mix that go into my daughters bundles as it gets sold! 12x12 14 inch long wrapped cubes. Their smiles make it my favorite!
That's great that your sharing the love of firewood with your kids! My kids love it.
Central Ohio and any wood i can get my hands on burning in a outdoor boiler
In NH I like a mix of species in my firewood - red oak, sugar maple, white ash, beech, cherry, and red maple. I have a lot of red maple on my property so I end up with a lot of it, but it isn’t my favorite. In terms of burn time/energy content - that’s related to density, and red oak is king there, along with sugar maple. Ash isn’t far behind. From a processing standpoint, I love how red oak and ash split. If I had to pick an all around favorite firewood, it’s probably white ash. Splits nice, green moisture content is lower, and it has high energy content. Unfortunately, with the emerald ash borer we are losing ash trees quickly here. I’ve harvested some that I normally wouldn’t yet because they’re dying. My approach to burning is to load higher energy wood like oak overnight, and mix everything during the day.
same situation. I have found myself with a huge quantity of ash trees that will need to be cut down very soon. Indiana
Same in New Jersey. Dame ash beetle killing my white ash. I’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Okay, a couple variables you may have overlooked? Moisture content first and foremost, then the size or weight of the log to measure BTU's, and the location the three logs were in the fire. The red oak which in my opinion is likely the hottest log ordinarily and the one that puts out the highest British Thermal Units was placed in the center of the stove. The one being burned by the other two logs, and the one getting (likely) the best air flow. Here in Wisconsin, the locust is the hardest wood perhaps holding the most energy. Elm, ash, walnut and white oak are also great burning woods. Hickory is stringy as hell, but is a slow burning wood. Red oak and cherry are two more to add to the fire. No matter what, what I've found nearly universal, is the wood that burns the best is the hardest to cut and split. If sharpening your chainsaw is your game, then stick to White oak, locust, elm, and hickory, but if you want a great wood to burn that splits great, dries quick, easy to cut, and also puts off great heat, then I'm suggesting cherry. Hands down the most pleasurable wood to cut, split, stack, and burn in my opinion.
I think this question could also depend on what type of stove you’re using to heat with. If you’re heating using an indoor fireplace, your choice of firewood may be different compared to if you’re heating using a large outdoor wood boiler. For anyone with an outdoor wood boiler, what is your typical firewood of choice?
Growing up in WA state we had a lot of softwoods at our disposal. The two used most was Douglas-fir (since we had to cut trees down on property for safety) and plum. Douglas-fir was a bright-burning wood that produced decent heat but had subpar coals and an awful smell. The plum wood had bad flame, however the wood was hot and coaled excellently, so if I had to pick one of those two I’d go with plum. Piñon is my favorite since I moved to NM because it combines the qualities of both woods and it actually smells good.
Any wood thats not poplar! It burns hot like paper but lasts as long as paper. Great videos 😀
I like using Fir to start with, then madrone and oak before bed. Oak burns slower and still have coals in the morning.
South Mississippi. Second burn season with our Buck Stove model 81. First season was primarily red oak and water /pint oak. This season lots of pecan wood. I split small at 16” sticks. The pecan burns hot but fast. I really like the red oak. I’m going with slightly thicker splits next year just to see if I can get more burn time out of my logs. Thanks!!
Douglas Fir is my favorite. Located in Washington state.
Oaks my favorite Tallmadge Ohio😁🔥
Thank you sir great video
Thank you!
Here in Northern Missouri we have black walnut, hedge (osage), honey locust, white and red oak, hackberry. On our recently purchased property the woods haven't been managed for decades so we've been busy cutting and dragging out all the dead and down trees. The locust, hedge, and black walnut seem to be most resistant to decay so that's what most of the split and stacked piles are becoming. Hedge burns really hot so I mostly burn that in the shop stove (huge, home built, heavy walled stove). We burn mostly the locust and black walnut in the house stove.
White Oak is my favorite here in Central PA. Burn hot and has a lot of BTUs, even better than red oak.
Only downside to white oak is how long it takes to dry down
@@dister72 For me, it takes 2 years. No big deal as I'm 2 years ahead on firewood.
Missouri
So far I've burned ash, white oak, pecon, cherry, an odd oak...which I think is a type of post oak, and my hickory and red oak arnt seasoned enough to really burn enough to form an opinion.
So far my fav for cutting and burning quick and handy is ash...cherry is a close second but it has a lower btu.
My favorite though is white oak so far for heat and long-term burn.
Hard maples are one of the best here in Southern Ontario Canada as its abundant as good for heating with. Its pretty well the same as oak for heat output.
We have probably 100 mature Elm trees here on our farm that are dead or dying so thats what ive been using recently but its hard to split and creates more ashes than the hard maples but does put out decent heat.
I burn mostly ship mast black locust; it coppices easily, grows quickly, and burns hot. I have a grove on my property dedicated to it specifically for firewood.
Black cherry in Rhode Island
I'm in New Hampshire. I love red oak but I'm always happy to get ahold of some locust wood or black walnut limbs.
In the Rio Grande Valley mesquite is king especially for carne asada, oak and pecan are used for smoking but you can also use mesquite for smoking.
Favorite firewood,.........."free" burns the best.
Amen!
There is definitely merit to that statement. I hit up the brush piles of downed limbs out back often for kindling and fuel sized limbwood.
I got a bunch of free pine lol it wasn't good
N.C Hickory wood for heat and cooking.
Osage orange! Burns hot! hot! and lasts as long as a chunk of iron!!!!
Thanks, I'll have to try it sometime!
Red oak and a lot of Black Walnut in central Ohio (Columbus)
Red Oak is my favorite. Outdoor is any wood is my favorite. SE Georgia Like your back door homemade rack. Have a Safe Day
I agree on the Red Oak. Burns great in our wood stove. Thanks, David.
Sugar maple and Birch, both hardwood and in that order.
Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
Central IN…the most abundant is ash and maple, but the best burning for heat would be osage orange (or hedge apple) followed by locust. We don’t get too much of either here, but when we do, we’re pretty excited. I’m not familiar with post oak. Nice video! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I'll have to try some Osage sometime. It's not as common here but I've seen it before.
You are exactly right but depending on where you are it's hard to get
I live in northern Sweden. Best firewood I can get hold of is rowan, once splittered.
Hands down, one of the longest lasting, hottest burning wood is Osage Orange. However, it has several down sides. 1.Takes several years to cure properly. 2. Because of its' high heat you must have a heavy duty stove. People who get this wood from me use this wood in furnaces that are designed to also burn coal. 3. Because it sparks quite a bit whenever it is getting started, it is not the best option for an open fire place or fire pit.
Here in southern West Virginia I have alot of red,black,and white oak,as well as alot of maple ,hickory,and beech. Hands down red oak is my favorite to split as well as to burn. My least favorite is maple,because it seldom splits good and seems to take forever to season right. Cherry and walnut season quickly,but I dont get it in abundance.
Locust is my favorite! Western North Carolina!
Nor Ca. Coastal Oak East Bay area. So much wood around here for the taking.
Here in Wisconsin I try to heat my house with 100% red oak. My second choice is ironwood
I live in another country, oak is also the most popular sort of firewood but it is also the most expensive one. So the best firewood is that one you can afford. For example if the price is good and your boiler effective and has air blower than even pine croaker that does not need to be chopped is very good choice.
Here in mid state illinois oaks ash and cherry love cherry
Love beech and red oak
Here in Connecticut we’ve got no shortage of good hardwoods. If I’m looking for straight BTU value I burn red or white oak, sugar maple, hickory, American beech or black locust. I don’t really have a favorite, just like to burn a little of everything. I’ll burn conifers, fruit trees, or aspen just the same. I think the heaviest hitter we have here is black locust, which I have a couple cords of. I try not to burn it unless it’s below 20 degrees out. If I was in Texas I’d be all over that infamous Osage Orange (hedge/ hedge apple) 👍 There’s a few randomly planted up here, but nothing to speak of for firewood.
Oak, Locust, Walnut.
We're lucky in middle Tennessee to have a diverse hardwood forest, so I generally can find any hardwood I want. Oak is plentiful here and probably the most burned wood as there is plenty to go around.
Well, that was illuminating. Didn't feel any heat though.
Shag Bark Hickory is my favorite, In NJ hard to find alot of it but it burns hot and lasts long, oak is my second favorite.
Central Maryland. Black locust & pignut and shagbark hickory.
Scarlet Red oak and Black Locust here in Northern Virginia, Happy Thanksgiving 🦃🪵🇺🇸
Good choices. Happy Thanksgiving!
Quercus garryana or lobata (Oregon white oak or California white oak) and cherry firewood for the aroma! California and Oregon. Seasoned three years.
Great looking splitter. The EM’s are getting real popular for good reason. New sub here. Great video. Should test out Black Locust if you have it.
Thank you and welcome to the channel! I will have to try that someday for sure.
Do y'all have locust in your part of Texas?
Oak is a favorite- smell, heat quality and burn time are all top notch. Hickory is another one I like
You can't go wrong with Oak.
South East PA Locust is my favorite
Elm hickory Ash oaks hedge
For South New Jersey the top pick would be White Oak difficult to split if it has tough knots but it's the best
central wi, lot of pine with lot of sugar maple and sum red oak depending where you are exactly. love me the maple great coal bed fast drying and good heat. pleasant smell to.
I’m in Southern Delaware, Hickory, cherry and white oak.
White oak, split small 4" seasoned at least 1.5 years, Wilmington Delaware.
I live in SE Mass. and I burn red oak and black oak as they are plentifully. High in BTU’s, however it takes about two yrs to season. I would rather burn Maple as it takes less time to season
White oak #1 red oak #2 locust#3 down here in central Maryland. But any combo of the three seems to be the best.
Favorite is madrone but harder to find in abundance, followed by tan oak, white oak, bay, doug fir. Norcal
It's also worth noting the red oak was sitting on most of the hot coal bed, and still lasted that long. I like the white oak myself
Red oak is great for heating. Not that post oak, live oak or white oak isn't. Red oak just seems to burn a little better. I think I like the smell of Post Oak the best though.
I have more White Oak on my property than Red Oak. I feel like White Oak is a little denser and burns a tad hotter than Red but I also find it takes even longer to season and is a tad harder to split (still splits very nicely compared to most wood) It also is just a slower growing tree that doesn't replenish as quickly. I love any type of Oak and I really like Cherry too. It's a well balanced wood, not the densest wood in the forest but seasons fast, splits well and burns well
Very good point. Not sure if his stove has secondary burn tubes, but for my stove the return tube is right there in the center too, so that center piece will always burn harder. I burn mostly red but I like white oak too. Just have to be careful not to overfire the stove. I can't put in a full nighttime load of just white oak for that reason. I'll put in mostly red and only one or two pieces of white.
Shagbark and shell bark Hickory and black oak from East Tennessee
1st is red/white oak...burns hot and long.
2nd is ash. Always dry, and burns pretty hot.
3rd is iron wood. Burns very very hot and long, but difficult to find in my area here in Michigan.
Yup live in Michigan also. Your list is about the same as mine. We get Ash, Ironwood, Cherry and Maple from northern Michigan, and Black Oak from mid Michigan.
Im in northern california and i love burning almond in my wood stove,burns hot last long and coals are chunky.in the morning i can almost light just coals and have a fire for an hour or so.
Thanks for sharing. I haven't had the chance to burn almond yet. Sounds like a great wood for heating.
The top 3 woods for BTU's per pound of wood is Osage [Hedge apple], 2. locust 3. hickory There are many firewoods that burn great. I am in Ohio and live on 45 acres of hardwoods. I have a lot of hickory but have a large mix of varities in my forest. My favorite woods a probably locust and beech. I do not cut live trees on my place. A woodlot will produce about 1 cord of wood per acre per year by storms and natural dieing. I probably have enough wood on the ground right now to heat my house for the next 5 years and most of it will end up rotting because I can't get to it.
That's great. Sounds like a side hustle in the making!
Southern Ohio here. 50 acres. We have mainly oak, hickory and poplar. Lots of post oak which surprised me. I have so much mature timber that we lose more in wind storms than I could ever keep up with.
In Virginia it's any kind of Oak or Locust even wild Cherry
Wish ironwood was more available here in Delaware. It is the densest longest burning wood. Sometimes I'll get some ironwood in cords of "mixed hardwood". Sounds like a stone when you drop it.
We heat with wood only. In Va we have an abundance of ash to burn due to the jade beetle infestation. I also have plenty of red oak and black locust. Black locust is best for heat in my opinion.
I haven't had the chance to burn much locust, but I hope to try it sometime. I'm trying to mainly heat our house with wood as much as I can.
For the smell it's cherry, but to keep my house warm hands down in northern wv it's locust!
Red oak clearly the winner even though at a disadvantage being wedged between 2 other logs. Beech and shagbark my favourites in southern Indiana.
It's interesting to me, how Post oak STANKS when it's not yet dry, but smells pretty good when burned. What sort of weird magic is this?? Hickory, too. My Pignut smells like concentrated cow crap when it's drying- then smells sweet and very pleasant when burned. I wonder if Pecan is the same, as it's a member of the Hickory family.
As for burn duration, I've been cutting on some several year's dead standing, beetle killed White Ash. Stuff is essentially seasoned on the root, lol. Dry enough to burn immediately, and rock hard. (not fully dry, but it is Ash, so it'll burn anyway) I'm burning some of it, now- 6+ months dried- and it burns forever! It's right up there with Beech, for "will these pieces ever finish burning??" Green Ash smells nicer, but White burns longer.
Osage Orange is king in a stove or boiler white oak is next but burning lots os ash right now because of dying trees from the beetle infestation killing them
I'll have to try Osage sometime.
Cherry is the best in my opinion
That's what I've heard from several people! I'll have to try it.
Pecan burns long and slow and has excellent coals. Mesquite too. In North Arkansas and Cherry and hickory are best followed by oaks and Locust. All top tier heat and rec firewoods
I use ceder, oak, and hickory
Red oak for burn time, btu and availability in Arkansas. Wish it seasoned quicker.
Since a few months I am a fan of black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia for the latin if I am not mistaken.
Before that we still burn a lot of beech (Carpinus betulus). Country is european union, Netherlands.
I do not have acces to my own woodland (one of the most dense populated areas in the world)
That's cool to learn that. I like knowing what everyone uses around the world.
Pecan, live oak, mesquite ,South Texas
Black locust
does pecan take as long as oak to season?
Black locust is my.favriot and I'm in rockymount virginia
Nice.
interesting 👍
My favorite is red oak
Kingsport,Tennessee
I assume post oak is white oak? I burn that quite a bit along with cherry and ash until it’s gone - here in NJ.
Black Locust
Best Heating wood ever !!
White oak or red oak Warrenton nc Grove Hill the amount of heat you get out of it
AZ I like mesquite and white oak and black oak and Red heart cedar and plam tree ok and that what I like to burn okay
Northern WI 3 year old dry Red oak best then ash, then Maple
Why did you choose not to measure the moisture content of the different woods?
Its like the old man used to say. Boy ,you can never have enough fire wood and it takes all kinds. Old dry sasafras,mulberry,mixed with a little ash for a morning coffe fire,a fire that wont linger into mid morning in the early fall. He saud save that hickory,locust,osage orange red or white oak for deep winter. Cookstove wood and heating wood it takes all kinds.
This is great. He passed his wisdom down. We need more of remembering the wisdom of past generations. Thanks so much for sharing.
I heat with oak, maple and ash
In my past experience pecan burns the hottest with less smoke and definitely the best to cook-BBQ with.
A neighbor just had a pecan tree taken down and bucked….I ONLY took home 2 truckloads 😂😂😂
FREE BURNS GREAT!!!
Locust is the best!
Mentioned post oak, pecan, and red oak and was like…is he in Texas? And then 15 seconds later you confirmed. Lol. Hill country?
North Texas, but my land falls within the Cross Timbers.
Mulberry is the most overlooked wood in my area of n.j.
People will let it rot not realizing its 97% as good as oak
Osage Orange, burns longer and most heat. Osage Orange has very high density.