The most practical consideration in choosing firewood, of course, is its availability (and if you have to pay for it, its price). Some parts of the country have quite limited choices in firewood, so you may have to take what you can get. But if there is a choice, then cut or buy the densest wood possible. Here follows a nearly complete, alphabetical list of most North American trees used for firewood, with comments on density, susceptibility to fungi and rot, ease or difficulty of splitting, and in some cases, fragrance. The way to use this list is to find out the kinds of wood available in your area, either on your property or from a cordwood dealer or other sources. Find each available species in this list and note its characteristics.
I have put together a list of Trees in alphabetical order in each of the two groups: the hardwoods and the softwoods. If you do not know the trees around you, buy a guide to trees, such as C. F. Brockman’s Trees of North America, G. A. Petrides’ A Field Guide to Trees and Shrubs, or Knowing Your Trees, by G. H. Collingwood and W. D. Brush of the American Forestry Association. If you are cutting your own trees, you need to know what you are cutting. Firewood-gathering experts can tell almost any tree in their area by the bark, grain, and weight of the log, without seeing the leaves of the tree. Once you know your trees, you will also appreciate the woods and forests more.
1. Hardwood Trees you can use as Firewood
Alder: Red and sitka alder are low in heat value. Found only in the Northwest up to Alaska.
Apple: Very dense and fragrant.
Apple, crab: Dense.
Ash: Black ash needs long seasoning and is not very susceptible to rot, while blue ash and oregon ash need little seasoning. All are of medium density. White ash rots easily and is hard to split, but needs little seasoning and is the densest of the ash family.
Aspen: The bigtooth and the quaking aspen are not very susceptible to rot but are among the lowest-density woods.
Basswood: American basswood is low in density.
Beech: American beech rots easily and is extremely hard to split, but is as dense as some hickory and oak species. It also needs little seasoning.
Beech, blue: See hornbeam.
Beech, water: See hornbeam.
Birch: The common birch species (gray, paper, river or black, sweet, yellow) are medium- to high-density woods, but need to season for a long time and be guarded from rot. They are all easy to split.
Box elder: See maple.
Buckeye: A rather poor, low-density firewood.
Butternut: A member of the walnut family, the butternut rots easily and is of low density.
Catalpa: This soft wood makes very poor firewood.
Cherry, black: This wild species, along with the domesticated fruit cherries, is of medium density and quite fragrant when burned. It is somewhat susceptible to rot. The pin cherry is a low-density wood.
Cottonwood: The balsam poplar in Alaska and Canada makes lots of ashes, as does the black cottonwood. The eastern cottonwood is the densest of the three species, but all are considered low-density woods and therefore poor for firewood purposes. They are all hard to split and need to season for a long time.
Dogwood: These are very dense, but may be protected in some states as the State Tree. Their ornamental value is really too great for them to be used as firewood. They are also very hard to split.
Elm: Of medium density, the elm tree (american) rots easily, needs long seasoning, and is sometimes hopeless to split by hand. The rock elm is as dense as some oak trees, and the slippery elm is only slightly denser than the american elm tree.
Eucalyptus: A very dense, native-Australian tree which is now not uncommon in Southern California and Florida.
Gum, black: See tupelo.
Gum, sour: See tupelo.
Gum, sweet: Also called red gum, this tree is of medium density, is very hard to split, rots easily, and needs a long seasoning period.
Hackberry: Needs long seasoning. Medium density.
Hickory, pecan: All four in this family (bitternut, nutmeg, pecan, and water hickory) make excellent firewood. They are very dense, require a long seasoning period, and unfortunately, rot easily. Easy to split.
Hickory, true: These are even more dense than the pecan hickories and represent the supreme firewood. The mockernut, pignut, red, sand, shagbark, and shellbark hickories are plentiful over the whole central and eastern portions of the country. A stove full of hickory will put out more heat than you will want, so a hickory fire must be closely watched. It is also an ideal wood to use in smoking meats (but only use the charcoals!). Like the pecan hickory, it is easy to split and rots easily. The shagbark and pignut, however, can be burned successfully with only a few months of seasoning.
Holly: Like the dogwood, this tree should be spared the ax because of its beauty. If one does die, however, it will make good firewood because it is of medium density.
Hophornbeam: The eastern hophornbeam is sometimes called ironwood because it is very hard, as dense as most hickories, but the tree is not very tall (usually 20 to 30 feet, except in the South) and only plentiful in certain areas. It has a very scaly bark.
Hornbeam, american: This is also a very dense wood. It makes good firewood, but not as good as the hophornbeam.
Ironwood: See hophornbeam and, in the softwoods,
Laurel, California: Found only in California and Oregon, it is a dense wood.
Locust, black: The black locust is even denser than its distant relative, the honey locust, and needs very little seasoning. Its extreme resistance to rot makes it, along with the eastern red cedar, the ideal fence post. A good, 10-inch diameter, black locust post will stay firm in the ground for over 20 years.
Locust, honey: Needs long seasoning, but it is worth the wait, because it makes excellent firewood.
Madrone, pacific: Very dense.
Magnolia: The cucumbertree and southern magnolia are primarily ornamental. For that reason, and because they are only of medium density, they should be spared burning as firewood.
Maple: All maple varieties (bigleaf, black, box elder, red, silver, and sugar) are medium- to high-density woods, need long seasoning, are easily split, but rot easily also. The bigleaf and box elder are perhaps the
least useful as firewood, and the sugar maple is the best. It is also fragrant to burn. They are abundant.
Oak, red: The red oak family (black, cherrybark, blackjack, laurel, northern red, pin, scarlet, southern red, water, and willow oak) are all very dense and make extremely good firewood. One nice, big log of red oak, well-seasoned, will put out a lot of heat and last through the night. Oak logs tend to rot, so do not let them lie in contact with the ground very long after cutting. They are hard to split, but it is worth the effort. All should be seasoned a good year.
Oak, tan: Found only in California and southern Oregon, the tan oak is a high-density wood.
Oak, white: The white oak family (bur, chestnut, live, overcup, post, swamp chestnut, swampy white, white) is just as dense as its sisters in the red oak family, with the southern live oak attaining an astounding density of 0.88. The latter is an evergreen tree only seen in any abundance in the lower South, where it is much cherished as a shade tree. Unlike most other oak trees, the live oak is extremely resistant to rot. The white oak is also not so susceptible to rot as the other oaks, but is hard to split.
Osage orange: A very dense wood that needs little seasoning.
Peach: Needs little seasoning and makes excellent firewood with a lovely fragrance.
Pear: Good firewood.
Pecan: See hickory, pecan.
Persimmon: This makes excellent firewood because it is dense and gives off the aroma of cinnamon when burning. It is also not very susceptible to rot and splits easily. In the Southeast, it is quite plentiful.
Poplar, balsam: See Cottonwood.
Poplar, tulip: Sometimes called the tulip tree, it is a low-density wood and quite susceptible to rot.
Poplar, yellow: See poplar, tulip.
Sassafras: This is a very common “weed” tree in the Midwest, is of medium density, and needs long seasoning.
Shadbush: Very dense.
Sugarberry: Like the hackberry, it needs long seasoning and is of medium density.
Sweetgum: See gum, sweet.
Sycamore, american: This American representative of the plane tree is very hard to split and is of medium density.
Tulip tree: See poplar, tulip.
Tupelo: The tupelo family (black or sour gum, swamp, and water tupelo) is of medium density, needs long seasoning and is very hard to split.
Walnut, black: This tree is so prized for wood to use in furniture that you should think twice before cutting one of them down for firewood (lumber mills now shave these logs extremely thin for veneer). In fact, a walnut tree is perhaps the most commercially valuable tree in America. It is of medium density and needs long seasoning. Willow, black: All of the willow species are very resistant to rot, but are poor firewood.
2. Softwood Trees you can use for Firewood
Casuarina, horsetail: Introduced from Australia, this tree is quite dense but very susceptible to rot. Also called ironwood, but not to be confused with the hophombeam.
Cedar: All members of this family (alaska, atlantic white, incense, northern white, port orford, and western red cedar) are very soft woods, but because of their fragrance and their popping and crackling sounds when burning, are desirable firewoods, especially in a fireplace. They are very resistant to rot and are easily split.
Cedar, eastern red: See juniper, Virginia.
Cypress: In the same family as the cedars and bald cypress, the cypress is found mainly in the Southwest. It is of low density, but very resistant to rot.
Cypress, bald: Medium-low density. Needs long seasoning.
Fir: The species in this family (balsam, California red, grand, noble, pacific silver, subalpine, and white) are all of low density. The noble and subalpine, however, need little seasoning.
Fir, douglas: The four members of this family are of medium density, very easy to split, need little seasoning, and burn very fragrantly.
Hardhack: See casuarina.
Hemlock: Low- to medium-density woods, the eastern, mountain, and western hemlocks all burn with pleasant fragrance and rot easily.
Juniper, Virginia: Also called eastern red cedar, the juniper is a “weed” tree throughout most of the Southeast, but makes very good fence posts because it is so resistant to rot. A poor firewood, it nevertheless is very fragrant. If burned in a fireplace, a screen must be in place because it can make violent pops and explode little coals out into the room.
Larch, western: Easy to split, not very susceptible to rot, and of medium density.
Larch, eastern: See tamarack.
Pine: This large family tends to rot easily (except for the longleaf pine), is very easy to split, and makes lots of ashes. Most members are of low density (eastern white, jack, lodgepole, ponderosa, spruce, sugar, and western white), but some are medium (norway, pitch, red, sand, and Virginia), and a few are quite as dense as many good hardwoods (loblolly, longleaf, pond, and slash). The lodgepole and red pine need little seasoning; the rest, long seasoning. The relatively isolated southwestern pinyons or nutpines are of medium density.
Redwood: Very resistant to rot, easy to split, but very low-density wood.
Spruce: Very common in the northern regions of the continent and in certain mountainous areas of the West, the spruces (black, engelman, red, sitka, and white) all rot easily and are of low density. The red and white species need little seasoning.
Tamarack: Related to the larches, the tamarack is widespread across the northernmost region of the continent, from Alaska to the Atlantic coast. It is a medium-high-density wood that is fairly easy to split.
Yew, pacific: Not common to the rest of the country, but widespread along the Pacific coast from San Francisco to Alaska, the yew is a medium-density wood. Since it is one of only two species on the continent, the yew should probably not be used for firewood. It has beautiful, red, berry-like seed cups.