What Makes One Wood "Better" Than Another
Three things decide how good a firewood is: heat output, smoke and creosote, and how easy it is to split, stack, and light. Dense hardwoods win on heat but take longer to season and are harder to split. Softwoods light fast and split easy but burn quicker and leave more creosote in a chimney. The right answer depends on what you're using the wood for — heating a house all winter is a different job than a few backyard fires a month.
BTU Per Cord: The Real Numbers
Heat output is measured in million BTUs per cord, assuming the wood is properly seasoned to around 20 percent moisture. Wetter wood loses a big chunk of that heat to boiling off water before it burns. Here's how common species compare:
| Species | Million BTU per cord (seasoned) |
|---|---|
| Osage orange | 33 |
| Shagbark hickory | 28 |
| Black locust | 27 |
| White oak | 26 |
| Sugar maple | 24 |
| Red oak | 24 |
| White ash | 24 |
| Yellow birch | 22 |
| Douglas fir | 21 |
| Red maple | 19 |
| Southern yellow pine | 18 |
| Eastern white pine | 15 |
| Aspen | 13 |
These are approximate, since BTU content varies with tree age, growing conditions, and exact moisture level. But the ranking holds: dense hardwoods like osage orange, hickory, and oak put out close to twice the heat per cord as softwoods like pine and aspen.
Best All-Around: Oak and Ash
White oak and white ash are the two most commonly recommended firewoods in the US, and for good reason. Both split cleanly, season in 6 to 12 months if cut and stacked promptly, and burn at 24 to 26 million BTU per cord with a steady, long-lasting flame. Ash has the advantage of burning reasonably well even at slightly higher moisture content than most hardwoods, which forgives a rushed seasoning job.
Best for Heat Output: Hickory, Locust, and Osage Orange
If your main goal is maximum heat per cord — for a wood stove or furnace running all winter — shagbark hickory, black locust, and osage orange are the top performers, all above 26 million BTU per cord. The tradeoff is effort: these woods are dense and genuinely hard to split by hand, and osage orange throws sparks that can be a problem in an open fireplace. A wood stove with a closed door handles the sparks fine.
Best for Easy Starts: Birch and Soft Maple
Birch lights easily even when slightly damp, thanks to its oily bark, and puts out a respectable 21 to 22 million BTU per cord for a wood that's fairly easy to split. Red (soft) maple is another good middle-ground choice — easier to split than sugar maple, seasons faster, and still delivers close to 19 million BTU per cord.
Where Softwoods Fit
Pine, spruce, and fir season fast (often 6 months or less), split easily, and are excellent for kindling and quick-starting a fire. They burn hotter at first but shorter, and they produce more creosote buildup than hardwoods when burned as a primary fuel — a real concern in wood stoves and fireplace flues. Use softwood to get a fire going, then switch to hardwood to hold heat through the night.
The Bottom Line
For year-round heating, stick with white oak, ash, or hickory. For fast, easy fires without a season-long commitment, birch and soft maple are forgiving choices. Keep softwood on hand for kindling, not for overnight burns.
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