Firewood Guide to BTU Ratings

Wood Variety	Rating	Heat Yield	Burn Difficulty	Split Difficulty	Smoke	Sparks	BTUs per Cord
Ash	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	25.9 Mil
Red Oak	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	21.7
White Oak	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	26.5
Beech	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	21.8
Birch	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	21.3
Hickory	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	30.8
Hard Maple	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	29.7
Pecan	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No
Dogwood	Excellent	High	Easy	Hard	Light	No	24.3
Soft Maple	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Light	No	19.1
Cherry	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Light	No	18.5
Walnut	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Light	No	20.3
Elm	Fair	Medium	Medium	Easy	Medium	No	23.8
Sycamore	Fair	Medium	Medium	Easy	Medium	No	18.5
Gum	Fair	Medium	Medium	Easy	Medium	No	18.1
Mesquite	Good	High	Medium	Easy	Medium	No
Aspen	Fair	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	No	14.5
Basswood	Fair	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	No	12.6
Cottonwood	Fair	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	No	12.2
Chestnut	Poor	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes
Yellow Poplar	Poor	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	16.0
Southern Yellow Pine	Good	High	Easy	Hard	Heavy	Yes
Douglas Fir	Good	High	Easy	Hard	Heavy	Yes	21.4
Cypress	Fair	Medium	Medium	Hard	Medium	No
Redwood	Fair	Medium	Medium	Hard	Medium	No
White Cedar	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	17.5
Western Red Cedar	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	17.5
Eastern Red Cedar	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	17.5
Juniper	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes
Piinon	Good	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes
Eastern White Pine	Fair	Low	Medium	Hard	Medium	No	15.8
Western White Pine	Fair	Low	Medium	Hard	Medium	No	15.8
Sugar Pine	Fair	Low	Medium	Hard	Medium	No	15.8
Ponderosa Pine	Fair	Low	Medium	Hard	Medium	No	17.0
True Firs	Fair	Low	Medium	Hard	Medium	No	19.5
Tamarack	Fair	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	20.8
Larch	Fair	Medium	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	20.8
Spruce	Poor	Low	Easy	Hard	Medium	Yes	15.9
Alder	Fair	Medium	Fair	Hard	Medium	Yes	17.6
Apple	Fair	Medium	Hard	Easy	Medium	Few	17.6
Ironwood (Hornbeam)	Excellent	Very High	Hard	Easy	Light	Few	24.7
Black Locust	Excellent	Very High	Hard	Easy	Light	No	26.5
Madrone	Excellent	High	Hard	Easy	Light	No	30.0
Willow	Fair	Low	Hard	Hard	Fair	Fair	14.5

Firewood vs. Oil or Natural Gas
 

Wood Heat Yield	Amount of Wood	BTU Production	Oil Equivalent	Natural Gas Equivalent
High or Very high	1 cord	21,000,000 - 24,000,000 BTU	200-250 gal. of fuel oil	250-300 cu. ft. of natural gas
Medium	1 cord	17,000,000 - 20,000,000 BTU	150-200 gal. of fuel oil	200-250 cu. ft. of natural gas
Low	1 cord	12,000,000-17,000,000 BTU	100-150 gal. of fuel oil	200-250 cu. ft. of natural gas

Firewood Measurements - 1 cord measures 8 feet long, 4 feet high and 4 feet wide or 128 cubic feet

Think about the cost of 1 cord of firewood vs. the cost of fuel oil or the cu. ft. of natural gas at today's prices.  Firewood cost is usually more stable than the cost of gas and  fuel oils.  Supplementing your heating costs with wood burning will typically provide huge savings on your heating bill.  Additionally in the event of power outages, heating with wood, especially from a wood burning stove located within the room will provide heat with no electrical power.

Burning Tips

• For firewood, use dry hardwood such as oak, cherry, hickory, maple.  Split logs into into pieces about 4 inches on each side.  Ideally allow it to dry for about one year before use.
   
• To get a fire going use just enough softwood for kindling.  Stack a few pieces of kindling below your hardwoods.  Do not burn pine exclusively for firewood as pine quickly builds up creosote in your chimney, setting up conditions for a chimney fire.
    
• Don't burn plastics or paper with color printing, such as junk mail, flyers, comics, magazines, gift wrap, etc. because they may give off toxic fumes.
   
• Absolutely NEVER use flammable liquids in your fireplace or wood burning stove.