Firewood - which wood is the best?

Doubtful you'd find cedar there. The climate's too tough.

Cedar emits low heat and a lotta smoke and sparks cause of the oil...I'd skip it

Are they for sale Mame?

Of your choices I think birch is the best.

Your right, I'm dreaming of a backyard pit. There not allowed here sadly. But Mame could get her hands on some fruit wood, it makes for some awesome fires.

Some of them might be, Spendi. Do you play acoustic guitar? Some of them are from the 30s and 40s... real classics.

I had a Gibson Dove model.They're worth a lot of money...the Hummingbird models especially...but I don't like the heavy bracing. The Martin D-28 is still the best there is.

I will find out which ones we have and report back....he has over 45 guitars here and I can't keep track.

Redgum is the best firewood, closely follwed by Sugar Gum, then grey box yellow box and red box.

seriously though.
A ton of any kind of wood produces the around same amount of heat. Its just that a ton of pine (or other less dense wood) makes a pile twice as big as a ton of harwood like oak. Look to buy firewood by weight rather than volume. Ton/tonne (weight) versus cubic meters/feet (volume).
We allow an inch of thickness per year here in Aust. (a 10 inch Diam log (5 inch radius) would take 5 years to dry in the paddock) however but I think your less dense options would require a shorter time frame.

Look for wood that is of even color, without any green. It should have a moisture content of just over 20% by weight. Some well-seasoned wood can in fact be too dry for today's airtight modern stoves. If you place wood that is too dry on a bed of coals, it will instantly give up its gases as smoke, wasting unburned smoke and producing creosote buildup.
Moisture content can be measured with a moisture meter similar to a CEN-TECH WOOD MOISTURE METER. about (10 - 20 dollars) make sure you cut a log and measure the misture content at center mid and outside log then average it.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=67143

......and harbour freight reminded me

Daddy had a harbour seal
a long forgotten thread
its nice to be reminded
that harbour seals anit dead.

heres a link that might be usefull
http://www.aie.org.uk/aie_data/aie_firewood.html

and an old rhyme

Oaken logs, if dry and old,
Keep away the winter's cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes, and makes you choke
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread -
Or so it is in Ireland said,
Applewood will scent the room,
Pearwood smells like flowers in bloom,
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry,
A King can warm his slippers by.


Beechwood logs burn bright and clear,
If the wood is kept a year
Store your Beech for Christmas-tide,
With new-cut holly laid aside
Chestnut's only good, they say
If for years it's stored away
Birch and Fir wood burn too fast,
Blaze too bright, and do not last
Flames from larch will shoot up high,
And dangerously the sparks will fly....
But Ashwood green,
And Ashwood brown
Are fit for Queen with golden crown.

Good views from our resident arborist. MAple is a "staple" if yer warmin up yer P'aple.
I had an ash tree that we took down years ago. It gacve us about 4 cords of good wood. I used some of it to make dimensional wood for some chochkies.
I can say Ive never seen wood sold by the ton (or tonne either_. The industry for fireplace fuel is fairly mature and the sellers cut and split a cord and then shrink wrap it on a pallett. A cord takes 2 pallets stacked about 6.5 ft high and full on the pallette. The wood is easily handled by forklift and 2 "cubes of wrapped wood" make a cord. I have a 7 acre woodlot and jelously guard my trees. I dont think Ill ever cut them except to thin. Most opf the woods trees are poplar anyway with some oak and hickory mixed in. ALong the edges of the woods into the fields are a bunch of cherry trees that Im saving for boards cause they are so strait. We have a logger and a wood planer in town so getting boards is easy.

Its 5:30 AM now and Ive lit a fire in the studio and Im just getting rolling for the day. Its a nice quiet fire with good burn and it doesnt need tending.Outside is 32 degrees F and the wind is beginning to blow. Itll warm up for the weekend but today is our first freezing day in SC Pa.

Love that poem, Drewdad - great advice everyone, thank you.

I'm glad drewdad was able to help.

A full cord measures four feet by four feet by eight feet long (1.21 by 1.21 by 2.43 meters). 128 cubic feet ( or 3.62 m3).
The measurement of a cord of wood fluctuates, as it can be influenced by how the wood is stacked and handled, gaining or losing as much as 10% of its volume.
People also sell wood in partial cords. A rick, for example, is a third of a cord. Some people refer to a “pickup cord,” which can measure anywhere from a half cord to a quarter of a cord, depending on the size of the pickup truck and how the wood is loaded. Since many dealers deliver in pickups, this can be frustrating for consumers, as they will not know how much wood they have until the wood is stacked, and of course payment is demanded on delivery.

If you are buying firewood, there are a couple of ways to ensure that the wood is measured accurately, so that you pay a fair price. One way is to go to the dealer's yard yourself and inspect a cord of stacked wood before it is delivered. Then you have to hang around till its loaded to make sure it all gets on the truck. You may be able to get a discount on the wood if you have a truck and you drive to pick it up. Y ou can also insist that the dealer stack the wood on delivery so that you can see how much there is. The best way to make sure that you get a full cord of wood, however, is probably to rely on word of mouth recommendations from friends, as fair dealers generally become known in their communities.

Keep quiet ya Ozzie fink! Drewdad always comes through wif good wood advice.

ooops, sorry dadpad!