What wood is best to use in a wood stove?

Question

i can get oak or walnut for the same price but which one will produce more heat?

Answer 1

They both sound great, but I've always gone for oak when possible (since i've never had any walnut).   I'm stuck with burning mostly weed woods now, so would go for either if I could.    Get a load of each and find out for yourself for sure.

Answer 2

well......if you have maple where you are thats burns the hottest and longest

Answer 3

oak is a nice hard wood and will burn slow therefore produce the most heat, tho walnut is too, so I would go with the one that looks the least green next to the bark.

Answer 4

Are these logs or furniture off-cuts?

for logs it depends on the water content.

the best seasoned wood ie stored for a year or so, will burn best. Ash will burn green.

off-cuts will burn quite quickly and cleanly, but you may not be able to keep the fire "in so well.

put night storage bricks 'round the stove like a ceramic stove http://ceramicstove.com.predns.net/. then burn as hot as possible, this will reduce the nasty emmisions wood burning produces.

Answer 5

Actually there are few more factors here to getting the best use out of your wood burning stove, than just the type of wood.

The first link below (while not specific to wood burning stoves) goes into great detail about what to look for in wood to heat your home.  This includes suggesting that, "The best wood to burn is anything that falls in the hardwood category such as beech, maple, ash, and oak."  The wood should also be at least sectioned and allowed to dry for a year.  If you can split the wood and dry it even better!

Keep in mind there are some soft woods like pine or fir that have serious draw backs.  This includes very poor heat out put and creating higher amounts of "grease" (also called creosote) and soot in your chimney -- a potential home fire hazard.

I'm surprised a number of people here suggested walnut -- it's pretty much wiped out in North America from disease (those at least that can provide good cordage).

The second link is loaded with great information!  Canadians own more wood burning stoves than their U.S. counterparts and a resources division of the Canadian government has devoted an entire website to getting the most out of your wood burning stove.  This goes into types of wood, aging wood, methods of stacking, etc.

I think both sites will give you some great answers and tips.  Good luck!

Answer 6

Of the two, the oaks have the highest heat value, the white oak group being better than the red oak group. The person pushing "maple" may be right or way off, depending on the type of maple. Hard maples, like Norway and sugar maples, are great. Soft maples, like silver and red are poor fuel. In the U.S., the best wood for heat production is osage orange. The main trouble with it is that it spits sparks and so is not suited to fireplaces (without a glass barrier), or some stoves. If you burn wood for heat, as I do, you probably have an air-starvation stove, which will contain the sparks.

To answer your question, go with the oak.

Answer 7

I don't know but pecan's the hottest.

Answer 8

first of all you shouldn't have a wooden stove second of all wooden wood and i think oak works well.

Answer 9

Come to Australia----we have lovely Jarrah; it is a hard wood that burns hot and long!

Answer 10

We have always used oak.  Oak is plentiful where we live.  It burns hot and lasts quite a while.  Walnut is not so plentiful but also burns hot.  Walnut has a nicer smell when burning.  If I were to choose, I would pick walnut with the nicer scent while burning.