Good Woods to Burn – Part 2 

Here’s a quick guide to the most common types of wood logs you might come across and those from trees that you might have growing in your garden:

• Alder Produces little heat and burns quickly
• Apple Burns slowly and steadily with reasonable heat and a lovely smell. However it produces a disappointing flame
• Ash Everybody’s favourite wood log.  It provides excellent heat output at a steady rate and lasts longer than most logs.  Easy to split and makes great kindling
• Beech Makes a good log which burns well.  But, because of its high water content it can take much longer to season than most other log varieties
• Birch These logs burn quickly but nevertheless provide good heat output, bright lively flames and a pleasing smell.  Best mixed with other slower burning logs such as Elm (particularly slow burning), Ash or Oak
• Cedar Produces a well burning log with long lasting heat
• Cherry A lovely slow burning wood producing a good heat output as well as a lovely smell.  Great at Christmas
• Chestnut Not a particularly good wood fuel but does have a reasonable  flame and heat output
• Cypress Fast-growing garden tree.  Difficult to handle before being cut into logs because of the density and numbers of branches. B urns very quickly so best mixed with other logs
• Elm A good firewood and unfortunately because of Dutch Elm Disease it has not been in plentiful supply in recent years.  Burns well but slowly so it generally needs a faster burning log to help to get it going. Once established it gives out good long-lasting heat and is the ideal log to put on last thing at night because it burns so slowly.  The very high water content means that it is not quickly seasoned
• Eucalyptus A fast-growing ornamental tree which needs to be kept on top of in small gardens hence its inclusion on this list.  Must be very well-seasoned but produces an obvious pleasant aromatic smell and burns reasonably well
• Hawthorn If you can get hold of this already cut into logs then it makes a steady burning firewood producing a good heat output, otherwise its vicious thorns make it very unpleasant to handle no matter how careful you are
• Hazel Burns quite fast but still produces a very good heat
• Holly Produces little heat and is fast burning but has a bright flame
• Laburnum If you chop down one of these in your garden then our advice is to take it straight to the tip. Every part of the tree is poisonous and when sawn a nasty sulphurous yellow sap oozes from the cuts. Even when seasoned it produces an inordinate amount of foul smelling smoke 
• Larch This softwood produces a reasonable heat but like pine has the potential downside of leaving oily and sticky deposits in the flue system if not burned at a high temperature.  Best mixed with other woods and not recommended for slow or overnight burning
• Lime Not the best of hardwoods with an unimpressive flame
• Oak Generally considered one of the very best wood fuel logs and therefore much sought after. However it must be seasoned for a long time – at least two years. It burns fairly slowly with nice flames and produces an excellent long lasting heat even when only the embers are left
• Pear Similar to Apple wood, burns slowly and steadily to provide a reasonable heat and, again, with a pleasant smell but disappointing flame
• Pine  A common resinous softwood which needs to be well seasoned. Usually acquired as joiners off-cuts which have already been kiln dried and therefore they will make good kindling. Burns fast with a bright flame, however because of the high resin content excessive use could eventually cause problems with oily and sticky deposits. Better to mix with other woods and do not burn slowly
• Poplar Not recommended – even when very well seasoned it burns poorly and produces an unpleasant black smoke
• Rowan Produces slow well burning logs
• Spruce A softwood, which weighs around a third less than an equivalent oak log so it will burn very quickly.  From our own experience it produces a low heat, can be smoky and produces some sparks, so it is really only any good for starting fires and should ideally be substituted with a harder wood on the first reload or generally mixed with hardwood.  It does however split relatively easily
• Sycamore and other Maples Makes a good wood fuel log, burning well with a moderate heat output and good flame
• Willow Even when very well seasoned Willow produces poor slow burning fire wood with little flame
• Yew Slow burning with tremendous heat

Primary Tree Surgeons can supply seasoned logwood, cut to size, in two different sized loads (1 and 3 cubic metres).  Call  Andrew on 07771 883061 or 01256 817369 to order and arrange a delivery.