Pine Vs Hardwood Firewood

Before we come into this discussion we suggest you know about features of good firewood.

Pine vs hardwood firewood.

Is pine a hardwood. Heating with a wood stove. Pine is among the worst types of firewood for functional uses e g. This lightweight wood is typically very resinous which allows the wood to light easily and burn hot and fast.

Generally speaking woods high in resin content pine spruce fir are best mixed with a harder woods to prevent build up of deposits of creosote in the chimney. Since pine is so easily accessible in the charlotte nc area it would make sense that people would want to use it as firewood. We get requests for birch as well for camping and fire pits throughout the summer. Hardwood is usually more sought after and sells for a higher price.

The best type of firewood for heating a home with a wood stove is black locust or hickory due to the high heat output and long lasting coals. Some people will say pine should never be used as firewood and some will say that it burns fine. In my opinion birch is a hardwood better suited to winter burning due to it s long burning and high heat characteristics plus since birch trees are not as plentiful as pine in southern manitoba it is often more expensive. In regions where wood from conifers is plentiful and hardwood is hard to find you should use it and can often get it for free.

Fir is the best choice but other softwoods include pine balsam spruce cedar tamarack alder and poplar. However pine is good firewood for recreational outdoor campfires because it produces a nice smelling fire that doesn t burn too long. Pine is a very a hardy tree that grows fairly quickly and is able to thrive in a wide range of soil conditions. Some people believe you should never burn pine wood in the fireplace and others insist on using it and they do it regularly.

1 they also can be messy to handle especially pine spruce and balsam as they cause creosote to build up more quickly in your chimney. For outdoor campfires pine or cedar are better because they produce a pleasant fire that doesn t burn too long. Cedar red pine and fir are all popular species of trees classified as softwoods. Softwoods grow very fast compared to most hardwoods resulting in a much lighter less dense piece of wood.

Although pine has very inefficient firewood properties for use in a stove or fireplace pine and other conifers can be used with some safety precautions. Pine is not a hardwood because it is not deciduous. Softwoods tend to burn faster and leave finer ash compared to hardwoods. Hardwood is commonly thought of as being better than softwood as firewood.