Chapter 7: Choosing the Best Wood for Your Situation
It’s time to choose your own firewood adventure! Are you going to burn it in your fireplace for a cozy night in? Or will you venture out into the wilderness for a campfire under the stars? Of course, you also can’t go wrong with staying in the kitchen to cook a delicious dish.
Here are some tips for picking the right kiln-dried firewood for each situation:
Best Firewood for Indoor Fires
For an excellent indoor fire experience, we recommend kiln-dried oak wood. Oak has an exceptionally long burn time, perfect for a lazy afternoon in. It also produces very little smoke and creosote. The last thing you want is to set off that smoke alarm when you’re trying to get cozy by the fire!
Best for Outdoor Fires
Oak is also an excellent choice for an outdoor campfire because of the qualities listed above. However, hickory might be a better choice because of how hot and bright it burns! It creates some of the biggest fires, making it essential for a cool night around the campfire.
Best Firewood for Cooking
Many hardwoods are excellent for cooking. The wood you should choose will depend on what type of flavor you want to produce. Hickory, for example, adds a hearty taste when smoking all types of meat. On the other hand, apple adds a fruity taste, and oak is also an excellent choice if you’re looking for a smokier flavor.
Best Smelling Firewood
If you’re looking for great smelling firewood, then you really can’t go wrong with any premium wood. Hickory, oak and birch all produce that classic campfire smell. But if you’re looking for a uniquely delightful scent, then we recommend cherry wood. As its name indicates, cherry produces a tantalizing fruity aroma perfect for a crackling fire at a classy gathering!
Best Wood for Beautiful Flames
If you’re looking for beautiful flames, then we recommend birch. It produces a unique blue glow that is easy on the eyes. A close runner-up is our cherry wood. Its flames have more of a purple tint to them and are also a lot of fun to gaze at.
Best Firewood to Keep You Warm
Pretty flames and pleasing smells are great and everything, but what about heat? If you’re looking for the warmest fire possible, we recommend oak, which produces 29 BTUs of heat per cord. This is the highest amount of heat produced by any hardwood, followed closely behind by hickory at 28 BTUs per cord.
Best for Protecting the Environment
Any type of kiln-dried firewood is an excellent choice for environmentally conscious firewood enthusiasts. This is because the kiln-drying process removes moisture, mold and pests from the wood, making burning it less hazardous to the environment.
However, the best type of kiln-dried wood for the environment is hickory. Since it burns very hot, it breaks down any harmful compounds into much less hazardous components. Thus, it produces the least emissions of any firewood type.