Ponderosa pine burns hot and fast, but it won’t hold a coal bed like oak or hickory, and its resin content means more pops, more sparks, and a real…

Honeylocust burns hot, splits with a bit of a fight, and throws off fewer sparks than you’d expect from a tree covered in thorns.

Black locust burns hotter than almost any other wood you can put in a stove east of the Mississippi, clocking in around 26.8 million BTUs per cord once…

Basswood burns fast, hot for a short while, and cool for most of it. As firewood goes, it sits near the bottom of the BTU chart, throws a decent flame…

Willow firewood burns fast, hot for a short burst, and then fades. It’s a soft hardwood with low density, which means it lights easily, throws decent…

Black walnut burns hot but not blazing hot, splits easier than most hardwoods, and produces a mellow, low-spark fire with a faint sweet smell.

Osage orange burns hotter than almost any other wood you can put in a stove or fireplace, hitting roughly 32.9 million BTU per cord when properly seasoned.

Apple and crabapple rank among the best firewoods you can burn, full stop. Dense, slow-burning, and famous for a sweet, mild smoke that makes backyard…

American elm burns at a moderate 20 million BTU per cord, roughly 20 percent less than red oak, and it’s known in firewood circles for one thing above…

White oak burns hotter and longer than almost any other firewood you’ll find in a typical American woodlot.