What Is the Right Firewood for Your Fireplace?

You can get firewood from many different kinds of trees. But not all firewood will give you the heat, comfort, safety and beautiful visuals you’re after.

Felgemacher Fireplace Shop of Buffalo, NY, would like to share some helpful information on choosing the best firewood to use in your fireplace.

Dry vs. damp wood

Any kind of wood that’s still green and hasn’t fully dried out will produce a lot of smoke, which will end up producing a lot of flammable creosote in your chimney flue. Wood logs should be given at least six months to dry out.

5 ideal firewoods

1. Hickory: A hardwood with a pleasant aroma. Hickory burns hot and long.
2. Ash: Another hardwood that produces high heat and long burns.
3. Maple: Many people love maple’s sweet, nostalgic aroma. This hardwood is a great choice for most fireplaces.
4. Cherry: Although it’s very hard, cherrywood doesn’t produce high heat. It does, however, create a wonderful aroma.
5. Birch: Birch is a hardwood that produces moderate heat. It’s fairly fast-burning and ideal when you don’t want a lengthy fire.

7 firewoods that usually aren’t ideal

1. Pine: While pine burns hot, it tends to add excess creosote to the flue. It’s best used as kindling.
2. Poplar: Poplar creates a strong odor that’s unpleasant for some people.
3. Spruce: Like pine, spruce is a smoky softwood that will add large amounts of creosote to your chimney flue.
4. Willow: This wood doesn’t burn particularly hot and produces a lot of smoke.
5. Chestnut: Chestnut doesn’t burn consistently and creates excess smoke.
6. Gum: This wood is notorious for sparking, which can cause injury to people and pets near the fireplace.
7. Alder: Alder isn’t a hot-burning wood and burns very fast.

Things to not burn in your fireplace

Fireplaces are designed to burn only dry wood in its natural form after being chopped from trees. Below are some of the things you should never use for fire in your fireplace.

Wood products: This includes pressed board, painted or stained wood pieces, furniture, toys and the like. Treated and processed woods often produce high levels of toxic gases.

Driftwood: Wood from the ocean contains a lot of salt, which creates toxic fumes. Driftwood is also very smoky.

Lighter fluid and other accelerants: Any liquid that’s flammable can flare up and cause serious injury when used in a fireplace. This includes lighter fluid, kerosene, charcoal starter and gasoline.

Household discards

Never burn:

• Metal containers
• Plastic products
• Household garbage
• Clothing
• Foam padding
• Electronics
• Christmas trees

The easy way to remember what to burn in your fireplace

You’ll create better, safer and more enjoyable fires if you follow this simple rule: burn only dry hardwoods that have been harvested from actual trees. Forget everything else.

Find the perfect new fireplace

Felgemacher Fireplace Shop wants you to enjoy your fireplace’s operation and beauty. If you’re looking for a new fireplace, visit our showroom and see some of the spectacular models on the market today.

Our field division provides complete installation of fireplaces, stoves and fireplace inserts. We’re also ready to help with chimney sweeping, chimney inspections and all manner of chimney repairs and rebuilding work.

Speak with a helpful associate today, or reach out with our simple contact form.