Fuel Wood Facts

Wood Burning Oven Fuel Facts

What type of wood should you use to fire your solid-fuel cooking equipment? The answer to this question depends on several considerations; geographical location, availability and relative cost of various fuelwood species and individual preferences regarding the flavor qualities of various wood types.

There are a wide variety of good fuelwood species in all geographic locations. Each species of wood has different characteristics, the table below should help weigh the pros and cons of various types of wood. Wood from conifers is not recommended due to its poor fuelwood characteristics (low weight, low-med heat, poor coaling, high sparking and high residual creosote).

Do Not use pressed wood products in Wood Stone equipment, they may damage the ceramics.

Wet wood is the most common operational difficulty associated with wood-fired cooking equipment. Wood Stone’s moisture meter can prevent you from paying for water when you thought you were paying for wood.


Wood Facts For Stone Hearth Home Ovens:

Species Heat Lbs./cord Ease of Lighting Coaling Qualities Sparks Fragrance
Alder Med-Low 2540 Fair Good Moderate Slight
Apple High-Med 4400 Difficult Excellent Few Excellent
Ash High 3440 Fairly diff. Good-Exc. Few Slight
Beech High 3760 Difficult Excellent Few Good
Birch (White) Med 3040 Easy Good Moderate Slight
Cherry Med 2060 Difficult Excellent Few Excellent
Elm High 2260 Very diff. Good Very Few Fair
Hickory Very High 4240 Fairly diff. Excellent Moderate Excellent
Ironwood Very High 4000 Very diff. Excellent Few Slight
Locust (Black) Very High 3840 Difficult Excellent Very Few Slight
Madrone High 4320 Difficult Excellent Very Few Slight
Maple (Red) High-Med 3200 Fairly diff. Excellent Few Good
Maple (Sugar) High 3680 Difficult Excellent Few Good
Mesquite Very High Very diff. Excellent Few Excellent
Oak (Live) Very High 4600 Very diff. Excellent Few Fair
Oak (Red) High 3680 Difficult Excellent Few Fair
Oak (White) Very High 4200 Difficult Excellent Few Fair
Pecan High Fairly diff. Good Few Good
Walnut High-Med Fairly diff. Good Few Fair