[CanuckJim]

TD,

My reading about historical ovens in Quebec substantiates what you say about them using cedar for bright, hot, fast fires. Here in Ontario, white cedar is abundant also. I get mine in the form of slab wood from a bandsaw miller; free for the loading. It's perfect for getting the fire started brightly, then I load on mostly maple, but also yellow ash, beech and, sometimes, birch. Oak, unfortunately, is not very common here, though it is futher east and north. I usually try to stick to limb wood; it's less work than splitting logs. It's not that hard to get in the country. A friend of mine is an aborist, and that definitely helps. Having said that, though, split wood definitely catches better and burns brighter without a very hot fire below it.

Jim