Heat Values of assorted US firewood

[BurntFingers]

Wood---------Weight/cord dry---------BTU X 10 to the 6th available
Ash-----------3,370--------------------- 24,000
Elm-----------2,868---------------------20,000
Hickory-------4,160---------------------29,000
Soft Maple----2,970---------------------20,800
Red Oak-------3,609--------------------25,300
White Oak-----3,803--------------------27,000
Pine------------2,713--------------------19,000

This data was obtained from a 2009 workshop by Dusty Dowse on Heat Management : in a Wood-Fired Masonry Oven at the Kneading Conference in Maine. I think he said dry meant around 20% moisture otherwise the wood gasification would not provide the extra heat. Basically I think it is around 7,000 to 8,000 BTU's per pound of wood regardless of the species.

[rhollman]

Looks good now. Thanks.

[Jed]

Hey Burntfingers,

This is in line with my memory... (as sketchy as my memory can be!).

It seams to me, that we visited a similar topic a year or more ago and the conclusion I put in my mind - that by weight, most woods produce a similar amount of heat...

Is good to see the point brought up with some numbers to compare.

JED

[Neil2]

"Basically I think it is around 7,000 to 8,000 BTU's per pound of wood regardless of the species."

That is pretty much the same number as the US Forest Service data provides (6400 BTU/lb for "well seasoned firewood").

All wood is equal - by weight.

The reason that dense hardwoods are preferred for wood stoves is that you don't have to add wood as often. For a wood fired oven, of course, that doesn't matter.