What type of wood is best for a wood fire?
Each type of wood has specific properties. For this reason, some wood burns better, cleaner or safer than others. In all cases, resin-free wood is preferable to use as firewood. Resin burns quickly and creates deposits and sparks. This is something you want to avoid the most when firing a wood fire.
Deciduous trees generally contain the least resin and are therefore often a suitable type of wood for your stove. We explain which types of wood are suitable for wood fires and their firing characteristics:
Achieve a long burn time with beech or ash wood
Beech wood and ash wood are perfectly suited for use in a fire. These wood species dry relatively quickly and are common in the Netherlands, so they are generally readily available. Beech and ash wood have a long burning time and good heat output. In addition, you will enjoy beautiful, clear flames. If you fire with beech or ash wood, you create a lot of heat and achieve high efficiency. Because of their properties, these types of wood are especially suitable for the somewhat larger wood-burning stoves.
A quick fire with alder wood
Alder wood is a light wood species that burns well. Like beech and ash, alder gives off a lot of heat and burns cleanly provided you use well-dried and untreated wood. Alder burns up faster than other types of wood. Firing this type of wood therefore achieves lower efficiency.
Oak; for experienced stokers
Oak is a very suitable wood species for firing, provided you have some firing experience. This type of wood does not ignite as easily, but once it burns you will enjoy the warmth for a long time. Oak gives a lively flame pattern and is a clean wood species.
A disadvantage of oak is that it needs to dry for a relatively long time. Our advice is to store oak wood uncovered for two years and then dry it for another two years. After that, it is very valuable firewood that you will enjoy.
The cleanest combustion is achieved with birch wood
Birch wood is soft wood and produces a beautiful fire. A special characteristic of birch wood is that it burns very cleanly and causes the least amount of pollution. Birch wood is easy to light because the bark quickly catches fire. However, because the wood is softer, birch wood does not burn as long as a hard wood such as beech. Another advantage of birch wood is that it hardly sparks, if at all. So it is very safe!
Stoking with wood from fruit trees
Wood from fruit trees is good firewood, but not always available. However, fruit wood contains many small, gnarled logs. It is difficult to split and needs a long time to dry. Once dried, fruit wood gives a nice and calm fire.
Firing with prunings? You can!
Prunings make an excellent fuel for your fire or stove. However, not every type of prunings is suitable as firewood. Prunings of suitable wood species can be used in the fire without any problems and are mainly suitable for starting a fire. Just make sure that the prunings are sufficiently dry before you light them. The drying time of the wood depends on the wood species and conditions.