Firewood heat by species
Pre-filled with a realistic job. Change any input and the figure updates as you type — nothing is sent anywhere, and Print gives you a clean sheet without the buttons.
| Species | MBTU / cord | Your 1.00 cords | Season | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shagbark hickory | 26–28 | 26–28 | 12 mo | Top of the table; hard to split |
| White oak | 25–27 | 25–27 | 24 mo | Long, slow burn; needs two summers |
| Beech | 23–25 | 23–25 | 18 mo | Excellent, splits cleanly when green |
| Sugar maple | 23–25 | 23–25 | 12 mo | The benchmark firewood in the north |
| Red oak | 23–25 | 23–25 | 24 mo | Holds water; never burn it green |
| Ash | 21–24 | 21–24 | 9 mo | Low green moisture; seasons fastest |
| Douglas fir | 20–22 | 20–22 | 9 mo | Best of the softwoods |
| Birch | 19–21 | 19–21 | 12 mo | Bark holds water in; split promptly |
| Elm | 18–20 | 18–20 | 18 mo | Stringy; very hard to split by hand |
| Silver maple | 17–19 | 17–19 | 9 mo | Fast burn; fine shoulder-season wood |
| Poplar / cottonwood | 13–16 | 13–16 | 6 mo | Light, fast, lots of ash |
| White pine | 13–15 | 13–15 | 6 mo | Kindling; season well to limit creosote |
Why these are ranges, not numbers
Published BTU-per-cord figures come from wood at a stated moisture content, and real firewood is never exactly at it. Density varies within a species, splits vary in how tightly they stack, and a cord of large rounds holds less wood than a cord of neat splits. A range is the honest form; a single decimal place would be a false precision.
Sound
Seasoning is the variable you control
Ash is famously the quickest — its green moisture content is low, so it is usable within a season. Oak is the opposite and genuinely wants two summers. Split it, stack it off the ground with air on the sides, and cover only the top; a fully wrapped stack traps moisture rather than shedding it.
Burning underseasoned wood costs you twice: the heat that goes into evaporating water, and the creosote that condenses in the flue.
Turn heat into a purchase
Set the cord count above and the third column gives your total heat for each species, which is the comparison that actually decides a purchase. Then check what you are being sold is a real cord in the cord calculator.
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