Oaktree
Super Member
You must have a very different variety of maple than we have in New England. I'd say 80% of what I burn is sugar maple, and it burns very well. Red & swamp maple aren't as good.I have a dozen or so Elm trees scattered in my yard. They were isolated from timber so elm disease didn't get to them. Rare to find an older elm in the timber. I know them as Chinese Elm. Horrible firewood. Green it won't burn. Cured it burns like paper. Same with Walnut.
Here Maple is worthless as firewood also.
Likewise for elm. The large elms of years gone by are now all gone, killed by Dutch Elm disease, but we do still have some elms. They don't live long, but the wood is OK firewood.
Oak (at least red & white...not familiar with other varieties...those are the only 2 I've ever seen) is good firewood too, but we're just about at the northern limit as to where it grows, and it's not as common.
Yeah, I don't envy people in western states who heat with wood. Doesn't sound like there are many good choices there.I'm sure there are many varieties of maple trees. I'm not sure what variety is prevalent here. They are a soft wood, sappy when fresh cut, light weight and heatless when cured.
I'm very Blessed with excellent choices here so maple, elm, cottonwood, walnut, go to the bottom of the list.
An example of choices, my good friend lives in Colorado. His choices are pine or aspen. I wouldn't even bother to cut them here. More than once he has hauled a pickup load of good firewood home when he visits here.
Curiously, what grows in your area that makes good firewood? I've looked at firewood heat value charts and there are quite a few types that I've never heard of. Osage orange is one that comes to mind.