As a rule of thumb, it is better to burn hardwood than softwood on a wood-burning stove. Of the recommended fuels for woodburners, the vast majority are hardwoods rather than softwoods.
So, what is it that generally gives hardwoods the edge over their softwood counterparts?
Space-saving
If you’re buying wood, you will generally do so by the weight. Hardwoods are more dense than softwoods, so a tonne of a hardwood will take up less space than a tonne of softwood. That might be a selling point when the logs are being stacked in your back garden.
Longer burn time
The aforementioned higher density is perhaps an even bigger factor once you’re ready to burn the logs. Hardwoods will generally burn for longer than softwoods because the fire takes longer to work through the more solid structure of a hardwood.
Fewer top-ups
Longer burn times also mean less time spent loading more fuel into your stove. If each load of fuel last for longer – as it will do with a hardwood in comparison to a softwood – you will be able to get away with fewer top-ups each evening.
More bang for your buck
Buying wood by volume means you receive more kilowatts per hour (kWh) from a cubic metre of a hardwood than you would from a cubic metre of softwood. The higher density means there is also a higher calorific value in hardwoods. This is true at any stage of the seasoning process given the same moisture content in both the hardwood and softwood.
Remember: this is just a rule of thumb. Some softwoods make for good wood-burning stove fuel. Cedar is a good example of a softwood that is well-suited to woodburners and can hold its own against many hardwoods.
Get more information on which types of wood are good to burn on woodburners.
I was once given some off cuts of extremely hard and heavy red/brown coloured South African AZOBE from some untreated railway sleepers, they were the tops for slow burning and heat given off but impossible to split, I sawed them down to burnable size
xcellnt info thank you