🪵 Firewood BTU Per Cord Reference Chart

Approximate heat value in million BTU per full cord (128 cubic feet), based on commonly published forestry extension figures. Actual heat output depends on moisture content and burn efficiency.

What the chart is measuring

Every figure is the heat released by one full cord — 128 cubic feet of stacked wood — of that species, seasoned to roughly 20 percent moisture. The range on this page runs from Osage orange at 32.9 million BTU down to cottonwood at 13.0 million, so the best species on the list carries about two and a half times the heat of the worst for the same stacked volume.

Your stove only delivers a fraction of that into the room:

usable heat = BTU per cord × stove efficiency

white oak: 25.7 M BTU × 0.70 = 18.0 M BTU delivered

Reading it as a buyer

Density is the whole story. A cord of any species holds roughly the same 128 cubic feet; the heavy woods simply pack more wood fibre into it. Shagbark hickory at 27.7 beats red maple at 18.0 on density alone.
Compare prices per million BTU, not per cord. White oak at $280 a cord is 25.7 million BTU, or $10.89 per million. Ponderosa pine at $180 gives 15.9 million, or $11.32 — the cheaper load is the dearer heat.
Check what unit is on offer. These are full-cord numbers. A face cord or rick is one log deep, so 16 in wood delivers about a third of this heat.

Freshly cut wood can be half water by weight, and boiling that water off consumes heat you paid for. Unseasoned oak may give barely two-thirds of the 25.7 million BTU listed. Season it to 20 percent before judging any species.

Frequently asked questions

Which firewood gives the most heat?

Of the species listed here, Osage orange at 32.9 million BTU per cord, then shagbark hickory at 27.7 and white oak at 25.7. All three are dense hardwoods that are slow to split and slow to season.

How many BTU are in a cord of oak?

About 25.7 million for white oak and 24.6 million for red oak, seasoned. At 70 percent stove efficiency that is roughly 18 million BTU actually reaching the room.

Is it bad to burn pine?

Not if it is seasoned. White pine gives 13.5 million BTU per cord, so you burn nearly twice the volume for the same heat, but creosote comes from wet wood and cool smouldering fires rather than from softwood itself.