Hemlock Firewood

Hemlock gets a bad rap, and honestly... some of it is deserved. Eastern hemlock is common across the Northeast and Southeast, and a lot of people end up with it after a storm or a land-clearing job. It's free, it's available, so you burn it. But don't go in expecting much.

You're looking at 15.3 million BTU per cord with a dry weight of 2,465 lbs. That's mid-range for a softwood, on par with lodgepole pine. The real problem is the coals, hemlock doesn't hold them well at all. The fire burns down to nothing fast, so you're back at the stove adding more wood before you've even settled into the couch.

Easy to split, at least. One of the few good things about hemlock is that it doesn't fight you on the chopping block. Light rounds, straight grain most of the time. But heads up, it sparks like crazy and throws more smoke than you'd want for indoor burning in an older stove. Keep your chimney clean and check it more often if hemlock makes up a big chunk of your wood pile.

This is where hemlock gets a little annoying, it takes 12 to 18 months to season properly, which is longer than a lot of other softwoods. Don't rush it. Green hemlock is smoky, creosote-heavy, and just unpleasant to burn. Give it a full year minimum.

Hemlock works for different firewood types where you just need something burning and don't care about overnight coals. Spring and fall? Sure. Dead of winter with nothing else? You'll be cold. Compare it to Balsam Fir firewood, similar BTU but balsam seasons faster and smells way better.