Shagbark Hickory Firewood

If I'm being honest, shagbark hickory might be my favorite firewood to burn. Not the most practical choice, not always the easiest to find, but when you've got a stove full of dry hickory and that smell hits you... nothing else comes close. At 25.3 million BTU per cord, it's the hottest commonly available hardwood in the eastern U.S., only Osage orange and a couple of specialty species rank higher. And they're way harder to get your hands on.

That 25.3M BTU figure isn't just a number on a chart. You can feel the difference. A hickory fire throws noticeably more heat than oak, and the coal bed is excellent, deep, long-lasting coals that keep the stove radiating warmth for hours. The fragrance is rated excellent too, and "excellent" doesn't do it justice. Hickory smoke smells like barbecue, like fall, like everything good about having a wood stove. It's great for cooking, smoking meat, and pizza ovens if you're lucky enough to have one. Check our cost per BTU calculator to see how hickory compares on a dollar-per-heat basis in your area.

Splitting shagbark hickory is medium difficulty, and that's accurate, some pieces cooperate, some fight you. The bark is the memorable part. That shaggy, peeling bark that gives the tree its name is actually useful as kindling and fire starter. I keep a bucket of hickory bark strips by the stove. They catch a flame instantly and smell amazing doing it. At 5,100 lbs green and 4,080 lbs dry per cord, this is heavy wood. Your truck will sit lower and your back will know it.

Plan on 18 to 24 months of seasoning time. Hickory is dense, so don't rush it, burning green hickory is a waste of incredible wood. I made that mistake my first year with a big hickory score. Split it in August, tried to burn it that December. Smoldering, hissing, barely any heat. Waited another full year and it was a completely different experience. Night and day. Let it dry properly and you'll understand what all the fuss is about.

Shagbark hickory is premium firewood, plain and simple. If you've got a reliable source, stock up. It's common across the Northeast, Midwest, and Southeast, but it's not as abundant as oak, so you might pay a bit more or have to be quicker when someone posts a load for sale. Worth every penny. Its cousin Bitternut Hickory at 23.7M BTU is also excellent if you can't find shagbark. Either way, once you burn hickory, everything else feels like a step down.