Chestnut is one of the worst hardwoods to use as firewood. It burns and splits easily, but it produces a small flame that burns at a low heat and throws out a lot of sparks and heavy smoke. Only use chestnut as supplemental firewood.

Elm is a very dense hardwood that is very common in the Northern Hemisphere. It provides decent heat but is notorious for being very difficult to split. And due to Dutch elm disease, dead elm trees are found pretty much everywhere. The wood from these standing dead trees can produce good firewood because of how dry the wood is.

Another softwood, pine makes a great fire-starter. Because of its high sap and resin content, though, it should only be burned outdoors. If it is used as an indoor fire, there is a chance for creosote buildup inside the chimney that can cause a chimney fire. It burns messy – another reason to keep it exclusively as outdoor firewood – and smells great. Because it burns very quickly, you should not use pine as your only firewood.