What you burn in your outdoor fireplace affects heat output, burn duration, and the quality of the experience. Oklahoma has excellent local hardwood options — and a few wood types you should avoid. Here’s what VistaScapes recommends for outdoor fireplace use in northeast Oklahoma.
Best Hardwoods for Oklahoma Outdoor Fireplaces
Post Oak
Post oak is the most widely available and widely used firewood in northeast Oklahoma. It burns hot, burns long, and produces good coals — exactly what you want in a fireplace. Oklahoma’s Cross Timbers region produces abundant post oak. Well-seasoned post oak split to 4-6 inch diameter pieces is ideal for outdoor fireplace use. If you’re buying firewood in Broken Arrow or Tulsa, post oak is typically what you’re getting.
Red Oak
Red oak burns similarly to post oak — high heat output, long burn time, good coals. Slightly more common in the Arkansas border area of Oklahoma. An excellent fireplace wood when properly seasoned (minimum 6 months split).
Hickory
Hickory burns hotter and longer than oak — one of the best BTU-per-cord ratings of any Oklahoma native wood. The smoke from hickory has the signature BBQ aroma Tulsans recognize from competition cook-offs. For outdoor fireplaces where smoke experience matters, hickory is a premium choice. Slightly harder to find in quantity than oak.
Pecan
Pecan grows throughout the Arkansas River valley and is common in Tulsa and Broken Arrow neighborhoods as a yard tree. Pecan wood burns hot with a pleasant, slightly sweet smoke. Excellent fireplace wood — often available locally when neighbors have trees trimmed or removed.
Osage Orange (Hedge Apple)
Osage orange is one of the densest, hottest-burning native woods in Oklahoma — BTU output is significantly higher than oak. The trade-off: it pops and throws sparks aggressively when first lit, and it can be difficult to split. Best mixed with oak rather than burned as a primary wood. Ensure your spark arrestor is in good condition when burning osage orange.
Woods to Avoid in Your Outdoor Fireplace
- Green (unseasoned) wood: Any species burned before adequate drying produces excessive smoke, low heat, and significant creosote buildup in the flue — season wood minimum 6 months, ideally 12
- Elm: Extremely difficult to split, burns poorly, produces a distinctly unpleasant smell when burned — avoid
- Pine and cedar: Softwoods burn fast with high resin content that creates significant creosote — fine as a fire starter but not for sustained burning
- Treated lumber: Never burn any pressure-treated, painted, or chemically treated wood — toxic combustion products
- Driftwood: Wood that has absorbed saltwater contains chlorides that produce corrosive combustion gases harmful to your flue and surrounding surfaces
Seasoning and Storage
Properly seasoned firewood — split and stacked with airflow for at least 6 months — makes an enormous difference in fire quality. In Oklahoma’s climate, 12 months of drying produces noticeably better results than 6. Store firewood off the ground on a rack, with the top covered to keep rain off while allowing side airflow. Keep the woodpile away from the house (fire safety) and away from the fireplace itself (pest entry). The firewood alcoves we build into outdoor fireplace structures hold 1-2 nights of firewood conveniently close to the fire.
For questions about outdoor fireplace construction in Broken Arrow or Tulsa, call VistaScapes at 918-779-1317. We build fireplaces designed to burn the best of Oklahoma’s native hardwoods efficiently and safely.
