Next winter's firewood was delivered while I was at work, and it contains a
>good quantity of American beech this year.
Beware!
Beech is a waxy wood, and burning it in a fireplace or wood stove leads to creosote buildup in the flue and chimney, which in turn can lead to chimney fires. Make sure to mix other woods in with the beech to produce a cleaner burn, and have your chimney cleaned more often than normal if you're burning a lot of beech.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)