Scott, I use my Kettle Pizza quite a bit and with some simple mods I get temps into the high 700's in the dome. The learning process is half the fun, but in my opinion these two things are critical:
1. Heat your stone up in your house oven while the KPP comes up to temp. I heat mine to 450 or 500 for at least a half hour before putting it in the grill. The stones don't heat properly in a Kettle alone.
2. You will have way better results if you lower the dome height by adding a second grill to the top of the KPP insert and covering it with either baking steel or a second pizza stone. Even tin foil would be better than nothing. I am cheap so I covered it with some unglazed quarry tiles.
As for your specific questions, the size of the pieces of the wood is more important, in my opinion, than the variety. Big splits work the best. Large chunks work next best. Chips don't work at all. Set your wood on a pile of HOT coals in the back of your kettle opposite the opening of the KPP. The KPP is a fuel hog so if you're cooking more than a couple pies make sure you have plenty of wood on hand. The harder the wood the better. Oak is best, then the other fruit woods, then hickory and mesquite.
Can't stress enough the importance of big chunks or splits. You'll get better heat with longer burns than with with small chunks or chips.
Have fun! Love my Kettle Pizza.
