Made a few cuts in a small poplar today that had been knocked over by a white oak that was logged out. I was cutting on the white oak, and took the 6" poplar out as I went for safety (didn't want it falling on me when I took part of the top out from under it). Man, I was surprised at how soft that stuff is, and how fast it cuts. I've been cutting white oak, red oak, black locust, hickory, and some 30"+ ash trees. I dropped the bar on that little guy and it didn't even seem like it was there. I cut it into 4' lengths so that I could throw it out of the way, and it seemed like they were lighter than the 3" rounds of 24" firewood that I was tossing over into a pile. I had once thought about cutting a few poplars that had blown down, and use them in the spring and fall when the temps are warmer out. Now I'm thinking I will just let them rot.
Poplar
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to each their own? .....poplar is a fine hard wood! just like pine not the best but seasoned well it burns just as good for about the same length an heat value... some people dont call poplar,aspen, poppel a hard wood but milled into lumber and dried its hard as a rock ! used 3# hammers to drive 16 and 20 penny nails through it to bild our farrowing pens.
While I will burn any seasoned wood, poplar is one that I would step over a few times before I stopped to saw it up.
Probably depends on where you're located and what you have available too. Around here, there's a lot of oak, hard maple, ash, and some hickory and black locust.
I've worked with old rough sawn poplar while remodeling older houses. It's certainly harder then pine, but we never had problems driving nails into it. Not like the occasional room with oak 2x4s that we would find.... I still have a hard time driving a nail into one of those things, and once its bent just break it off and beat it flat cause it ain't coming out.
TMFARM 2009
Addicted to ArboristSite
process it and use it... you might come to need it anyhow..never know what next winter will bring....
my thinking is if you have to cut it up to move it, you might as well use it...i take it all, all the way down to 2" diameter..the wife doesn't mind feeding the stove with small pieces so i oblige her with all she cares to use..:msp_thumbup:
my thinking is if you have to cut it up to move it, you might as well use it...i take it all, all the way down to 2" diameter..the wife doesn't mind feeding the stove with small pieces so i oblige her with all she cares to use..:msp_thumbup:
Don't Knock It Too Hard
Poplar and cottonwood make good campfires. Also useful for keeping the rest of the wood burning in a stove. Lights easily but doesn't last long. Soft maple is only a step above it. Linden and willow may not even equal it.
Hey, use it for kindling if nothing else, and LOML loves burning it because it's so easy for her to load into the stove. I can't turn her down can I?
Poplar and cottonwood make good campfires. Also useful for keeping the rest of the wood burning in a stove. Lights easily but doesn't last long. Soft maple is only a step above it. Linden and willow may not even equal it.
Hey, use it for kindling if nothing else, and LOML loves burning it because it's so easy for her to load into the stove. I can't turn her down can I?
zogger
Tree Freak
poplar is popular
Around my woodstove. Burning some right now that I cut early last fall from a big standing dead tree. I use it to start the fires in the mornings (kick the coals back to life) and for those days you just want a little fire, like today, when it is cool and rainy out and we want some heat and to help keep the air in the house a little dryer.
Poplar and small sweetgum rounds are my primary spring and fall wood. I save the heavier wood for serious winter burning.
My rule of thumb is..I don't waste nuthin'. If I have to cut it and move it, I use it, poplar, willow, pine, it doesn't matter, it goes on a stack someplace.
Don't get me wrong, I use a lot of oak and whatnot hardwoods, but the lesser woods have their place.
Around my woodstove. Burning some right now that I cut early last fall from a big standing dead tree. I use it to start the fires in the mornings (kick the coals back to life) and for those days you just want a little fire, like today, when it is cool and rainy out and we want some heat and to help keep the air in the house a little dryer.
Poplar and small sweetgum rounds are my primary spring and fall wood. I save the heavier wood for serious winter burning.
My rule of thumb is..I don't waste nuthin'. If I have to cut it and move it, I use it, poplar, willow, pine, it doesn't matter, it goes on a stack someplace.
Don't get me wrong, I use a lot of oak and whatnot hardwoods, but the lesser woods have their place.
Alan Smith
ArboristSite Operative
send it all to me is good wood.
bobt
Addicted to ArboristSite
My Dad is a "wood snob" too. He is 86 and can't cut wood anymore, but he can still get up and down the basement stairs to feed the wood furnace. If he had his druthers, the wood would be all Maple. However, I do the cutting now, and when I have to cut popple, or white birch, or tamarack to get to a few maple trees, all that stuff comes home with me. I stack it in different piles to dry, and then fill his basement with it the next year along with the Maple.
He grumbles a little,,,,but I don't see any wood left over in the spring,,,,,and he even smiles a little when he grumbles these days,,,Haha!
Bob
He grumbles a little,,,,but I don't see any wood left over in the spring,,,,,and he even smiles a little when he grumbles these days,,,Haha!
Bob
Swamp Yankee
Addicted to ArboristSite
It's OK
I'll burn it in my own stove or give it to my neighbor for his OWB. Unless you use it for kindling or jump starting a low fire it's best left in big pieces or it burns really fast.
That said, I will not include poplar in any wood that I sell. I learned early on it's not worth the calls and complaints.
Take Care
I'll burn it in my own stove or give it to my neighbor for his OWB. Unless you use it for kindling or jump starting a low fire it's best left in big pieces or it burns really fast.
That said, I will not include poplar in any wood that I sell. I learned early on it's not worth the calls and complaints.
Take Care
Rookie1
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nice. If hes grumbling that means hes doing good,right? Gotta love old folks. As for the Poplar Id burn it.
The fella from Minn. is talking about Aspen, You guys are guys from In. are talking about Yellow Poplar/Tulip. They are two differant critters. Aspen is tough to drive nails thru when cured, Poplar,.... not.
wackydeejay
ArboristSite Operative
Well, I guess I'm turning into more of a "wood snob" myself...haha! I don't mind a piece of poplar here and there. Really, I like having a little of it mixed in for variety, etc., but I just recently politely turned down two big poplar trees that were offered to me. I don't have a lot of storage space on my property that is easily accessible during winter, so I try to use that space for the "good stuff." I've got approximately 2 seasons worth of wood split and stacked right now. I'd hate to use up what little extra space I have with a low quality fuel when I'll likely run across a downed locust, ash or cherry tree before the end of the summer.
When you have choices of different hardwoods, it's hard to justify using poplar, but around here we have large, 24" to 36" dia. poplar trees that just have to come down before they take down something of value. I'm always taking down 3 to 4 big poplars each year and the only thing left to do with them is cut 'em up and throw them in the OWB. They're good for the late fall and early spring burnings.
komatsuvarna
Arboristsite MVP
+1. I don't waste my time on it unless I'm desperate. It burns like newspapers in my opinion.
That means to me that you don't sell wood in bundles for campfires. Half my customers are ladies that like to buy the cottonwood and elm blend that I mix together so that they can easily pick them up and carry them to their vehicle.
The only complaints I have ever had is when I make those same bundles out of oak and locust and then they can't lift them.
To each his own.
Swamp Yankee
Addicted to ArboristSite
Nope
Not my market. Seasoned, cut, split, delivered firewood. Around hear mixing in poplar or white birch is a guaranteed complaint call.
That said, I do see your point about the weight of a bundle. I have a customer with a stove that will take 24 inch wood but wants 16 inch because it's easier to handle and load.
Take Care
Most years I would cut a load or two for the same reasons that most of you have mentioned. Right now I'm way behind on my cutting. I have next year covered but that's it. The snow cover this year, and having another baby in the house kept me out of the woods most of the winter, which is when I normally get all my cutting done.
The farm I cut on has been select logged, and is full of white oak tops, some red, some beach tops, and a few others here and there and I really want to get 2 or 3 years worth of it cut, hauled in, and stacked before the end of the summer. Right now, I can split a few small pieces of oak if I need something to boost the fire. I also use some of the bark that falls off when I throw it in the basement. Most of the bark is black Locust or Hickory. I don't like leaving stuff behind either, but right now I'm working on a goal, and I only have a few hours a week to work on it, and even that has to comply with the wife's work schedule, the weather, family plans, and such.
The farm I cut on has been select logged, and is full of white oak tops, some red, some beach tops, and a few others here and there and I really want to get 2 or 3 years worth of it cut, hauled in, and stacked before the end of the summer. Right now, I can split a few small pieces of oak if I need something to boost the fire. I also use some of the bark that falls off when I throw it in the basement. Most of the bark is black Locust or Hickory. I don't like leaving stuff behind either, but right now I'm working on a goal, and I only have a few hours a week to work on it, and even that has to comply with the wife's work schedule, the weather, family plans, and such.
MishMouse
ArboristSite Operative
I am burning mostly poplar right now.
Getting over 8 hour burn times with it in my TL300.
Now if I was using oak I would be getting 12+, but it burns it lets off heat and it is keeping the propain guy away.
Getting over 8 hour burn times with it in my TL300.
Now if I was using oak I would be getting 12+, but it burns it lets off heat and it is keeping the propain guy away.
I burnt about 2 full cords in my OWB this fall. Tulip poplar is heavy when green, light when dry, and leaves very little ash. I don't go out of my way to cut it but had to cut this couple of trees that came down along with 5-6 big cherry trees.
