Aspen

[Tesen]

I was splitting up some 16" rounds of oak and cherry yesterday. My back was failing and I still had some room left on the trailer. There was a tree down, which I've identified as Aspen. The land owner was telling me Aspen is junk wood to burn and crappier than Pine.

I've looked at the BTU charts, some have Aspen above Pine, some have it below Pine. Anyone burned it? It was easy to get, I spent maybe 15 minutes getting about 8, 10" rounds maybe 3ft long each once I cut it up in to manageable sizes. Did I waste my time?

Tes

 

[willsaw4beer]

Aspen/ Poplar in my opinion is the worst of wood. If it was free, then at least it was priced right. If it's dry it does burn, generally it's useful to save your good wood. No reason not to burn it, although it is definitely low on btu's and really stinks when it's wet.

 

[savageactor7]

It's a good shoulder season wood...not the kind of wood you'd use for an over night fire.

 

[Tesen]

Okay; so should I mix it in with better wood or just burn it solo?

Thanks,

Tes

 

[MoparDuke]

Depends on your set-up. I can burn it solo with forced air draft. You will burn twice as much as good hard maple, maybe more. I have a lot of it and I actually like burning it it the spring and fall (I don't have to worry about boiling my water)

 

[maplemeister]

Tesen: As others have said, not a good wood for overnight fires. Burns hot but quick. I cut some at my camp for getting the fire going in the morning and it works well for that or is fine if your by the stove to feed it often. Main thing I found with Aspen is that if you cut it, you need to split and get it under cover soon as it does not hold up well if left outside exposed to the elements.

Regards:

Maplemeister:

 

[ericjeeper]

Like my daddy always said

It will beat snowballs.

 

[Butch(OH)]

It will beat snowballs.

I have tried our version of aspen and next time I am going to try snowballs. I think they will give the Aspen a run for the money LOL.

 

[milkie62]

About 75% of my winter supply is Poplar/Aspen.I get it for free and it saves my woodlot.I have no complaints with it.Mine is usually in the 20-36" dia though.Would not want to be trying to handle oak in that size.I try and save my hardwood to sell .We get on the average of $200/cord green and $240/cord 1 yr seasoned.

 

[E&R_firewood]

i've burned acres of it (quaking aspen) it is so plentiful and invasive in this area that it is cheaper than free, often folks will pay you to cut it up and haul it away . . . it will not hold a fire, burns like a large log shaped cotton ball, but for kindling and mixing in as a "filler" with more dense woods it is not that bad. it is best if cut green and seasoned a year, stuff that is standing dead or down for over a year is completely worthless, tends to go corky and lose what little density it has.

 

[peterrum]

I use my Aspen for burning in the outdoor firepit and use my pine, fir and larch for inside. Its great for outdoor fires as i consider it to be junk wood.

 

[jburlingham]

I like to split it into toothpicks and dry it inside to use as kindling.

 

[Tesen]

Thanks guys. I guess after it is split and seasoned, I will use it for the start of next season when overnight fires is not really important. I am hoping it burns well enough to consider it of pine quality since there is a lot of it on this property I cut on. Since I use pine as a filler wood, when it is not that cold outside, the house is up to temp already and we are home to tend the fire, this might be a nice supplement (or a terrible one, lol, you guys seem to have mixed feelings on the matter).

I generally burn pine during the weekend day times when I am home to tend the fire (wife is not as proactive about it ) and it is not that cold. If I can supplement with Aspen and pine that would be nice, saving my maple, cherry, oak and hickory for night time burning when the flue needs to be hot and the temp outside falls.

Tes

 

[CowboyAndy]

I burn alot of aspen too, its great for early morning "warm ups". Where I cut, there is plenty of easily accessable aspen, pine and boxelder. I cut alot of it to use for speing/fall when only small, short fires are needed. Also really good for getting things going in the morning, it will light with a very small amount of coals and burn hot.

 

[Johnny Ringo]

Around here they call aspen a popple tree and lump it all together with lombardi poplar/big tooth aspen/quakeing aspen etc......so far this year that's all I've burned is one form or the other of the (greenish smooth barked trees) It's currently -12 now. I filled last night and will not touch my boiler untill sometime after diner this evening. My experience is aspen pound for pound is just fine but try not to split it if you don't have to.....

 

[woodbooga]

If there's room on the truck for cottonwood/popple/aspen after the good wood has all been harvested, I'd have loaded up what I could.

As others have pointed out, it's ideal for early and late season burning.

We heat and cook with an olde tyme cook stove. Popplar and cottonwood are great for getting that piece of cast iron good and hot first thing in the morning, as well as for getting the oven up to temp for baking. In fact, some around here call it biscuit wood, since the hot-fast burning qualities of the wood are ideal for getting the oven good and hot for baking bread and other goodies.