Marketing ideas for Tulip Poplar?

[Steve2910]

So a friend of mine had some Poplar trees taken down last winter...

He probably should have sold the logs, but instead he cut & split the wood, probably 2-3 cords. At the rate he burns wood, it'll rot before he uses it. He keeps asking me to sell it for him, but I don't have a clue what the price should be (For reference, Oak sells locally for $180-200) or a customer who'll want it. He's not unrealistic about the value, just thinks he should get something in return for his time & trouble. Any ideas on how to make it "go away"? Mix it with other woods & sell as mixed hardwood? sell it as straight Poplar (dirt cheap)? Other thoughts???

Oh, one more thing, the "just drop it off at my house" comments will NOT be considered helpful.

 

[Laird]

Not a bad wood for campfires if there are any campgrounds around there.

 

[zogger]

Spring and Fall wood, half price of oak!

edit: I burn a lot of it, just for that, plus as morning wood. That and pine.

Next to ash it is my fav wood for splitting as well, I think of it as "ash lite".

 

[promac850]

Excellent campfire wood. Yuppies on their way to the campgrounds in their Prius love the stuff. Lights up easy, and is light.

We ended up trading 1:1 1.5 cords of poplar for oak... dad's friend at work makes so much more selling poplar as campfire wood compared to oak, so it was a fair trade for the both of them.

As for tulip poplar being straight grained and having a fairly pretty grain, they are very much so... the poplar trees we got our wood from were straight as a pin. Very easy to split. Shame that the mills around here turned the guy down on buying them... he has lived there since before the day those trees were planted and he never put a single nail into them. Neither did anyone else around here.

Nice logs turned into firewood. We all hated to do it, but no one would buy the logs. I don't know if you would run into that problem or not, it'd be best to check around with nearby mills and see if there is any demand for straight trunk poplar now or in the near future.

 

[Steve2910]

Excellent campfire wood. Yuppies on their way to the campgrounds in their Prius love the stuff. Lights up easy, and is light.

We ended up trading 1:1 1.5 cords of poplar for oak... dad's friend at work makes so much more selling poplar as campfire wood compared to oak, so it was a fair trade for the both of them.

As for tulip poplar being straight grained and having a fairly pretty grain, they are very much so... the poplar trees we got our wood from were straight as a pin. Very easy to split. Shame that the mills around here turned the guy down on buying them... he has lived there since before the day those trees were planted and he never put a single nail into them. Neither did anyone else around here.

Nice logs turned into firewood. We all hated to do it, but no one would buy the logs. I don't know if you would run into that problem or not, it'd be best to check around with nearby mills and see if there is any demand for straight trunk poplar now or in the near future.

Found a log buyer who wanted "as much Poplar as you have", but 3 months too late...

 

[Steve2910]

half price of oak!

That's about what I was thinking

 

[Steve2910]

Not a bad wood for campfires if there are any campgrounds around there.

There aren't

 

[burroak]

I sell mixed hardwood for $50 delivered per 1/4 cord, and there's no poplar in it. I have straight tulip-poplar for $45 delivered per 1/4 cord.
Some people buy the poplar because they are just recreational burners and just want something cheap that burns well. I have no problem selling it, though the mixed hardwood sells 3x faster.

 

[Jere39]

In this area there is a strong market this time of year for wood for deck, patio, and back yard fire pits. The poplar is great for that, nice and straight, starts easy for the rookies, burns clean, and burns out in one evening so there is no overnight fire hazard in the pit. I'd advertise it as exactly what it is, easy burning firewood for fire pits. Be flexible on sizes, come up with a price for a trunk load, an SUV load, and a pick-up load. Let them come to you and load it themselves. Just stand by and collect cash.

 

[jags]

I would stack it nice and pretty next to the pond so that if the woodchucks start chucking it the joke would be on them.

 

[Blazin]

I burn it in the fall, works like a charm! As long as it's DRY.

 

[D&B Mack]

+1 or 2 or 3 or whatever it is at now on the fire pit. Bundle it, package it, crate it, whatever to make it easy for the campers to carry and keep their outbacks clean.