# How is poplar for burning?



## burntime (Apr 20, 2010)

Guy by me has 3 logs 30 inchs round and 20 ft long for free...  just don't want to pick up something that just builds a lot of ash and burns fast...


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## gzecc (Apr 20, 2010)

Have you heard the phrase, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". I would personally turn down poplar unless it was already split and dropped in my yard.


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## prajna101 (Apr 20, 2010)

Not a lot of BTUs but i will burn anything.  I just would not work hard for it. CSD and free and I would take it. 

t


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## Highbeam (Apr 20, 2010)

So you're going to find that there are many different kinds of poplar/popple/cottonwood/basswood/willow pretty much junkwood throughout the country and people all call them different things. Basicly you're talking about super low density (when dry) white wooded deciduous trees from wet areas right? 

I've burned many cords of this wood and find that so long as it is dry, it must be dry, that it is a fine fuel in a modern EPA stove. In the old style stoves people say it burns hot and fast, maybe that's because the wood was wet and they needed to give it lots of air. True it doesn't burn as long as higher btu woods but it burns long enough. 

I'll gladly take your solid cottonwood logs for firewood. You're going to want a power splitter though.


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## Archer39 (Apr 20, 2010)

I agree^^^

i would not pass it up if it was easy to get to.


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## burntime (Apr 21, 2010)

I would have to cut and split it.  Its about 5 miles from home.  I will wait for something better.  It gets too cold here to play with a wood that burns fast...


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## Todd (Apr 21, 2010)

I'd pass it up cuz I already have 3 years worth of Oak, but if I was short I'd scrounge it in a heart beat.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 21, 2010)

I will pay to have Ash logs dropped in my yard and I won't take Poplar/Aspen for firewood that is free off my own land unless I have to drop a tree in the yard and clean it up.  If I can drop the tree back into the bush to rot, that's what I do.


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## thewoodlands (Apr 21, 2010)

burntime said:
			
		

> Guy by me has 3 logs 30 inchs round and 20 ft long for free...  just don't want to pick up something that just builds a lot of ash and burns fast...



It's free except for some work bucking and splitting, I would take it you can always mix it in with your hardwood.

Zap


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## northwinds (Apr 21, 2010)

I like poplar for shoulder season or on the weekend if I'm going to be around to tend the fire.  It burns faster
than oak/hickory, but it produces worthwhile heat.  I wouldn't go a long ways for it, but if it's easy to get, I'd 
take it.  It also seasons fairly quickly after it's split.


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## SolarAndWood (Apr 21, 2010)

We burn a lot of undesirables including poplar when its either not that cold or we are around anyway.  30 inch rounds make a lot of firewood.


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## geoxman (Apr 21, 2010)

> *You’re going to want a power splitter though*.


I agree cottonwood is a bit$% to split. I never turn down free wood if it is easy to get. good luck


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## Cluttermagnet (Apr 21, 2010)

I have burned some Yellow Poplar this season and I don't regret my efforts going to pick up this free wood. It was my first CL wood score and I got a cord of it. Yes, of course I prefer Oak, and I burn a lot of that, but there are worthwhile BTU's in our local Poplar variety. The first BTU chart I pulled up says 16 million BTU/cord for Poplar, 21.7 for Red Oak. That's about 74 percent of Oak's BTU's. Nothing to sneeze at IMO, especially for free wood. Half of what I got was already split. The other half will get split this spring for burning late next winter. You want a hydraulic splitter for this. It's a bit much for hand splitting. Some parts do split easily by hand, especially small to medium branches and trunk. Some bigger rounds are really tough splitting. Oak OTOH is usually quite easy hand splitting. Go figure.

Dry time for  splits seems to be around 6-9 months, probably closer to 9. The wood gets noticeably lighter when seasoned. It burns a little hotter and faster than Oak. You do get seemingly more, fluffier ash. I find, however, that this ash is very light and I just compact it with the stove shovel. It shrinks to nearly nothing, then I build the next night's fire right over it. I don't understand why others describe this sort of ash as a problem.

If someone will dump Poplar splits (or rounds) in your yard, you go for it! If you have to go pick them up, maybe think it over, unless you are really flush with better woods. If you have to cut it down and buck it into rounds, then split it, well maybe *then * you pass on it and hold out for Oak. :lol:


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## FireAnt (Apr 21, 2010)

My dad is cutting down a 115 foot Cottonwood on his back property. I will mix it in with whatever I have until the Oak seasons and I am further ahead on my piles. He will use it in his basement fireplace while watching TV.

How long a seasoning time on Cottonwood?


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## firefighterjake (Apr 21, 2010)

I burn poplar . . . but then again I'm an equal opportunity burner  . . . I don't discriminate. Poplar may not put out the same BTUs or for as long as oak, but you know what . . . when I load up the stove and fire it up that nicely seasoned poplar keeps me just as warm as my ash or sugar maple. I tend to use the poplar more in the shoulder seasons and for burns when I'm home . . . you will not be loading up every hour like some folks may suggest and you will not be freezing . . . 

That said . . . yeah, I'll burn it . . . but I also don't go crazy for poplar. If I have a choice of cutting two identically sized trees and space is limited I would go with the better species over poplar. So my own take is I'll burn it and have no issues, but I don't go out of my way for it either.


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## Black Jaque Janaviac (Apr 21, 2010)

It ain't like your house is gonna suddenly chill-off the instant you throw an aspen log on the fire (wet wood notwithstanding).

Just depends on A)how much space you have to store a lesser quality wood
B)how hard you have to work to get it.
C)how available other woods are
D)how "neighborly" you want to be.

I recently took in a trailer load of red and white pine.  It was cut, not split, and free for the taking.  However I have plenty of room to take in orphaned wood, and the guy I'm taking it from is a friend.  He's pretty well connected too so I'm figuring if he knows other people who have wood that is "in the way" he may recommend my name as a wood scavenger (not a bad reputation to have).


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## PapaDave (Apr 21, 2010)

As others have said, Poplar will burn faster than oak, ash, etc., but it still burns. 
If you have easy access to better wood for the rest of your life and the ability to store it, pass. 
Power co. came through about 3 years ago and cut pine and poplar in the ROW on my property. I cut it up and burned it. It'll save the good stuff for colder weather, and still keep you warm to boot. Should also give your better splits more time to dry. YMMV


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## Wood Duck (Apr 21, 2010)

Free wood that is easy to get? I'd take it. Sure, it isn't oak, but it is perfectly good firewood, in my opinion.


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## Highbeam (Apr 21, 2010)

I think that this whitewood is the next pine in terms of myth woods. Someone's pappy told them it wasn't good so it must not be good.


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## smokinj (Apr 21, 2010)

Highbeam said:
			
		

> I think that this whitewood is the next pine in terms of myth woods. Someone's pappy told them it wasn't good so it must not be good.



+1 I would mill it and make a wood shed out of it! ok ok I am already in the process of that but I would take more and mill it or burn it!


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## Battenkiller (Apr 21, 2010)

I've used poplar for woodworking, and some of it was pretty dense.  I made a Windsor chair seat out of it instead of white pine and I quickly regretted that decision.  That particular piece was like carving maple.

There is a lot of regional and even local variations in wood density.  I suspect that those who hate poplar have had the light stuff and those who find it suitable have had the denser stuff.  I only burn it if a big limb on my property comes down, and even then, I usually burn it in an outside fire.  No use crowding up the inside of a wood stove with substandard wood when it's cold out.  In my stove, I'd be filling it all day.  Don't know about an EPA stove, but I can see nothing magic about them that can get more heat out of a piece of wood than is already stored in it.


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## kenny chaos (Apr 21, 2010)

I sell it and buy real firewood with the money.
I have also made lots of good framing lumber out of it.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 21, 2010)

Highbeam said:
			
		

> I think that this whitewood is the next pine in terms of myth woods. Someone's pappy told them it wasn't good so it must not be good.


It's not a myth.  I've burned Poplar/Aspen before.


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 21, 2010)

Burntime, I don't remember where you are located so don't know if this is yellow (tulip) poplar or aspen or whatever. Around these parts we only have popple. lol

I recall one particular winter we had moved so were lacking a bit on firewood and the heating season was upon us. I hooked up with a farmer and was allowed to cut any dead or dying popple in the woods. That is all we heated with that winter....and I was very happy when winter came to an end. But the big point is that we kept warm. Yes, it took a lot more wood to keep us warm but we got through it.

Since that time I can recall only one popple that I've cut and burned. I don't like it because it stinks and won't produce coals worth a hoot but does produce a fair amount of ashes. Bottom line is, if you need wood this sounds like a taker. That is a lot of free wood to turn down. If I were scrounging I'd probably take it but because I have so much I can be picky now.


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## Cluttermagnet (Apr 21, 2010)

smokinjay said:
			
		

> +1 I would mill it and make a wood shed out of it! ok ok I am already in the process of that but I would take more and mill it or burn it!





			
				kenny chaos said:
			
		

> I sell it and buy real firewood with the money.
> I have also made lots of good framing lumber out of it.



Yep- my friend with the acreage had some Yellow Poplar milled into siding and he built a very nice horse barn out of it. He says it weathers well and is fairly rot resistant to boot. It's a nice looking barn. The wood is zero maintenance, weathers down to a natural gray.

I don't know what he used for framing. That sounds like another good use for this sort of wood. I think it's a little harder than Pine 2x dimensional lumber, and it doesn't nail or machine quite as easy as Pine, but it's closer to softwood than to something hard like Oak.

Knock that barn down in 30-50 years and that wood can still keep you warm all winter.


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## karl (Apr 22, 2010)

A good portion of the slab wood I buy is poplar.  I don't have problems with it.


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## BrotherBart (Apr 22, 2010)

Several years ago I heated this joint all winter with Tulip poplar and that was when we were both away at work all day. I have a few that I need to take down and after they are stacked and dried, into the stoves they will go.

But cut it green, not downed rotted stuff.


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## LLigetfa (Apr 22, 2010)

Don't know why they call Tulip Poplar a Poplar cuz it's not related to any of the other Poplars.  Around here, most of the Poplar is made into paper and OSB.  Some gets milled into lumber too.  Not much of it is used as firewood.


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## smokinj (Apr 22, 2010)

LLigetfa said:
			
		

> Don't know why they call Tulip Poplar a Poplar cuz it's not related to any of the other Poplars. Around here, most of the Poplar is made into paper and OSB. Some gets milled into lumber too. Not much of it is used as firewood.



we have some hybrid's poplar for fast growing they are junk, but the tulip are good milling and ok firewood.


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## burntime (Apr 22, 2010)

Yep, it usually goes to the paper mills by me too.  Wisconsin has a lot of it growing up north and it routinely gets logged every 10-12 or so years.


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## BrotherBart (Apr 22, 2010)

When the tornado touched down just off the corner of our house in 2004 big oaks just laid down. The tuplip pops stood up and took it but the tops were twisted out of a lot of them. One about a hundred feet from the house had the whole top twisted off about sixty or seventy feet up and I figured after I finished with the rest of the carnage I would take it down. Not a limb or leaf left on it.

Today it has a thirty foot extension growing right straight up out of the top of it. If that sucker wants to live that bad it can just keep on going.


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## patch53 (Apr 22, 2010)

We used to burn it at hunting camp, burns fine as long as its dry, but definitely not as hot or long as hardwood. We called it "gopher" wood .... throw one on and "GO FOR" more !!  LOL


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## DIYSAVE (Apr 22, 2010)

My experience has been if you burn poplar you will end up with a fast burn and plenty of ash to dispose of. It's great stuff for camp fire type settings, but not that great to burn indoors. However if you do decide to snatch it up and use it indoors, make sure it is completely dry first. It will burn hot, but it will also burn fast. Good luck


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## BrotherBart (Apr 23, 2010)

Burning poplar or pine is illegal, immoral and fattening and all of it should be sent freight prepaid to the Manassas  Virginia Fed-Ex Freight terminal in care of Brotherbart. If will be disposed of properly and legally.


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## tpikaart (Apr 23, 2010)

burning some right now!  40 degrees out (8 pm) low of 25 tonight here in NM. 
I don't have the options most of you all have--so I take what I can get, but it
a great, fast lighting, quick burning wood for this type of weather.


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## fbelec (Apr 23, 2010)

last year i split a cord that i got from a craigslist score. i burnt that stuff this past burning season. i split it by hand. yes go get a splitter. i was using 3 wedges in 20 inch rounds and had to pound the @*it out of it to split it. and it was gushing water out of it so bad that i was getting wet from the splash. not even a year of sitting in the rack and it was light as a feather. it was so easy to start it burning that a few times i just put the lighter to it no kindling and had a nice short lived fire good for the fall and spring burns. the bark has a very sweet odor. nice. after that it will choke ya.


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## gzecc (Apr 23, 2010)

Man, its obviously not the best firewood, but it sure congers up many thoughts!


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## Cluttermagnet (Apr 23, 2010)

NMman said:
			
		

> burning some right now!  40 degrees out (8 pm) low of 25 tonight here in NM.
> I don't have the options most of you all have--so I take what I can get, but it
> a great, fast lighting, quick burning wood for this type of weather.








Neat! Looks like you did that photo with smoke (the wood stove burning Poplar) and mirrors? (the writing on your tee shirt is reversed). Well, I'm more sure about the smoke part, anyway. :lol: 

Seriously, nice place, nice stove. I'm sure your son appreciates the heat out of that Poplar. ;-)


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## Northern NH Mike (Apr 23, 2010)

Glad I found this thread.  I bucked up some poplar that had blown down this winter and was trying to decide whether or not I would take the time to split (by hand) and stack for next year.  I have been burning some this spring that I cut and split two years ago and have been moving on and off the wood pile since.  It burns HOT.  Dampered down and shut down the stove can still hit 650 with two splits in there.  For this time of year it is actually more palatable than burning my maple.  Looks like I'll split and stack it tomorrow.


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## northwinds (Apr 23, 2010)

When it gushes water during hand splitting, it's easier to split by working around the edges.  On a big round, I
cut four slices and then split the center.   I found that much easier than using a wedge in the middle.  Some 
rounds are so wet, it's almost funny.


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## fbelec (Apr 24, 2010)

northwinds said:
			
		

> When it gushes water during hand splitting, it's easier to split by working around the edges.  On a big round, I
> cut four slices and then split the center.   I found that much easier than using a wedge in the middle.  Some
> rounds are so wet, it's almost funny.



it makes you stop and think about what your doing when you see the water gush out of it when hit it. i worked it from the edge and made my way towards the middle with the wedges. first wedge at the outside where i started it with the maul and as it cracked 2nd wedge, and still subborn, third wedge. that was before i got my splitter.


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## ccwhite (Apr 26, 2010)

How good poplar is, is a relative term. I cut a bunch of it a couple seasons ago. Easy to get to, easy / fast cutting, easy splitting, beautiful stacking, but burned like cardboard. I left the rest of it to rot. back to my true hardwoods. But one thing I've learned here is that some folks would be thrilled to have it. So it really depends on what you're burning now. If you've been burning pine you'll love it. If you've been burning oak, cherry, and black locust you're not gonna be a happy camper with the poplar. Even so, It is nice for the shoulder season.

Oh P.S. .... the bark gets all slimy and slippy as it seasons. Just for an added treat.


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## bogydave (Apr 26, 2010)

Will burn just fine

Few references & blurbs from them.

http://forestry.about.com/cs/firewood/f/firewood_values.htm
Five Poor Performing Species

White Pine - 15 million BTUs/cord - density 22 to 31 lbs./cu.ft.
Cottonwood/Willow - 16 million BTUs/cord - density 24 to 37 lbs./cu.ft.
Basswood - 14 million BTUs/cord - density 20 to 37 lbs./cu.ft.
Aspen - 15 million BTUs/cord - density 26 lbs./cu.ft.
Yellow Poplar - 18 mm million BTUs/cord - density 22 to 31 lbs./cu.ft.


http://www.essortment.com/all/firewoodbtucor_rech.htm
Pound for pound, (dry weight) every species of wood will produce the same amount of heat. Wood is made up of four things: woody fiber, water, resin and ash. How much of each property a species of wood contains will determine how the wood will burn. The denser the wood, the higher the fuel value is. 


http://www.woodheat.org/firewood/firewood.htm
All wood, regardless of species, has about the same energy content per pound.  The different species vary only in density.  Traditionally, the favored trees in central North America were oak and maple because they are very dense and produce long-lasting coals.  But these are valuable trees and in many areas are not plentiful enough to burn.  No problem, just use softer woods like birch or poplar (aspen) or any other tree that is readily available.  Keep in mind that people living in the coldest areas of North America have no hardwoods to burn and they get along just fine.  
Ultimately, it is *more important* to have wood that is ::
****************!"*cut and split to the right size and properly dried than it is to get the hardest wood available*.*************THIS Last Statement  IS GOLDEN INFORMATION
AND THE KEY WORDS ARE: "*PROPERLY DRIED*"


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## kenny chaos (Apr 26, 2010)

I sell it and when people ask what kind of wood, "It's real popular."


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## fbelec (Apr 27, 2010)

nice info dave. ya gutta love that tree made from splits.


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## bogydave (Apr 27, 2010)

fbelec said:
			
		

> nice info dave. ya gutta love that tree made from splits.



Thanks

Wish I had that kind of patience & skill to stack wood so  artful. But then I wouldn't be allowed to burn it
Pic has been posted here many times,


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## forvols (Apr 27, 2010)

Well I have a BUNCH of poplar (tulip) maybe 4 cords split and stacked...had some huge trees taken down that were toooo close to the house, keep the trees for firewood...have burned it before goes quick kicks out some heat good mix with harder woods.


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## Highbeam (Apr 27, 2010)

And also remember that the poplar in Ohio that CCwhite has may not be the same as your poplar, there are major regional differences. Our NW poplar/cottonwood/willow/aspen does not have slippery bark unless you leave it out in the rain to rot. Bogydave has it right, these whitewoods are actually better than pine IF you let it dry properly. If you try and burn wet poplar you will not be happy.


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## Cluttermagnet (May 21, 2010)

kenny chaos said:
			
		

> I sell it and when people ask what kind of wood, "It's real popular."


Here's some 'real popular' on Craig's List. Really. Makes good siding.
Lumber, popular - $150 (culpeper)

I don't know how popular his lumber is going to be, however- he's charging Home Depot prices there for rough milled boards.


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## ckarotka (May 21, 2010)

Riddle me this, I recently split two cottonwoods, 1 was down ? how long, the other was a fresh 1 day down. The older piece was an absolute bear to split even with a splitter, the fresh split like butter by hand, I'd split that all day.  Why the big difference?

I


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## heus (Jun 26, 2010)

I'm convinced that most of you are talking about species such as quaking aspen, hybrid polars, willows, basswood, cottonwood, etc. Yes i agree they arent worth much as firewood. However, the TULIP trees on my property in NE ohio are a dream to cut and split. Very few branches, tall straight trunks. And it seems to burn pretty much the same as soft maple, ash, and cherry. No it is not hard maple, oak, beech, or hickory but I would take all of the tulip polar that I could get.


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## glenng (Jun 26, 2010)

I wouldnt bother with it if I had a lot of free hardwood choices. But if its the only free wood knocking at your door Id getoffmyass and bring it home.


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