Last weeks scrounge and a mystery wood

[JoeyD]

This is what I scrounged last week off Craigslist list. It's mostly red oak and black cherry. In with that pile is some wood my BIL gave me and he told me it was oak. When we were loading it I was pretty sure it wasn't oak but I figured at least it doesn't look like something crappy like poplar, it was god awful heavy. Well after splitting it I believe it is poplar. The weight came from the water that was squeezing out when I split it. What do you guys think? BTW this is for the 2010-11 season.

 

[burntime]

I dunno, I see btu's

 

[LLigetfa]

It doesn't look like any kind of Poplar I've ever seen. We don't have Black Birch around here but what you have looks like the Black Birch I've seen on the internet. If it is, you got real lucky. Black Birch has more BTUs than Oak.

 

[webby3650]

That is definitely Tulip (Poplar). I bought a cord and a 1/3 from a guy I work with for $30, Yes believe it or not, split and delivered. I was re-splitting some of it and found a piece with a lot of purple, just like the piece you have pictured.

 

[LLigetfa]

OK, that makes sense. We don't have Tulip around here.

 

[gzecc]

I agree on tulip poplar. Its one step above pine! In my opinion.

 

[JoeyD]

Well its a good thing I didn't take to much. I got about a 1/4 cord of the poplar. I'm going to split it up and stack it separate with some sassafras I picked up and use it in the shoulder season and for backyard camp fires. Things are looking good as far as getting ahead goes, one more cord and I'm good through 2011! :coolsmile:

 

[webby3650]

Well its a good thing I didn't take to much. I got about a 1/4 cord of the poplar. I'm going to split it up and stack it separate with some sassafras I picked up and use it in the shoulder season and for backyard camp fires. Things are looking good as far as getting ahead goes, one more cord and I'm good through 2011! :coolsmile:

That is what I thought when I bought my poplar, half of our season could be considered shoulder season. We also have an outside fire in the evenings going until July.

 

[raybonz]

Looks like a very good haul of free btu's to me! Very decent pics too!

Ray

 

[FLINT]

Hey, can you post another pic of your wood. maybe a picture of the bark with the block standing up straight.

i'm not convinced about the tulip poplar. we have tons of that here and for a block of that size, the bark should be lighter gray and much more deeply furrowed.

i'll agree that the wood does look like tulip and I have seen the purple streaks and sometimes its a light greenish. but some of those blocks look way too dark in the middle to be poplar.

also, we have black birch here, and black birch bark is darker and tighter/rougher that that.

also, if its poplar it will be really light in weight - very light - I think it burns really good actually - probably not a lot of heat, but it burns clean and makes great kindling.

 

[FLINT]

was just looking at the wood again.

yes, if you can, post another picture of the bark.

Hickory can actually look a lot like poplar but the park is tighter - more like what you have and can be a little darker in the middle - i've seen hickory with streaks of color in the wood too - but usually red not purple.

also, hickory will be heavy as crap. and will be a little stringy. poplar will absolutely not be stringy at all, it will pop apart when split - not so hickory.

I'm voting against poplar here.

 

[Wet1]

That is definitely Tulip (Poplar).

That's what I thought too, but I'd like to see a better picture of the bark. If it is, the bark should have distinct and deep furrows.

 

[JoeyD]

All I have for now is a closer view of the picture which doesn't help much. I think the dark color comes from the fact that the tree was growing in a sort of marsh type area. Heavy
green marrow is what we call the soil it was in.

The stuff lost a lot of weight in just a couple of days so I almost certain its poplar.

 

[JerseyWreckDiver]

For the record... Tulip & Poplar are two completely different trees. Very similar, but not interchangeable as most of the world makes them. I second against Tulip, may very well be Poplar. Try pressing your fingernail into the side of a split, if you can make an impression, it's Poplar. Normally the center is more green & yellow then anything but a blueish stain isn't unheard of. Different minerals in the soil where it was growing will react to make different colors.

 

[SmokinPiney]

This is what I scrounged last week off Craigslist list.

So your the guy that's been scroungin all the wood in south jersey!

 

[chad3]

Had a few poplar in the last area I cut. We decided that we wouldn't take it down only because we didn't want to cut it up and take it out. Very soft garbage wood.
Sorry.
Chad

 

[FLINT]

For the record... Tulip & Poplar are two completely different trees. Very similar, but not interchangeable as most of the world makes them. I second against Tulip, may very well be Poplar. Try pressing your fingernail into the side of a split, if you can make an impression, it's Poplar. Normally the center is more green & yellow then anything but a blueish stain isn't unheard of. Different minerals in the soil where it was growing will react to make different colors.

yes, you are right. tulip poplar is not a true poplar. true poplars are in the genus Populus - like the aspens and cottonwood. Tulip poplar also called Tulip tree or yellow poplar is in the genus Liriodendron and is actually in the magnolia family - thats why it has those funky big yellow/green flowers.

 

[JoeyD]

This is what I scrounged last week off Craigslist list.

So your the guy that's been scroungin all the wood in south jersey!

LOL so where are you located? I have to admit competition is tough around here. If you see a Craigslist add that is over 1 hour old it almost is not worth perusing.

 

[webby3650]

Had a few poplar in the last area I cut. We decided that we wouldn't take it down only because we didn't want to cut it up and take it out. Very soft garbage wood.
Sorry.
Chad

Garbage wood? It would be garbage if you paid for it, I think. Definitely Tulip.

 

[myzamboni]

This is what I scrounged last week off Craigslist list.

So your the guy that's been scroungin all the wood in south jersey!

LOL so where are you located? I have to admit competition is tough around here. If you see a Craigslist add that is over 1 hour old it almost is not worth perusing.

Out here you're SOL in about 10 minutes.

 

[JoeyD]

Last summer I caught an ad that was six minutes old for 28 red oaks cut down about seven miles up the road from me. I called the guy and while I was talking to him he got another call for the ad. This was a little after 7 PM one evening. I grabbed my keys and was there less then 20 minutes after the ad was posted. When I got there he said he got five more calls since I called. I grabbed three over-sized loads for my Tacoma :gulp: but it was to dark to go back for more and the guy promised to hold the section of his yard that I was taking from so I took my chances. Next day after work I show up and everything but a couple of stray pieces were gone. He said he had 19 more calls before he pulled the ad. :coolmad:

All in all I got better then a full cord for about 2 hours work which I thought was pretty good.