Is this poplar worth the time or risk?
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Found a few more logs buried under the brush. Still another good sized one I haven’t got to yet. Another week another pile.
![[Hearth.com] Is this poplar worth the time or risk?](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/90fdc565-8c99-4c7b-bd8b-9c1c16be9cc0-webp.241602/ "[Hearth.com] Is this poplar worth the time or risk?")
I have a couple trees I need a bigger saw for. I've whittled away at big ones that were down with a smaller saw and it does take a while.
Low BTU wood has its uses. I go thru a cord of eastern white pine every year now. I used to throw it away - hot and fast burning wood comes in handy often.
Low BTU wood has its uses. I go thru a cord of eastern white pine every year now. I used to throw it away - hot and fast burning wood comes in handy often.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
All of this will be awesome come next heating season when it's dry. It usually takes half again as much soft wood to maintain temperatures, but it dries twice as fast. Great firewood for when someone can be around to tend the stove or shoulder seasons.
Six reasons why every experienced wood burner should have a cord or two of Poplar:
- It seasons fast, one to two years in most places if stored reasonably well. If I lost all my firewood tomorrow, the first thing I'd do is order 2-3 cords of Pine and Poplar; those two would have a very good chance of being ready next fire season. I'd far rather have 2-3 cords of marginal but otherwise dry firewood than excellent but wet firewood.
- It's easy to process due to it's relatively light weight. For example Poplar rounds I can move and process would be impossible if they were Oak and/or Hickory.
- It's easy to split; hence it processes faster than other wood.
- It burns relatively fast, perfect for cool mornings and warm afternoons or shoulder season.
- Excellent for recreational fires, which burns through wood like a Tiger tank goes through gas.
- Excellent wood to have available for the "trade with an experienced woodburner" advice that's always given around here. Will it be the best wood? No, but open disclosure will fix that. Plus it will give the newbie woodburner experience in the joys of burning dry well seasoned wood.
Now, it is the wood of choice - No. But to always have a couple cords handy is good business in my opinion.
- It seasons fast, one to two years in most places if stored reasonably well. If I lost all my firewood tomorrow, the first thing I'd do is order 2-3 cords of Pine and Poplar; those two would have a very good chance of being ready next fire season. I'd far rather have 2-3 cords of marginal but otherwise dry firewood than excellent but wet firewood.
- It's easy to process due to it's relatively light weight. For example Poplar rounds I can move and process would be impossible if they were Oak and/or Hickory.
- It's easy to split; hence it processes faster than other wood.
- It burns relatively fast, perfect for cool mornings and warm afternoons or shoulder season.
- Excellent for recreational fires, which burns through wood like a Tiger tank goes through gas.
- Excellent wood to have available for the "trade with an experienced woodburner" advice that's always given around here. Will it be the best wood? No, but open disclosure will fix that. Plus it will give the newbie woodburner experience in the joys of burning dry well seasoned wood.
Now, it is the wood of choice - No. But to always have a couple cords handy is good business in my opinion.
Chas0218
Minister of Fire
With a 16" bar you should be able to cut anything under 30" I know my little 16" husky has cut a lot of firewood and for the price it has paid for itself. My bigger husky is real nice but definitely heavier.
I've cut up plenty of big wood with an 026PRO with a 16 inch bar
I don't like cutting big standing trees with it. Especially oak trees near the property line.
Plus time is money.
Simonkenton
Minister of Fire
turn_n_burn
Burning Hunk
My first wood score I ever posted here years ago was a big pickup load of tulip poplar. I wasn't a fan of it, but it was free. I'll grab poplar if it's free, but I'll never buy it. It dries fast, but it is horrendously perishable, keep it WELL off the ground, or you will see fungal blooms on the bark that put a Jackson Pollock painting to shame. The big downer for me regarding poplar of any variety, is the acrid, bitter smell of the smoke, especially if the bark is attached (and those damn barbs underneath it, they're not sharp, but will still draw blood). In SW Idaho we usually burn pine, fir, juniper, and tamarack, so it always smells good. But we got this absolute fiend in our neighborhood who is reviled and hated, who burns nothing but poplar (tolerable), cottonwood (nausea), wet elm (headache and nausea), and russian olive (just kill me) in an old airtight. Nobody around here has ever heard of burning black locust (biblical plague, what? Gross!), and it is everywhere, so sometimes I load up on that.
So, if you have a good cat or clean burn stove, poplar is kosher, as long as you are not putting it in an airtight, then people will not like you. But free is free, I doubt I'd pass on it. I never used to be a wood snob, but I'm starting to become just that. Because of that neighbor.
So, if you have a good cat or clean burn stove, poplar is kosher, as long as you are not putting it in an airtight, then people will not like you. But free is free, I doubt I'd pass on it. I never used to be a wood snob, but I'm starting to become just that. Because of that neighbor.
Not worth the trouble . get it wet and it will rot
To much good maple (sugar) red and white Oak
Iron wood and other hard wood around here
We just let it rot where it is gone in a year or two .
To much good maple (sugar) red and white Oak
Iron wood and other hard wood around here
We just let it rot where it is gone in a year or two .
walhondingnashua
Minister of Fire
"Worth it" wold be defined by what your other options are. Can you get better stuff easier? If not, then this is good wood for the reasons everyone else has listed.
People know I have a wood stove so they call me all the time to come cut trees for them. I have several big farms to get all the wood I want from so I say no quit a bit just because I can afford to be picky. Hell, I roll big knots or anything else thats hard to split right back on the woods.
If you can afford to be a wood snob, do it. If not, go for it lol.
People know I have a wood stove so they call me all the time to come cut trees for them. I have several big farms to get all the wood I want from so I say no quit a bit just because I can afford to be picky. Hell, I roll big knots or anything else thats hard to split right back on the woods.
If you can afford to be a wood snob, do it. If not, go for it lol.
I imagine once I sign an easement all the timber is theirs but it’s has been in the easement process for years at this point. At this rate it will rot before they get equipment back there.
I guess you could write it into the contract but if I’m getting a special contract they could just just pay me for the timber, which would be super unlikely. At this point i’ll Look into renting a small or bobcat to get the big slabs out. I looked into just saying to hell with it and buy a slab. And and the width and length I have back there are not easy to find in fact I was told and 8’x30” slab sold for 750$. I’m hoping to get a 10’x36” lab out of it. And once I do one there are several more I could mill up.
So I answered my original question. Yes it’s worth it just maybe not for firewood.
Not worth it to me unless it's free, easy to get to, and the plan is to mix it in with other woods.
