We continued burning well into spring this year. It wasn't a bitter cold winter, but it was unusually slow to warm up. Put another way, it was an unusually long shoulder season. Well, long story short, I have a lot of Tulip Poplar here and we do burn a goodly amount of it. Properly seasoned, it's great stove chow, despite the fact that it doesn't leave coals for long, and it generates a lot of light, fluffy ash. BTW if you take your shovel and just squash that stuff down, you will find that the volume and weight of ash is about the same as better hardwoods like Oak. I was burning 100 percent Tulip by season's end. Had to feed the stove a little more often, but still not at all bad for 'junk wood'.
Yep that stuff green can be very rubbery and it rejects your maul and laughs at you. Let it dry a while, it gets easier. I was more successful using wedges to get a big round split in half, sometimes quarters. Then it split better with the maul. No, it did not eat my wedges much- that happened far more often with Red Oak, I found. Most Tulip is fairly straight grained. BTW I also broke down and got one of those little electric splitters. Not as capable as the gas hydraulic splitters for sure, but it handles a lot of what I throw at it. Not at all sorry I got it. An electric splitter is a natural for Tulip. Eats it up all day.
Don't let anyone badmouth Tulip Poplar as firewood. Sure, Oak is better, but Tulip has 2/3 to 3/4 the BTU's of Oak and is very easy to get because so many folks think it is junk. Even mid-winter I like to stick the occasional Tulip split in with the Oak and Locust and Cherry. It starts quick and is somewhat like Pine in getting a lagging hardwood fire going again fast.
I've probably never tried to split Sweet Gum. I think the stuff we have around here is Black Gum. Anyway, that stuff is hard enough to split. I'd much rather mess with Tulip than Gum, but will use both. A splitter will help bunches with those two! Especially if Green.
Yep that stuff green can be very rubbery and it rejects your maul and laughs at you. Let it dry a while, it gets easier. I was more successful using wedges to get a big round split in half, sometimes quarters. Then it split better with the maul. No, it did not eat my wedges much- that happened far more often with Red Oak, I found. Most Tulip is fairly straight grained. BTW I also broke down and got one of those little electric splitters. Not as capable as the gas hydraulic splitters for sure, but it handles a lot of what I throw at it. Not at all sorry I got it. An electric splitter is a natural for Tulip. Eats it up all day.
Don't let anyone badmouth Tulip Poplar as firewood. Sure, Oak is better, but Tulip has 2/3 to 3/4 the BTU's of Oak and is very easy to get because so many folks think it is junk. Even mid-winter I like to stick the occasional Tulip split in with the Oak and Locust and Cherry. It starts quick and is somewhat like Pine in getting a lagging hardwood fire going again fast.
I've probably never tried to split Sweet Gum. I think the stuff we have around here is Black Gum. Anyway, that stuff is hard enough to split. I'd much rather mess with Tulip than Gum, but will use both. A splitter will help bunches with those two! Especially if Green.
