What say U?

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Random thoughts . . .

College boy is technically correct . . . but so are you.

As mentioned there are "soft" hardwoods like poplar and basswood and there are "hard" softwoods such as hemlock . . . but when it comes to firewood most of the times folks in my area would be pretty ticked off if they had a load of firewood that contained a lot of popple, basswood, etc. Typically I tend to see loads with maple (sugar mostly, sometimes red, rarely silver), yellow birch, sometimes some white birch, oak, and yellow birch.

That said . . . it's a buyer beware world . . . I know of at least one couple who were selling firewood and a good portion of their wood (a full cord at least) was poplar . . . of course they were originally from away so maybe they don't know any better.

In any case, I'm species- and density-blind when it comes to burning wood . . . if it's seasoned . . . I'll burn it . . . I mean to say I may not burn a lot of pine or popple in the dead of winter or when I'm loading up for a long, overnight fire, but I have been known to burn these types of wood when I'm kicking around the house or in the shoulder season. If it's seasoned . . . it burns . . . and if it burns it will produce heat.

Final thought . . . I would wager that all wood is hard . . . at least any time I've got smacked in the head with a branch it didn't often matter if it was softwood or hardwood -- at the time it felt pretty damn hard to me.
 
Dune said:
LLigetfa said:
Pfft.. I'm no fan of Popple or Cottonwood but it seems there are a lot of folk here that will burn that chit.

Why don't you like poplar?

Burns like a sheet of paper: hot and just as briefly. "October wood", I call it. Put too much dried poplar in at once and watch the overfire. It's annoying wood - from trees that snap off randomly and destroy what lies beneath to lots of uglies in the various twisted crotches to easy overfires. Not a huge fan, but will use a bit soas to save the better wood for when it's needed.
 
babzog said:
Dune said:
LLigetfa said:
Pfft.. I'm no fan of Popple or Cottonwood but it seems there are a lot of folk here that will burn that chit.

Why don't you like poplar?

Burns like a sheet of paper: hot and just as briefly. "October wood", I call it. Put too much dried poplar in at once and watch the overfire. It's annoying wood - from trees that snap off randomly and destroy what lies beneath to lots of uglies in the various twisted crotches to easy overfires. Not a huge fan, but will use a bit soas to save the better wood for when it's needed.
Yea but the overfire dont last long. ;-)
 
If I told you what we called cottonwood around here my post would get flagged.

Here's a couple questions to help with identification...
1. What does it smell like?
2. What does it burn like?

Well if it smells like it and it looks like it then there's only one answer...

But there are a lot of goofy folks who live around here that fall in love with it as a tree. It's strange. I'd sooner have a 100 year old oak in my back yard.
 
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