I remember why I hate Poplar

[LLigetfa]

It's all the bloody ashes! Fine like talc and so much of it. Wife's getting on my case after she cleaned the floor. Funny thing is, she wanted me to cut more Poplar off my land rather than buy Ash.

Not so fond of the smell either. Not as bad as some woods but I'm partial to the smell of Ash.

I switched to burning the Poplar I have laid up, since I burned all the Ash that was stacked in front of it. I'm saving the 3 cord of Ash that's at the other end of the shed for next year. Have a bunch more Ash out under the snow that I will stack next to the Ash in the shed.

If I don't burn the Poplar now, it will be stuck behind the Ash that I will be splitting this Spring once I finally lay it up in the shed. If I don't burn it now or don't move it, it will just waste space in the shed that otherwise could be Ash. Whatever Poplar, if any is left over, I will have to move to the other side so that it's first out this Fall. My woodshed is is a LIFO stack. Any of you that are programmers would recognize LIFO as Last In First Out.

I've said it many times before... If I were to build a shed now, it would be twice as long and half as deep with more/smaller compartments.

 

[Birch Boy]

Poplar is not my favorite as well. We use outdoor stoves here on the farm. Poplar doesn't hold a fire all night when it's cold, fills the stove with ash in short order and
if you get into the smoke when you open the door your going to have burning watery eyes............I hate when that happens!!
I don't know what type ash grows down along the river we live on but I once tried it in the stoves. Burned good and hot but I came to realize why they call it ash.
The stove was full of ashes in no time, seemed much worse then even the poplar.
I wonder what species ash we have here on the farm? I hear many of you on Hearth like it so much, ours must be some other breed.
The neighbor makes bows outta the stuff it's so tough and he calls it ash so it's gotta be ash.......Right?

 

[LLigetfa]

There are several varieties of Ash but what I burn mostly is Black Ash. It doesn't produce nearly as much ashes as Poplar. There are lots of different Poplars too, but the "Poplar" I burn the most of is actually Trembling (Quaking) Aspen with the small round leaves that rustle in the lightest of breezes.

Black Ash is what they make snowshoe frames from because it can easily be bent when steamed. It tends to grow in low lying wetlands and has the longest leaf but it is most easily identified by its buds.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

And in Shingleton, MI snowshoes have been made from white ash for many, many moons. However, I'm not so sure about making bows with it simply because ash splits too easy which would not be good for a bow.

LLigetfa, you have the quaking aspen up there. Down here we have popple. lol

And now you also know why we don't burn popple. Tons of ashes and little heat.