Poplar - shortest burn time ever!

[rudysmallfry]

Boy it's a good think my big Poplar tree was knocked down the year before the warmest winter on record. A full load of that wood burns to coals in 30 minutes tops. The one good thing is that it does burn very hot initially, so I'm fairly sure I'm keeping my chimney nice and clean. Also the soapstone holding the heat makes up for the incredibly short burn times. I'll be happy next season when my silver maple that I scored last fall is ready to go.

If I see Poplar lying on the road this spring, I'll keep driving.

 

[cogger]

Boy it's a good think my big Poplar tree was knocked down the year before the warmest winter on record. A full load of that wood burns to coals in 30 minutes tops. The one good thing is that it does burn very hot initially, so I'm fairly sure I'm keeping my chimney nice and clean. Also the soapstone holding the heat makes up for the incredibly short burn times. I'll be happy next season when my silver maple that I scored last fall is ready to go.

If I see Poplar lying on the road this spring, I'll keep driving.

When Hurricane Gloria hit your area in 1985 there was plenty of freewood around from what I can recall. Need another cane to blow by

 

[ecfinn]

I'll be happy next season when my silver maple that I scored last fall is ready to go.

I'm not sure your silver maple will be much better. Silver maple (of which I've got many) dries out to be a pretty low btu wood as well. Sugar maple, I believe, is the more desirable maple. The rest of the maples are lower btu value hardwoods.

Eric

 

[burntime]

Funny this link hits when it did. I have some sugar maple I believe. In Wisconsin it has been in single digits last 2 nights...both nights I loaded the stove at 9pm and lowered the air at 9:30 or so. First night all oak and the house was still 68 degrees in the morning and the blower kicked off at 6am. Last night with maple the stove temp jumped an extra 50 degrees and at 3am I heard the furnace kick in meaning the house was 66 degrees. Maple is fine for warmer climates or when your home to feed the beast but oak is my favorite

 

[begreen]

Soft maple is even worse. I have to fill the stove every 2-3 hours to maintain good stove top temps above 400 degrees. Gets pretty tedious. I would love some oak, but will have to settle on fruit wood, locust and madrona if I can get my hands on some.

 

[Andre B.]

You want some short burn times, try some butternut.

 

[jabush]

I have a pretty good supply of Yellow poplar that I'm burning here and there. I processed it so that the average split is 2-3 times the size of my regular splits (oak, maple, cherry, etc...). With the massive splits, I actually get pretty good burn times out of the Poplar. It burns hot too.
If my stove didn't take huge splits, I probably wouldn't bother with the poplar.

 

[wg_bent]

Try dry sumac. It's like tissue

 

[drbond]

Lots of yellow poplar here too, and I make the splits larger that all the other hard wood too. Once seasoned it burns good, but as stated above, not the longest burns. Use it for mostly burning during the day when I am around and can keep throwing it in the stove, not a good night bed burn log for sure!

Bondo©

 

[Rob From Wisconsin]

Soft maple is even worse. I have to fill the stove every 2-3 hours to maintain good stove top temps above 400 degrees. Gets pretty tedious. I would love some oak, but will have to settle on fruit wood, locust and madrona if I can get my hands on some.

Agreed, soft maple does have a shorter burn time, but at least
it burns cleaner, and coals a lot better/longer than poplar.
For the past five years, its been the majority of wood I've been burning.
No regets...

Rob

 

[begreen]

We'll considering it's free wood, I can live with it. What are your typical burn times and stove temps Rod?

I'm also getting a stash of hardwood put away for those long cold nights.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I left the maple splits on the very fat side since I knew they'd have at least a year to season. I wasn't going to say no to 3 free cords of wood, so silver maple's what's on the menu for next year. I'm not even positive it's silver. That's just what the tree guy said it was.