Poplar worth it for free?

[SPED]

Got a chance to pick up some downed poplar, only about 10-15 miles away. Still waiting on an answer as to how much. So I hear all different kinds of things on poplar, some that it's not worth it all, others that it's on par with pine. So what's the deal? I don't expect it to burn like oak, but if it's like pine, that's good enough for me for free.

 

[SPED]

Cool, I had thought I heard some people on here using it and did some searching as well. How long to season? Is one year enough, split stacked and all? Wonder if improper seasoning gives it a bad rep?

 

[Corey]

I guess it all depends...if it is drive 15 miles for poplar or 15 for oak, get the oak. If it is drive 15 for poplar, pay 200 for oak, go with poplar. There are several different species - the one I'm familiar with seems to be very wet wood, smells like dog pee, hard to split, and has btu somewhere in the pine/cottonwood zone. Not terribly desirable when I can get free hedge, but if that's what you have, go for it.

 

[kjklosek]

Hard to beat free wood.

I just picked up about a cord last week of poplar. I plan on going again this week and getting another cord as well.

I like to burn it on the not so cold days when I would normally burn just a few pieces of oak or apple.

I don't know what your weather is like, but here in central VA it is rather moderate for the winter with the coldest parts being in January and February mostly. So I like having the poplar to burn for the inbetwen days/months.

Still can't beat free.

J.P.

 

[Robbie]

Great hot burning wood, easy to split.

Get it !


Robbie

 

[SPED]

Well so far it's pay 160/cord for oak or poplar/pine for free(minus gas). So I have 3 cords of split stacked red oak for next year, the free stuff would just be to mix in with the hardwood and for the fall/spring. Just heard back from one guy, says 3-4 truckloads of pine/poplar, but bring a toboggan cuz it's down a big hill...gonna have to take a look before I make a decision on that one.....

 

[Robbie]

I forgot to add this little bit of info.,

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/12738/


Robbie

 

[SPED]

Easy to split I like too since I'll be doing it all by hand. Sounds like a fairly light wood, so I'm hoping I can get at least 3/4 of a cord to a cord per trip(one ton dually), works out to about 12 bucks round trip in gas for the truck, so even if i only get half a cord in there.....24 bucks a cord works for me.

 

[Robbie]

Key: make sure and store it in a very dry place when it's first split or it will almost turn black on the ends from water coming out............it will dry well and easily if your pile is open on the sides.

Keep it separate from all other woods since this will be your quick heat wood. Keep a stack ready to go to for quick fires etc.

If your rounds are large, make sure and split a lot small........a large poplar log won't burn well even if dried unless it has a good coal bed under it.........but it will burn great with some smaller splits helping it along.........not sure why it does this way.


Robbie

 

[North of 60]

Heated my house with it for the past two weeks. Pine and poplar is all I got. Well and a wee tiny little bit of white birch.

 

[eba1225]

If it is for free go for it. Seasoning for a year should be sufficient. It makes up about 30-50% of my inventory.

 

[savageactor7]

I harvest all my wood from the backyard and go out of my way to cut down Poplars...mostly cause they can overtake a managed wood lot. Poplars are soft wood that are excellent burns in the early spring and fall when you have cold mornings and warm afternoons when your glad the fire is out...same goes with seasoned willow too.

They wont coal down like hardwood but turn into white powder so you'll have to tend an overnight fire if you want to get up to a warm morning. Yeah for free it's a good score to grab them for free. burn them when you're up and about the house and save harder wood for overnight burns.

 

[raybonz]

Got a chance to pick up some downed poplar, only about 10-15 miles away. Still waiting on an answer as to how much. So I hear all different kinds of things on poplar, some that it's not worth it all, others that it's on par with pine. So what's the deal? I don't expect it to burn like oak, but if it's like pine, that's good enough for me for free.

Poplar btu characteristics are located at this link:

http://thelograck.com/firewood_rating_chart.html

Ray

 

[dtabor]

If its free, what the heck, take it! It will burn! We dont have the luxury of specifying what wood we want when we buy it around here. We get a truckload of logs it has maple, ash, birch, beech, you name it. No pine etc though. Not much oak around my area so thats usually not in the mix.

 

[ansehnlich1]

Well, to answer the question posed in this thread...

YES INDEED! I'll take any freakin' free firewood anybody don't want

Only wood I don't want is punky stuff, otherwise, I'll split it, stack it, and burn it.

Now, I ain't drivin' 50 miles for pine, but if it close by, and free, I'm all over it!

 

[SPED]

Now that's what i'm thinking too, free and close by I'll burn it, plus i kinda enjoy the cutting/loading/splitting, maybe I should get help for that. Here's the one I'm looking at, and I already told him I'll take it once it's on the ground, but I'm sure not gonna drop it myself.

 

[SPED]

Another pic.

 

[SPED]

Another one.

 

[SPED]

Pic of where it's hung up.