Tried this new splitting technique...the Poplar Killer!

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Rangerbait

Rangerbait

Feeling the Heat
Dec 17, 2016
456
Shepherdstown, WV
I saw this variation of the tire technique on the web somewhere and figured I'd give it a go since I scored a bunch of Poplar rounds today. A buddy said he had an elm taken down recently and needed the wood gone since he's selling his place. I got there, and discovered it was Poplar...no biggie, it was free, bucked, and close to home. Win!

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This technique is unbelievably fast since there's no repositioning of the wood whatsoever...a couple of guys with good splitting axes could literally split a cord of wood in less than 10 minutes. I am a believer!

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Because it's been somewhat warm lately I've been burning Tulip poplar exclusively....let me tell you I have new respect for this wood.....although it doesn't "coal up" like the red oak and hickory I was burning when it was colder, (so reloading is more frequent with tulip poplar) but according to my thermometer it burns hotter and puts off more heat when the secondaries kick in then the 2 hardwoods i mentioned....I had my family room up to 95 degrees with the blower on low...in my tiny 1.6 cubic foot insert....enjoy the score!

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TedyOH said:
Because it's been somewhat warm lately I've been burning Tulip poplar exclusively....let me tell you I have new respect for this wood.....although it doesn't "coal up" like the red oak and hickory I was burning when it was colder, (so reloading is more frequent with tulip poplar) but according to my thermometer it burns hotter and puts off more heat when the secondaries kick in then the 2 hardwoods i mentioned....I had my family room up to 95 degrees with the blower on low...in my tiny 1.6 cubic foot insert....enjoy the score!

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I love using poplar for kindling, it's one of the best in my experience; thin splits of poplar up top produce a very robust top-down fire with strong secondaries early on.
 
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Not sure why but I've always had unpleasant experiences splitting tulip poplar. I found that it's tougher than oak and of course doesn't give off nearly as much heat. I was all set to hang up my saw & ax for the season last week but still had "the itch" so I went after a downed poplar that I had ignored previously. That stuff was a bear to split. I finally had to sledge & wedge to make any progress. The whole time I was splitting I kept thinking "this isn't worth it." But I persisted and finally got it split & stacked...I just hope that by the time I burn it I forget what a pain it had been! It's pretty wood and hopefully will dry quickly but I really wouldn't go out of my way for another poplar.
 
Rangerbait said:
I saw this variation of the tire technique on the web somewhere and figured I'd give it a go since I scored a bunch of Poplar rounds today. A buddy said he had an elm taken down recently and needed the wood gone since he's selling his place. I got there, and discovered it was Poplar...no biggie, it was free, bucked, and close to home. Win!

View attachment 195408 View attachment 195409

This technique is unbelievably fast since there's no repositioning of the wood whatsoever...a couple of guys with good splitting axes could literally split a cord of wood in less than 10 minutes. I am a believer!

View attachment 195410 View attachment 195411 View attachment 195412
Click to expand...
Nice pictures,poplar is great early season wood ,plenty of heat in my stove leaves almost nothing in stove after burning. Good looking future wood splitter there.
 
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TedyOH said:
Because it's been somewhat warm lately I've been burning Tulip poplar exclusively....let me tell you I have new respect for this wood.....although it doesn't "coal up" like the red oak and hickory I was burning when it was colder, (so reloading is more frequent with tulip poplar) but according to my thermometer it burns hotter and puts off more heat when the secondaries kick in then the 2 hardwoods i mentioned....I had my family room up to 95 degrees with the blower on low...in my tiny 1.6 cubic foot insert....enjoy the score!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Yup. I love Tulip Poplar as well. We burn tons of it. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it but hopefully folks keep thinking negatively of it so I can keep buying it for really cheap.
 
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Hasufel said:
Not sure why but I've always had unpleasant experiences splitting tulip poplar. I found that it's tougher than oak and of course doesn't give off nearly as much heat. I was all set to hang up my saw & ax for the season last week but still had "the itch" so I went after a downed poplar that I had ignored previously. That stuff was a bear to split. I finally had to sledge & wedge to make any progress. The whole time I was splitting I kept thinking "this isn't worth it." But I persisted and finally got it split & stacked...I just hope that by the time I burn it I forget what a pain it had been! It's pretty wood and hopefully will dry quickly but I really wouldn't go out of my way for another poplar.
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I hear you Hasufel. I've split more TP than all other wood combined in over 25 years of splitting, by a factor of four to one, at least. Some are real easy, some were incredibly tough and stringy. Wish I'd paid attention to stuff like when it was cut, how dry it was, etc. to see if there was some correlation.

The toughest tree I ever split was a 36" diameter TP that was cut in the summer. It held on to the last inch, almost every split.

After I got the rounds quartered so that I could move them, I broke down and bought a splitter (electric), lest I go crazy.

I also destroyed a brand new Stihl chain on that one. I found a pipe buried in the very last round. After it defeated the splitter, my efforts with the maul, and the wedge and sledge, I tried to noodle it.
 
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ED 3000 said:
I hear you Hasufel. I've split more TP than all other wood combined in over 25 years of splitting, by a factor of four to one, at least. Some are real easy, some were incredibly tough and stringy. Wish I'd paid attention to stuff like when it was cut, how dry it was, etc. to see if there was some correlation.

The toughest tree I ever split was a 36" diameter TP that was cut in the summer. It held on to the last inch, almost every split.

After I got the rounds quartered so that I could move them, I broke down and bought a splitter (electric), lest I go crazy.

I also destroyed a brand new Stihl chain on that one. I found a pipe buried in the very last round. After it defeated the splitter, my efforts with the maul, and the wedge and sledge, I tried to noodle it.
Click to expand...

I've had a few Poplars like that too...one I probably whacked 50 times with my maul before it finally gave up the ghost. In hindsight, I should have given up and resorted to the wedge-n-sledge, but I beat it. I was ruined for any more splitting after I won, but I won [emoji2]

I just destroyed two Stihl yellow chains on a Shagbark that had several nails driven into it many years ago...hit the first one, and then threw on a brand new one I had in the truck since I still had most of the tree left to buck, only to find another about 3 cuts later. That one hurt.
 
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Rangerbait said:
I've had a few Poplars like that too...one I probably whacked 50 times with my maul before it finally gave up the ghost. In hindsight, I should have given up and resorted to the wedge-n-sledge, but I beat it. I was ruined for any more splitting after I won, but I won [emoji2]


I just destroyed two Stihl yellow chains on a Shagbark that had several nails driven into it many years ago...hit the first one, and then threw on a brand new one I had in the truck since I still had most of the tree left to buck, only to find another about 3 cuts later. That one hurt.
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That is painful! I hope you can salvage something out of the wreckage. I'm considering using my metal detector on trees going forward to try to prevent this sort of thing in the future. I think I got the idea from an episode of Dirty Jobs where they were visiting a guy using a portable sawmill.

Also, well done on defeating the round with 50 whacks of the maul. You sure showed that turd who was boss!
 
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ED 3000 said:
That is painful! I hope you can salvage something out of the wreckage. I'm considering using my metal detector on trees going forward to try to prevent this sort of thing in the future. I think I got the idea from an episode of Dirty Jobs where they were visiting a guy using a portable sawmill.

Also, well done on defeating the round with 50 whacks of the maul. You sure showed that turd who was boss!
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Nice Austin Powers reference!

Yeah, I was able to grind each tooth back to virgin metal and resharpen...but it never feels as good as a brand new chain.
 
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Rangerbait said:
Nice Austin Powers reference!

Yeah, I was able to grind each tooth back to virgin metal and resharpen...but it never feels as good as a brand new chain.
Click to expand...

I hope that one day I can get to the point that I feel like my sharpening job on chains actually is an improvement to the factory edge. I am envious of the folks who are already there, they are artists. Currently, I feel like I am getting worse with every effort.
 
I got a bunch of big poplar rounds to do. I'm gonna try a Rachel strap
 
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