What to do with a Poplar

[Longknife]

We had a big wind storm blow through here last night, and as I eventually expected, it brought down a poplar in my bush that had a heavy lean on it. I wasn't too fearful of it, but I'm somewhat relived I didn't have to take it down with the saw given the tension that was on it previously, plus it seemed to come down (pulled the stump over and out of the ground) relatively softly without hurting anything of value (although it's not all the way down yet).

I'm pretty flush with firewood and have plenty more standing dead ash to deal with, so I'm not so hard up that I need to be putting poplar through the stove, so I'm wondering if it's worth trying to mill? I don't do much woodworking these days and I've got a decent stock of stuffed I've milled over the years already. Given that it's a pretty clean looking log though, would it be worth planking into 4/4 or something or attempting to get a beam out of it? I've got an Alaskan Mill that I can use here at home, or attempt to drag this thing out of the bush over to my father-in-law's bandsaw mill. I don't mind burning a bit of the stuff, but I've got plenty of other shoulder season wood to burn usually and I don't want to be trying to chew through a cord of it in the dead of winter when my stove is doing everything it can to keep up burning good hardwood. Leaving it to rot isn't an option.

 

[Sodbuster]

It is a nice long piece that would be suitable for milling. I'd mill it at home.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

I'd burn it. It drys fast and its a great shoulder season wood. I wouldn't be burning it in the dead of winter. But when you dont need as many btus like in spring and early fall its a great wood.. its not a wod that easily going to over heat the house..

 

[MissMac]

I can't be much of a wood snob living in the boreal forest, so I burn everything I can get my hands on (jack pine, poplar, spruce, and if i'm really lucky, white birch). I'd burn it, so long as it's not too much of a pain to get the rounds out of the bush. I've burnt quite a bit of poplar in my stove now, and I quite like it - it seasons quickly, and catches easily. And that tree looks like it will yield a nice haul!

 

[Longknife]

Don't get me wrong, I burn plenty of less than optimal wood. If it doesn't fit in the chipper, it gets burnt. Cedar, sumac, spruce, Manitoba maple, etc.. And poplar does season well, burns well, and splits like a charm. But I've got plenty of shoulder season wood as it is, plenty of hardwood for the winter, and I was hoping to hear from anyone who's found a good use for poplar outside of firewood.

I think I'm going to compromise and probably salvage a 10-12' section fo the log for milling and buck and split the rest.

 

[johneh]

I guess I'm a wood snob
Mill it for drawer boxes or cabinet backs in my furniture shop
But most likely cut it up and leave it will be gone in two years
Lots of better-quality wood in my bush for firewood

 

[Microduck17]

My dad cut several poplar trees years ago and had them milled into lumber then built a pole barn out of it.

Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

 

[EbS-P]

I’m milling as much as time allows. I even ordered a longer 56” bar to get through the butt log. It cuts fast and is light when dry. It burns good too
Evan

 

[EbS-P]

I was just at an orange big box store and walked past the bags of “hard wood” fire wood and the green and yellow caught my eye. It’s technically a hardwood and I’m guessing anyone paying almost 8$ for a cu. ft. wouldn’t know the difference. it just made me shake my head.

The top slab is 2.5” thick 32” wide at the far end and tapers to 28” at the close end can now easily be carried out by two people. I’m thinking tables, benches and countertops.

I have another larger poplar tree that the city will cut down as it sits on a drainage easement they are in the process of purchasing. I’m torn what to do with it it’s easily over 4’ in diameter. Big enough I will need to pay to have it felled and might but do that before the city get to it. I have serval others in 28-30” range, same boat. Then what? buying lumber is probably cheaper when I factor in my time. I thought about trying to sell the slabs. Going rate for kiln dried live edge 8’ long by 30” wide is about 700$ from the wood dealer I called. Who wants poplar when you can have oak or live oak. Since the hurricane last year. Craig’s list always has listing that come down to make me an offer and haul it off It’s yours.

Wet that big slab was about all about we could handle by hand. I think some really thick4x6” high top tables might look nice with metal square tube Legs.

in The end how much time do have to spend working on it would be the deciding factor about what it did with it. I still haven’t figured out what to do.

 

[Stob]

I burn poplar, as said before, it's not "high test" but it burns fine. Something has killed off a number of them on my place, and I'm cutting and splitting. I'm not too picky either when wood is available, I just don't burn pine.

 

[EbS-P]

Well after a couple days of burning some poplar I can say I would rather burn the pines we have here than poplar. That said it just doesn’t get cold enough here to necessitate me being picky. I bet I can burn 5-7;cu ft a day. Again it’s not that cold here. It makes great kindling probably better lumber.

 

[JRHAWK9]

Poplar is all I heated with this fall. Creates heat just like all the other wood does.

 

[KindredSpiritzz]

hell if you have a mill id make boards of everything I could, they will come in handle for something eventually. Course im a tightwad so anything to save money. Those are nice wide boards, good for a wood shed or an outhouse or you could always sell them too.

 

[Eightball1313]

if you have a mill, then mill it. but i truthfully think it gets a bad wrap for firewood, i burned a lot of aspen so far this year and think it heats just fine, it doesnt coal up like the good hard woods do but it burns plenty hot enough for me and i just split it into big peices and they seem to burn long enough until i need to restock the stove anyway.

 

[peakbagger]

I have a pile of large poplars on my woodlot that are mature or getting overmature. I looked around and found a USFS document on the uses of poplar. They advocated it for roof and floor sheathing in place of white pine as long as it was under cover. It also used for painted trim.

 

[billb3]

I had almost a cord of aspen from a large tree that was cut down alongside the driveway.
I think I'd rather burn pine given a choice, but we were given an aspen. Leaving it for the bugs and wood peckers wasn't an option.
If poplar was all we had we'd need a bigger stove.

 

[Eightball1313]

I had almost a cord of aspen from a large tree that was cut down alongside the driveway.
I think I'd rather burn pine given a choice, but we were given an aspen. Leaving it for the bugs and wood peckers wasn't an option.
If poplar was all we had we'd need a bigger stove.

i mostly like how light it is once it dries out hahaha can carry like 30 peices in at once. if its free and easy to get to then might as well just burn it up in my opinion

 

[Wood1Dennis]

I'm fortunate to have a lot of better alternatives. Sometimes I'll work some up if it is in the way of a nice hardwood tree but usually it usually gets left behind to the woodpeckers!

 

[EbS-P]

That's my plan. Free wood less than 300 feet from my stove. I did try splitting a half a 32" round that had been drying for 5 months.... my 8 pound maul kept bouncing off. I've never worked so hard for 8 pieces of wood. I'm going to try and remember to split it green.

i mostly like how light it is once it dries out hahaha can carry like 30 peices in at once. if its free and easy to get to then might as well just burn it up in my opinion

 

[Eightball1313]

That's my plan. Free wood less than 300 feet from my stove. I did try splitting a half a 32" round that had been drying for 5 months.... my 8 pound maul kept bouncing off. I've never worked so hard for 8 pieces of wood. I'm going to try and remember to split it green.

wow really? i havent had that issue with it YET, i was able to basically tap the maul on the rounds and they would split!

 

[FaithfulWoodsman]

I have a number of poplars around my place. Dropped a few of them several years ago and offered them to a friend who said he wanted them. He never got them so I reluctantly CSS in my stash. Upon burning them I discovered they are awesome for cold starts or from coals. A couple pieces on the bottom, which light like match sticks and the whole load is off. Flue heats up faster and so does the rest of the harder splits when I have poplar to start, properly dried for at least one year. Haven't had any for a couple years now, but another one is coming down soon and it's all mine.

 

[turn_n_burn]

What to do with a Poplar when you are already full up on shoulder wood? Good question. My first big wood score on here years ago was a hybrid poplar (the windbreak type), and I was so stoked that I found something. I cut and split it, which was really easy. I came back to the wood pile about 4 months later, even though it was elevated on a couple 2x4's, and found multicolored mildewy looking crap all over the bottom of the stack. The bark rots off EASILY and leaves this nasty stringy mess everywhere. Turns out, the wood on the bottom of the pile was still wet, and the dry wood on top of the pile weighed about as much as styrofoam. And I think styrofoam probably smells better than poplar whilst on fire. And burns longer. That's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point. I doubt it's any good for milling, unless you want to build some pallets.

Put an Ad up on Craigslist and let some other poor sap come get rid of it. Cheers!

 

[firefighterjake]

Poplar is the one wood species I have never really cared a whole lot to burn . . . although some typically ends up in my stacks if I need to take down a poplar since it's in the way or someone gives me some wood. I usually relegate it to shoulder season burning or when I am home.

It's not my favorite . . . but wood is wood . . . and it will all produce heat.

I think perhaps one reason for my aversion is growing up my father loved to burn popple for some reason . . . while most folks eschewed burning poplar my father happily cut, processed and burned the wood in his wood furnace. Granted, we also burned something like 12 cords of firewood each year.

 

[EbS-P]

I really have no reason be negative about burning it. The truth is the temp for the last 30 and next 20 hours is going to hover around 50. Lit a cold stove this morning and added 6 splits since then. For us “southerners” ( moved down from Orono ME 9 years ago) it works great. Anything with more heat would burn me out of the house or force me to wear pants and shoes instead of my flips-flops. I already get looks when I drop the kids off with no hats or mittens on a day like today. Not sure what would happen if they got used to a house that was 80s inside. They forget all their northern roots

 

[Woody Stover]

Poplar is the one wood species I have never really cared a whole lot to burn . . . my father loved to burn popple for some reason

Now, I think what is "Poplar" to you northern US/Canucks, or "Popple," is Aspen, right? The Yellow/Tulip "Poplar" we burn down here has a little more BTU I believe...but not much. Might be 16 mBTU/cord, vs. 14.5.