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Tulip Poplar

Started by Farmerjw, February 22, 2015, 06:34:54 AM

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Farmerjw

Picked up a bundle of scrap at the local sawmill (it is the thick slabs from ends, all the non usable wood til the log is square and making full boards).  They bundle it with plastic strapping and sell it for $25 a bundle loaded on your trailer.  Anyway, while paying and talking, I mentioned I am going to be building some new horse stalls and will need some lumber in a couple of months.  He said he had some tulip poplar that would be good as it seasons and dries horses don't seem to chew it. (knock on wood I don't have a cribber in the herd).  He shoots me a price of 60-70 cents a boardfoot off of the mill.  Sounded reasonable to me, is he correct on it being hard when dried and is this a fair price/good deal?  I will need over 400 board foot. 
Premier Bovine Scatologist

Mm.kasco

I have built several horse barns for my wife. I would not recommend poplar as it is quite soft even after it is dry. At our first farm we built a 21 stall barn with an indoor arena we used oak on all of the stalls but used some poplar in the arena if you get a criber  they will find it. If you ask the saw miller, you would probably get oak for the same price just make sure you build your stall  walls while it is still green or you have to drill it to nail it.

homesteader1972

While poplar may not be as hard as oak its plenty strong for stalls. I used 2x poplar for stalls in my last barn and it worked well, even for 1800 plus pound belgians. Make the stalls big enough so they can turn around without beating the walls up. Using oak wont stop a horse from cribbing (or just chewing- not all chewing is cribbing), but only slow the rate of damage as it is harder. Some folks cap the top board with bent metal to prevent damage. Not a bad idea in the long run. As far as price, shop around.
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YellowHammer

When building something for livestock I always ask myself if I trust my life with it, because sometimes its necessary to put it between myself and a couple thousands pounds of a hurt, scared, or just plain pi**ed off critter.  I recommend oak, preferably white oak, because when "Ol Bullet" or "#13" tries to take me out with his hoofs or horns, I want to know it aint gonna happen.  I know you said you had horses, not cows, but sometimes they don't play nice either. ;D
YH
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Take steps to save steps.

If it won't roll, its not a log; it's still a tree.  Sawmills cut logs, not trees.

Kiln drying wood: When the cookies are burned, they're burned, and you can't fix them.

Sawing is fun for the first couple million boards.

Be smarter than the sawdust

ladylake

 
I've sold quite a bit of red oak for stalls, horses don't like it due to the tanic acid. I've heard cottonwood works good also.  My neighbor put up some popular(don't know what kind) rails for a gate and said there was a whole row lined up for lunch.  Steve
Timberking B20  18000  hours +  Case75xt grapple + forks+8" snow bucket + dirt bucket   770 Oliver   Lots(too many) of chainsaws, Like the Echo saws and the Stihl and Husky     W5  Case loader   1  trailers  Wright sharpener     Suffolk  setter Volvo MCT125c skid loader

hunz

There are a couple 6 figure fences around here that are 3/4"x 8"poplar holding in horses, both are painted black. I have a close friend that built fences, yellow tulip poplar is very "popular" around here for utility use.
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Quote from: ladylake on February 22, 2015, 08:03:03 AM

My neighbor put up some popular(don't know what kind) rails for a gate and said there was a whole row lined up for lunch.  Steve
:D
The older I get I wish my body could Re-Gen.

Verticaltrx

I build barns and fencing for a living (as well as farming) so here is my take on it:

For the ultimate durability use White oak, Red oak is softer and is not rot resistant (for outdoor use). For the best durability let the oak dry before allowing the horses access to it. Green oak is still pretty soft and they'll chew right through it.

If you have a bad chewer it doesn't matter what kind of wood you use, they will chew right through it. I've had to replace several sections of 1x6 White oak fence boards when the horses had chewed completely through them to the point the fence fell down. If you have chewers this bad the only hope is to coat it with something, preferably creosote, but some of the other 'no-chew' stuff works. If you have good horses and keep them contented, chewing won't be an issue and you can use any type of wood you want.

Another thing  you can do if you don't have access to a lot of Oak is just use it on the areas that are subject to chewing. This would be the top edges of things, support posts, braces, and corners. A flat section of wall is not very susceptible to chewing, but corners and edges are.

For fencing, I generally use 4/4 6" wide white oak on 6-8' post centers, 4 to 5 boards high. In high pressure areas, like cattle handling facilities I'll go 4' centers and even 2' centers for things like chutes. You can also go up to 8/4 thick but that gets expensive. You could use poplar for fencing, but I'd make it at least 5/4 to 6/4 and not use it in high pressure areas.

Yellow poplar is a good wood to use around the farm, but not as durable as White oak. If not in ground contact it is fairly rot resistant and it is light weight. I use it a lot for siding and building wooden gates (due to the light weight). These gates are only for low pressure areas like out in the field or for small animals like sheep. For heavier duty gates I use oak, but they get heavy quick for larger gates.
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kevin19343

When I build horse barns I use "bite cap" over the tops of stall walls, rails, fences, troughs, or anything else horses can get at.
Its a U shaped piece of galvanized metal that comes in several sizes that fits over top of the wood. It works great.
For areas like posts we use metal outside corner bead. Not the drywall stuff, but the stuff sold alongside metal studs at the home center.
Its pretty heavy duty and doesn't rust easily.

Farmerjw

Thank you all for a mixed review of the tulip poplar 's ability or lack thereof.  :D    This isn't my first barn build, just didn't know anything about this species attributes.   Been a farrier since '77, farming with horses the past 20 years or so.  And yes we have cattle and hogs on our farm also.  We use high tensile fence with electric.  Just adding a lean to on the barn to add some box stalls for the grandkids ponies to run in so the kids have easy and safe  access to their ponies. Plus am looking forward to getting my shoeing stocks under roof with lights and fans for use in all types of weather.

What about the price?  60-70 cents a boardfoot sound reasonable?
Premier Bovine Scatologist

beenthere

Go for it.  Nothing like making a good business relationship with your local sawmill.
You will learn if this price continues to seem fair to you, and can adjust from there if needed.
Just might open up a lot more doors for you.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

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