I live in the mountains of weatern North Carolina and heat with wood. We have plenty of red oak, white oak and hickory hardwoods. We also have plenty of poplar trees. I recently cut 6 big poplar trees just to get them out of the way, I have never burn poplar other than in a campfire. I was looking at all that poplar wood I was going to waste and was wondering if I should maybe use some for heating? I know it burns fast and leaves no ashes, what do you think?
mtnman
I don't cut them down for firewood but if I need to get one out of the way I do burn it in my OWB. The Poplar doesn't last like oak or locust but in milder weather or even in cold weather if I'll be around to feed the stove I mix it with the better stuff, beats letting it rot.
Best bet is to split it and get it under cover as soon as you can.
I burn about 90% aspen in my OWB. Might not last as long as oak or maple but its overabundant around the farm so it's what I burn. Keeps the house warm all winter and has no trouble lasting through the night.
If the choice is letting it rot or using it for fuel I will burn it. Not so good for long over night burns but it burns well and doesn't leave a lot of unburnt coals. It has its place in my wood pile. Works well for starting fires and helps me extend the amount of my good Oak I have.
Great for fall and spring when heating load is pretty light, also pretty good for starting a fire when it accidentally goes out
OK, I am glad I ask about the poplar. I will cut it, split it, stack it, let it dry out and try it this fall.
We have plenty of it here, I have always just used it as a land filler or gave it to the campers.
Thanks,
mtnman
I used it in my other house for about half a winter. Better than letting it rot.
mtnman:
According to a Firewood Chart that I acquired over time it shows that for wood that is seasoned to a 20% moisture content and has 85 cu ft of wood per cord. Assumes 85 cu ft of solid wood and the balance of the cord is air. (NOTE: According to my Lawyer neighbor the proper way to stack firewood is to pack it loose enough for the chipmunk to be able to pass through and tight enough so that the cat chasing the chipmunk can't.)
Per the Firewood Chart:
Aspen, American (Poplar) 2210 #/cord and 13.7 MBTU/cord
White Oak 3910 #/cord and 24.2 MBTU/cord
Red Oak 3570 #/cord and 22.1 MBTU/cord
Hickory, Bitternut 3825 #/cord and 23.7 MBTU/cord
Hickory, Shagbark 4080 #/cord and 25.3 MBTU/cord
Just eyeballing these numbers I'd say the pound per pound BTU value is pretty close to the same for all woods. If using only Poplar just plan on making the wood pile larger and also plan on feeding the stove more often and you should be fine.
Gerald
I'm also in western NC mountains and poplar is common here. Poplar is easy to saw, and easy to split, with few knots. It also seems to dry faster than denser wood, like oak and hickory. It definitely has its place as a firewood.
David L.
So how does Poplar compare to the various Pine and Spruce that some of our members burn almost exclusively in the north west?
poplar buns hot but quick with much less creosote build up than pine/spruce of similar seasoning.
Folks
Exactly what "poplar" are we discussing here?
North "poplar" populous tremuloides or aspen.
South liriodendron tulipifera or yellow poplar.
Just curious
Al
The numbers I wrote were for populous tremuloides. Gerald
In western NC, where I live, and where mtnman, who started this thread lives, I believe poplar means tulip poplar or yellow poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera.
David L.
Quote from: OntarioAl on February 25, 2014, 07:36:06 PM
Folks
Exactly what "poplar" are we discussing here?
North "poplar" populous tremuloides or aspen.
South liriodendron tulipifera or yellow poplar.
Just curious
Al
I've got both in my woods and either will burn just don't expect long burn times. The Aspen goes bad if left in the weather even quicker than the tulip poplar.
I try to gauge what I will burn in a given time by weight, not volume.
I burn a fair amount of poplar, willow, and basswood.
On mild days, my OWB will go through around 50 lbs. of seasoned wood.
On bitterly cold and windy days I've loaded more than 150 lbs.
I haven't done the wood weighing thing at all this winter, but last year I ruined my wife's scales while playing my wood weighing game.
Turns out a digital scales is not very weather resistant, much less weather proof! :-\
Martyinmi you may have wanted to get your own scale so you new it was calibrated (I used wifes once broke it got in trouble then told her that all I heard was that it didn't read correct)
I have been told that pound for pound properly seasoned wood produces about the same BTUs no matter the species. From what I have read in charts that sounds about right, seasoned poplar is probably half the weight of one of the better hardwoods so you have to cut and handle twice as much for the same heat. If it is easily available and you have the time and the firebox capacity for the needed volume then it makes sense to burn it. A farmer I knew used poplar that fell on his fields and roads to boil his maple syrup as well as a spring and fall furnace and cook stove wood. For those jobs it is more desirable since it gives off a fast heat that doesn't continue with coals afterwards. In his case though he had to cut and handle it to get it off the fields so it wasn't a lot more work to make it burnable. If you like cutting and splitting wood then having to do twice as much is a good thing, for me not so much.
Before you cut it for fire wood check the marketability of it. In the past I have found that I could sell it and buy "good" firewood and have money in my pocket and better firewood. That said I burn what I can not sell.
Before you cut it for fire wood check the marketability of it.
I did think about that. Two of these trees could have been cut and sold but I had no way of loading them and I did not want to haul them 25 miles (10 miles dirt road) just to see what I would get. I am pretty sure I would have made out well. I have already split and stacked the poplar. I ended up with more than I thought. I had some poplar out here from September that I had cut and split and I tried it in the woodstove yesterday, I think it is going to work out fine as heating wood especially this time of the year when you can build a fire in the morning and just let it burn out and then build a fire at night and just let it burn out and thats all the heat we need.
mtnman
First post and it's about poplar as firewood. :embarassed: ::)
I've been burning mostly yellow poplar all winter. I had two good sized poplars blow down a couple of years ago. They were road accessible, so I thought I would see how they did as firewood. They did OK. Drys fast, easy to split, very easy to get going, but not terribly long lasting. About as expected.
I won't be cutting any standing poplar down for firewood when I have better stuff available, but I wouldn't hesitate to utilize accessible poplar blowdown again.
Hope this helps.
DeepCreek
The roof of my bandmill shelter is poplar.Aspen grows here.I use it for firewood.I heated the shop all winter with poplar in years past.On wet ground it will fall over so I take it out before that happens.Tulip poplar should make good lumber.
We have ample standing dead tulip poplar here due to the recent draughts. It needs to come out of the woods because standing dead tulip is a major hazard. I have been burning tulip exclusively the past month and it has performed very well. I do have to load every six hours instead of every eight with the denser hardwoods but I can live with that. The oaks, maples, hickories, cherries, etc. are much more valuable as lumber.
The oaks, maples, hickories, cherries, etc. are much more valuable as lumber.
About 7 years ago I sold some timber off my property just to get ride of some big pines and large oaks and the poplar trees brought more money, even more than the hardwoods?
mtnman
We like to use it for sauna wood. Makes a quick hot fire and saves on the maple for the fire place.
I read that the poplar wood would not leave much ashes. Well, I have used up the little poplar that I had from early fall and it left plenty of ashes after each burning? It burn good and it burn fast. Do you think it left more ashes because it was not dry enough in the 5 months it sit out here?
mtnman
Possibly, I season mine at least a year. The stuff I am burning right now has almost two years on it at this time. It still leaves some ash, but it will eventually burn down it I don't reload.