I've pretty much passed up yellow poplar in the past and there is a lot of it dead in my woods. I burned some last year in the shop for day wood but it burned too fast in the old school stove. I've been burning some of it in the house this fall and I like that it doesn't burn hot and doesn't overheat the room and house. I've been mixing in some white poplar (aspen,pople) which brings my second point. The inner bark in the aspen is the nastiest mess of bark I've ever dealt with but the wood splits easily, probably the easiest to split of any wood I've worked with.
It is a pleasure to split. Kinda funny feeling when ready to burn. Almost feels like a movie prop in the hands.
I hate poplar and am doing everything I can to rid my woods off it. One stove full at a time! Make Goos SS wood...
Not a poplar fan anymore. We have a ton of poplar here but I stopped processing it a couple years back, my customers don't want it and when I take it into the wood yard it ends up rotting before I get to it. The bark is nasty stringy wet stuff as well. I don't take anything in but hardwoods anymore and that just works out better. Just got in a couple loads of bitternut hickory and shag bark hickory, I'll keep them separated for cooking and smoking customers. Red & White Oak are my preferred logs from here on out.
Ixnay on the poplar. Learned that lesson early on my 1st or 2nd scrounge. Saw ad on CL and didn't know any better as we were just starting to burn wood and needed to get some. I remember my wife and I worked just as hard to cut into rounds, load into trailer, split and stack as with other species like fir, maple or ash but Poplar lasted a fraction in terms of burn time and BTUs. It also gets punky real quick in our moist PacNW winters. To this day my wife will not touch poplar.
Poplar when dry makes great sauna wood. burns fast and hot, great for those 3-4 hour fires in the sauna stove.
Do any of you have pictures of this split poplar to share? I’m needing muh edumacation fer the day! ~ Lissa
If I have to take some down....I either mix it in with the hardwoods...or relegate it to the campfire pile ! I'm spoiled with a lifetime of hardwoods....including an endless supply of dying Ash
I like poplar. It seems that I never have enough shoulder season wood. Even after shoulder season, I like softwoods like poplar to burn the coal bed down.
I’ll be burning a lot of it this year once I’m done with my shoulder season wood LOL Really do hate the natural sponge layer under the bark tho.
I like poplar too. I burned up what I had this fall, it was great for those days that start in the 30's/40's and wind up in the 60's. I'd still be burning it if I hadn't run out. Definitely will hoard more for next fall, it dried great over one summer.
