Drove by this three weeks ago and thought it to be ash. More Asplundh cutting. Turned around and checked it out. Not ash, but tulip (yellow) poplar. Ive cut plenty in board and pallet form but never any in tree form (maybe a log or two). Being easily accessible and a nice big knot free trunk i decided to cut a load of it. Dont knock it til you try it. Between work, weather, and making room/sorting wood at my friends i finally had time to go get some. I had hoped it was still there. I was able to back right in, buck, roll, quarter and load right next to the truck. Big plus in my book. Had to work my way through some thorns, but not too bad! About two hours work and five minutes from home. Nice cold sunny day with no wind so ideal cutting conditions IMO! Not too big to handle but had to quarter to load. I was able to roll with the cant. Some pretty wood! Wide growth rings. Fast growing! Bucked about 20' of the trunk. Didnt quite fill the trunk. Cut the stump and a couple smalls to fill it out. Couldnt believe i had to sledge and wedge to half the rounds. Ten plus whacks with the Isocore wouldnt do it. Still had plenty of daylight so decided to try my hand with the X27. Split about half the load. The verdict: ill take it again if its easy. Take it over Eastern white pine. Wouldnt want it in quantity though. Ill go tomorrow and take the rest. There is a sugar maple felled right next to it so that will fill out and/or make a third load.
Nice easy score! Nice looking trunk. Were you getting the deep yellow colored saw chips as you cut? That stuff cuts like butter. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good score, I try to keep at least a face cord on hand. I use poplar more when it’s really cold and I need to burn down coals.
Yup, yellow. Interesting to see as ive never cut the it before. Reminded me of locust...the chips that is.
I snagged a roadside score of poplar, late last winter. Just under a cord. It was CSS'd and I am looking forward to trying it out 20-21 . But boy, did it have a sour smell once split. That stink has dissipated, fortunately.
Could’ve whittled a nice set of bar stools out of that log Nothing wrong with having a stack or two of tulip in the Arsenal.
It's nice having quick seasoning, not crazy high BTU wood sometimes. If all you have is high BTU stuff, you'll get over heated.
Nice! When I bought our house in 2015 there were four large poplars that needed to come down right away. I was able to cut down two of them in the front yard and had to have the other two taken down professionally as they hung over the house. Got so much wood out of those trees. I still cross paths with it as what’s left is mixed randomly into the wood shed. CTRider helped me split a lot of it. Great shoulder season burner for sure. Did just fine for me mixed in with other hardwoods. I was often told that poplar is also known as “gopher wood.” It burns so quickly that when you put a piece on the fire, by the time you walk away you already have to gopher another piece.
There's a lot to be said for that. After dealing with a lot of yard bird ash, splitting box elder is so easy, the wedge just touches the round and a little force, and the split pops off. The ash I'm wading through most of it is full stroke of the hydros, if you're lucky.
I had to sledge and wedge the rounds to half them, then maul to quarters. The Isocore did half the first two, but after a dozen good whacks. I guess im really spoiled by the "easy" splitting stuff i usually hoard. Some of the stuff popped when i made splits, some not. Do you put aside real knotty stuff to noodle Horkn ? Will a high ton splitter shear right though knots/gnarl or will it just separate the grain?
I normally don’t go for poplar but when it’s that easy to get to you can’t pass it up! That will be great to burn next October.
The knotty stuff I just split on the old Didier. It's low tonnage ( probably~15 ton), and slow, but it shears right though all but the craziest knots. There's one 18"-2' ash knot that I left and now has splits resting on it. I'll let it dry out a bit and when I move those splits, I'll noodle the knot for bringing mega chunks to my buddy's Friday night fires in summer and early Fall. "Hold my beer, I'm getting something from the truck".
Like the basswoods that dropped across my trail at the wood lot. It had to be cut, so if I cut it, it's getting burnt. It sure seasons quickly.
Very true. To this day i still get fooled by it, usually to my disappointment. I look for a whitish "fungus" in the crevices of the bark...telltale sign of poplar. Pic of the a polar in my immediate woods. Notice fungus.
buZZsaw BRAD A question if I may. Why would you go for Poplar but not take advantage of the big Pine score you could have taken? My understanding is they are similar in BTUs. Are there some other characteristics that come into play or just time, circumstance and location? Just curious as to your thought process.
poplar may be more fun to split by maul than eastern white pine. based solely on some aspen I cut, split and waited two years for, I'd rather have the pine. Pros and cons for either one. Pick your poison I guess.
