A colleague of mine is having a 30+ inch dbh tulip removed from his yard. Is it worth spending my time scrounging this or should I continue to focus on the black birch, cherry, red maple and oaks I have on my property? I'm new to burning for heat, in fact this winter will be my first, so I am trying to go stockpile the faster drying woods first.
Good Fall and Spring wood, from what I hear. I use Poplar/Aspen, which I think is a little lesser wood. Had a fire with some last night, and it did fine. No coals to speak of.....it ain't no Oak. I've also heard it dries fairly quick too. The stuff I burned last night was from last fall, so not much drying time. I'd take it. Others wouldn't. It saves the gooder stuff for really cold temps, and gives the gooder stuff a little more drying time. Of course, once you're on a multi-year drying schedule, that all matters less. Or, try the UncleAugie kiln drying method for the other stuff.
It is great stuff for kindling and getting a cold stove warmed up quick. I burn some during the shoulders. I brought some from the barn yesterday because we are going to have cooler temps towards the end of the week and I might have an evening fire or two. Mingle in some oak for the overnight and the house will be comfortable for morning coffee. That being said I wouldn't take the whole tree, maybe a load or two of the good straight grained trunk. Cut and split some red maple right now and top cover it and it should be ready by this winter.
It seems to be a matter of opinion on if it is worth cutting up or not. However, 30" diameter tree gives lots of firewood and this could help your situation a lot as the wood is fairly quick in drying. Just burn it in fall/spring. Save the very best wood you have for January-February burning.
I have some I've been cutting and splitting but won't burn till next year. Cuts easy and loses weight fast as it dries. At least cut it and let the rounds dry for a couple months before splitting - when it's really wet it will be so spongy it just absorbs the splitting axe. Once dry it splits easy. Powered splitter might not care.
My tulip dried quickly, and burned quickly. You can get big splits from a tree that size, which should help with the burn time by reduced surface area when you don't need a lot of heat. The wood dries quickly, so I'd split is into as large splits as will fit through your stove door. That will give you a longer slower fire during the shoulder season when you don't need so much heat.
My property is mostly black birch and oak and....tulip poplar. If i didnt have TP i would only take it if they were dumping it at my place. It does cut and split easy. iMO the cherry is a good shoulder season wood yah got so i wouldnt go out of the way for TP.
How easy is it to get? If it is close and easily accessible, I think it would be worth your time and effort, especially if you are building a hoard.
Not high BTU stuff, but cuts & splits pretty easy & dries fast. 30" diameter stuff would make a nice stack of shoulder season wood If not too far of a drive, & easy to get close to, I'd go for it.
If you have any woodworker in ya, TP makes fine, stable boards and can have some beeautiful heartwood colors. Lots of the older barns in your area prolly have it for the siding. The kitchen cabinets in our first house were all tulip. It is used also as "core" lumber on veneered furniture because of it's good woodworking properties and stability. The log may have a decent commercial value also. Firewood… naaa.
The question is how easy will it be to get the Tulip? If you can get your hauling vehicle near the tree, take it. If you have to carry the wood a long way to the truck, maybe not. Tulip is a medium to low density wood similar to most conifers/softwoods, and it is easy to process. You have your own wood, so I would pass on wood that isn't easy to load in the truck.
While we don't have tulip poplar here, I've burned a lot of aspenc and other poplar. Big poplar will give you a nice amount of wood. Poplar dries fast, which is great for newbie hoarders. Even though I've got nice high btu wood in my woods, I'd take an easy to get big poplar for early and late season burning. If you have to lug 30" rounds more than a few feet, then I'd pass.
I'm thinking pass this time. I've got plenty to work on on my own property right now. Also, my colleague is a bit fussy so I don't want to deal with the noise an mess in his yard. I'll let the arborist deal with that. Thanks for all the advice.
No comparison between the aspen and tulip. Two entirely different species. Actually, the tulip, or yellow poplar makes great lumber.
Yes, I'm aware that they are completely different species, but neither are high btu, nor long lasting burning wise. I know quaking aspen and big tooth poplar dry quickly, and it sounds like tulip poplar is not any different in drying time.
