I put a nice charge of Tulip poplar wood in the T5 tonight. This wood grows fast, splits easily and dries very fast (3-6 months). I know it's not black locust in terms of BTU/cord; but, it burns fast and hot! Great for shoulder season heating. I have to say that I was originally put off by the low BTU's, but, now that I have been burning it, I have to say that I will take all I can get, at least until I can get 3 yr.'s ahead with my oaks. Here's the T5 cranking out maximum BTU's with a load of tulip poplar. This will keep the house warm until morning.
Tempered glass. The stove only needs ember protection. Dealer was able to find one that gave us 16" from the front glass.
Your absolutely right about Tulip... Splits easy, dries fast and burns hot and quick. Good wood to have some in your stacks. Also good for starting fires.
Thanks. I went in saying "Anything is fine, as long as it's flat black, plain and simple" Then I saw this "antique white" stove and realized it matched our decor perfectly. The dealer sold it to us for the price of a flat black, so it was a win-win!
After this year, I'm going to split a bunch of it up into kindling. It is nearly explosive when dried out. LOVE it.
Burned a load of tulip last night as well. Does a great job as a SS wood. Really gets light in weight in no time, glad I like it as I have some monster tulip poplars in my woods.
Tulip poplar works fine mixed with other hardwoods over night. I give several truckloads away to a few people and they liked it since it was free and mostly split already.
I really like this post. Lots of people are wood snobs; I suppose I am too in way: I want wood that fits my needs. Different species have different characteristics. Different people have different needs. Different times of year require different kinds of burning. The key to happy wodburning isn't necessarily having 5 year dried oak (although it wouldn't be bad!) but rather having wood that fits your situation. Tulip poplar splits easily and dries fast. It is light and easy to ignite. Just the thing for a person who splits by hand and needs wood soon for short fires. On the other hand, I find it pops a fair bit so maybe not ideal for open fireplace. I've kept myself warm two burning seasons mostly with pine. It was available, easy to split, and quick to dry. Just what I needed at the time. The oak I've got won't be ready for years. It will burn as coals a lot longer than the pine. Not at all what I want for a short and cheerful fire. But better than pine for long steady output. I've got some elm that burns very nicely in my pizza oven. Not ideal for the hand splitting unless you want the exercise. Horses for courses.
+1 A good plan. Give you wood that can be ready to burn in less than a year. Produces heat. Allows you time to work on the higher BTU stuff as it comes along & not be pressured to burn in before it ready. Spruce , aspen & cottonwood in abundance here. Burned it when I had to, until I got 3 years ahead with birch. I work a little harder, being a birch snob, but only because I can
I always try and keep a little Poplar stashed back, good for a lot of the reasons mentioned above......
I suppose it depends on the person. I won't put the effort into poplar but that's because I have easy access to hemlock which has similar characteristics, dries quick and makes great kindling. However if someone offered me free poplar rounds and all I had to do was split them I wouldn't necessarily argue.
When I bought my first house and followed my childhood lead which meant heating with wood I was offered the logs from a home site. Excavator said 'I think it's oak'. It was delivered in several loads, 20' log length. All but one log was tulip. Took me 4 or 5 years to burn it all with very little else. I wouldn't go out of my way to get it again and have since figured out how to do better but it got me by just fine. I do remember shoveling a lot of ash and hot coals.
I have read that in the time of wood fired cook stoves that poplar was the preferred wood for baking bread.
Truly an indispensable wood species when working towards a future seasoned plan and I'd never turn it down even with cords of seasoned oak and hickory on hand. If you want gasoline type splits when dried grab a dead cedar next time one comes along, and it's aromatic in the kindling box. Oh yeah GF says your stove has "wings" - to me it is a thing of beauty
I think you found your new avatar Stove looks great with all those flames, I'd say the tulip poplar is working for ya.
