It’s been weeks since I’ve brought home any wood, much less cut any. After giving away close to 2 cords within the past month, seeing empty space has been gnawing at my psyche. With all the snow on the ground and none of it melting, hoarding in the woods has become difficult. Today the mania got the best of me and I braved the foot + deep snow, and trudged into the woods about 70 feet to start bucking what I believe is a Bigtooth Aspen. It might be a Quaking Aspen for all I know, but regardless I had to cut it today. I found it interesting how much the bark changes along the length of the tree. Towards the base it was slightly furrowed while the top remained smooth, similar to birch. I ended up cutting 5 sections, roughly 4 feet each and carried them out of the woods. It was good to get in a little saw time again, and get back into the swing of things. It’s amazing how making 6 quick cuts through a downed tree can change my entire attitude. I’ll probably go after the rest of the tree soon. Now to get this stuff CSS’d and top covered. The hope is to burn this next spring for shoulder wood.
Yea.... I'd say if the right enviroment... split and stack should be ready... seems like i've only been spending and not cashing here lately... Will have to work on that... the trigger finger may need to be retaught....
I’m thinking so too. Back in June I got about a bed load of this same exact stuff from not too far away and as of right now it’s light as a feather and dry as a bone. Probably start burning that up in another month or so.
Was it heavy? We took down some poplar trees recently and couldn't help notice how wet and heavy they were.
As Dennis said, we call it Poplar. Pretty heavy when green, but dries fast when SS. I cut about 40 last year on a lot clearing job. Good shoulder wood for sure, works well for burning down a coal bed too. I went out & cut a couple small loads of Oak limbs yesterday just to get outside for a bit. Cold & snowing so I only lasted a couple hours.
Holly is having cabin fever. Well I am to but thats another story. Holly just doesn't want to be out there by herself.
Surprisingly it felt pretty dense. Maybe because the logs were frozen though. I know the ones I got back in the summer felt lighter and they dried fast too.
Somehow missed this post. Great that you got your fix. I hear ya on the not being able to hoard. Drives me nuts too! Some melting this week. I hope it doesnt lead to mud season yet. It is interesting how a tree's bark changes at given stages of growth.
It’s not much at all but it’s a start. I got as many 16” lengths as I could from it and ended up with a few shorties which definitely have their place in my stacks. I’m guessing there’s probably another 50% of what’s here, still out in the woods left to cut. I’ll take it. This low BTU wood is already keeping me warm (My splitter is loaned out and I split this by hand) A little further down the trail from where this was are a couple Tulip Poplars on the ground too, which I’ll get in the spring. Maybe 3/4 cord there to compliment this Aspen.
Nice! I enjoy splitting in the cold! Nice looking work on the stairs and deck. Any more pics of that?
Thank you. What it started as, small deck only 10 X 12... Still a work in progress but I’ll get back at it in the spring. I’m going to enclose the space underneath and have it as a workshop
I have 23 acres of 90% Aspen and have been burning the stuff for 2 years and I dont mind it at all, keeps me warm, easy to cut and split, not messy and dries within 6 months. Many will pass on Aspen and call it trash wood but I say it has it's place and burns better than snowballs.
I’ve only burned it sparingly this season, always mixing it in with better hardwoods a little at a time. Have you ever loaded your stove up with it? I’m assuming that other than reloading time, there’s no reason why you couldn’t burn it exclusively.
Sure full loads will last a good 7-9 hours. I mostly mix it with better hardwoods that I have on hand but I'm down to my final cord of the good stuff and plan on burning Aspen and pine exclusively next year unless something better happens to fall in my lap.
Thanks, my father and I worked on it together for a good chunk of the summer. He was a contractor for a lot of years and the weird artistic type so I kind of gave him creative license... Being that the facia board on that side would have to be made of two separate pieces of 2 x 12 because of the span, he suggested breaking it up in the center and adding some kind of artistic element... At the time I was up to my eyeballs with my swimming pool project so he got busy on it. I don't know if his mind was on church that day but I think it looks like a pulpit or a podium of sorts The whole project went that way really. Although I'm grateful for the help it was a struggle to the end between me trying to get it done in a simple practical way and him being a retired man with all the time in the world trying to build the Roman Colosseum on the back of my house. I did learn a lot doing it though.
Eric Schamell You are so lucky to have the skills with wood to do such a project and to have a dad that is skilled with time to help you is a real blessing. My dad was not blessed with those kind of woodworking skills and I inherited his lack of talent. He did good and so did you by letting him have a bit of artistic license.
Thank you. There's a lot of history between my father and I, and building a relationship with him again after him being absent for a lot of years has been difficult. Building things with wood has been his thing, where I have more of a mechanical mind being a machinist. Between the two of us it worked out in the end. He brought the vision and years of building experience, and I brought the practicality and sense of structure into the project.
I like poplar, popple, Aspen, whatever you want to call it. It dries quickly. It also will burn down coals well. Nice work on the deck. It's good you and your Dad got to work on it together. You never know how much time you'll have together. Make the most of it.
