Cottonwoods have more triangular or heart shaped leaves than poplars, and the edges are slightly serrated. Poplar leaves have a more oval to oval-lance-like leaves. ... Cottonwoods are also taller, ranging between 80 and 200 feet, whereas the balsam poplar is only 80 feet and the black poplar a mere 40 to 50. They are apart of the same family though so similar wood properties. They are also in the same family as Aspen.
2 hours worth of bucking, and then I whipped out the Champion 34-ton hydro since I had about a dozen pieces of knotty black oak, ash, and elm to split as well. Filled two existing ash stacks with the poplar and then continued on this 3rd stack that had some red oak from earlier in the year that is not ready to burn yet. Obviously all the yellow wood is the poplar - not a bad haul and a beautiful day to be outside. Ended up taking 2 truckloads of 6 pieces each. Each round was 16" long so that makes for 16" x 12 = 16' feet of the trunk. 22" in diameter means Pi * 11" * 11" = 380 sq inches of area for the top of the round = 2.64 sq ft * 16" height = 3.5 cubic feet per round * 12 rounds = 42 cu ft / 128 cu ft per cord = .33 cord roughly. Maybe a little more since it takes up more space when split and stacked...... The super said he's getting a skid steer dropped off and he can pull the rest of the trunk onto the grass for me. Woo hoo. That will make life a little easier for sure. My damm Makita chainsaw keeps shutting off on me. It's getting kind of annoying. Sometimes it doesn't do that at all.....and sometimes it does it every 10 seconds.....which makes for a very annoying work pace.......since I have to sit there, take out the batteries, count to 10, then hope it turns on.....if not rinse and repeat........and then cut for only 10 seconds. It didn't help that I forgot my wedges the 2nd time around and also forgot my spare chains.....so lesson learned. Pic to the right shows how much was already in the stack when I started stacking the poplar....
