# Big hitch of Poplar..



## Oldtimer (Sep 11, 2013)

Took this dandy out a few weeks back. Front tires kept coming off the ground on me till I got to where it sits in the pic..it's a slight incline. I think I counted 14 trees in that hitch.









And one of me, glamour shot in the mirror..


----------



## treeslayer2003 (Sep 11, 2013)

hey, you ain't old. well, less I am to lol. good pics, but them don't look like our poplar. we have yellow tulip poplar, I assume you have a different variety. glad to see ya stayin busy.


----------



## jrcat (Sep 11, 2013)

Mike that is Quacking Ash or Aspen


----------



## Oldtimer (Sep 12, 2013)

I never heard a tree quack. Well, I did once, but that was chemically induced.:msp_w00t:

Always known it as poplar. Or, as dad called it, "popple".


----------



## jrcat (Sep 12, 2013)

Ok I had the spelling wrong...not the first time lol . Populus tremuloides - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## zogger (Sep 12, 2013)

Oldtimer said:


> I never heard a tree quack. Well, I did once, but that was chemically induced.:msp_w00t:
> 
> Always known it as poplar. Or, as dad called it, "popple".



What does the mill buy it as?

Our poplar here is the above mentioned tulip poplar, very very similar bark to ash. very uniform straight grained wood usually, and they are often very nice, very tall and straight, not very branchy trees until way up. I cut some for my morning and fall and spring firewood. Real fun to hand split, just like ash once it is just a teensy bit dried in the round.


----------



## mdavlee (Sep 12, 2013)

The buy poplar for peeler logs in my area.


----------



## treeslayer2003 (Sep 12, 2013)

tulip poplar goes for veneer and export as well as sawmill logs. what OT has is different I think.


----------



## 1270d (Sep 12, 2013)

Looks like he s cutting quaking aspen. Everyone here calls it popple too. We have quaking aspen and big tooth aspen. There's a lot of different things people call them. Velvet bark, green bark etc. Our aspen market is new page pulp, OSB, specialized crates and veneer. Maybe old timers markets are similar


----------



## northmanlogging (Sep 12, 2013)

Oldtimer said:


> Took this dandy out a few weeks back. Front tires kept coming off the ground on me till I got to where it sits in the pic..it's a slight incline. I think I counted 14 trees in that hitch.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Ya know I had this image of some nearly washed up geezer that maybe should have retired 2-3 years ago but was to stubborn and thought he was to tough to throw in the towel... and then theres this pic of ya and it looks like yer still in your 30's... 

thats a real impressive turn by the way.


----------



## tramp bushler (Sep 13, 2013)

Ya OT ; that's a big turn of popple. We used to sell it in 4' lengths by the cord delivered to the pulp mill in Oldtown Maine. My dad got 19$a cord delivered. Loggin and loadin the truck by hand with pulp hooks. 
Trailer behind farm tractor or on a converted ton and a quarter old Chevy truck 
Called a jitter bug. . 
Our "Log" truck was a 2 ton, 60 series Chevy with a 235 , 6 and a 4 speed with a vacuum splitter rear end. We could haul 5 cord per load. In the winter. 4 cord in the summer when the sap was up.


Lotta hard work. Not much money. Gas was 32¢ a gallon.


----------



## treeslayer2003 (Sep 13, 2013)

tramp bushler said:


> Ya OT ; that's a big turn of popple. We used to sell it in 4' lengths by the cord delivered to the pulp mill in Oldtown Maine. My dad got 19$a cord delivered. Loggin and loadin the truck by hand with pulp hooks.
> Trailer behind farm tractor or on a converted ton and a quarter old Chevy truck
> Called a jitter bug. .
> Our "Log" truck was a 2 ton, 60 series Chevy with a 235 , 6 and a 4 speed with a vacuum splitter rear end. We could haul 5 cord per load. In the winter. 4 cord in the summer when the sap was up.
> ...



dad talks about doin that same thing when he was in his teens. totin pine pulp out on ya shoulder, had to be awful work. why do we ever complain? we got it good with nice saws and log skidders and loaders.


----------



## Oldtimer (Sep 14, 2013)

It goes for pulp up in Maine. Not sure of the mill, but they buy pure loads of poplar for more money than mixed loads.
I am 46 come April.
My dad used to truck wood back in 57-8-9, and he loaded 4' poplar by hand.
He'd always go home with a load at the end of the day, and hit the road @ 4AM to go to Berlin.
Then, come back, load up, go to Berlin again.
Then come back, load up, and go home. 

This load went out @ 103,000 pounds gross. He was down on the rear stakes by 18".


----------



## HuskStihl (Sep 14, 2013)

northmanlogging said:


> Ya know I had this image of some nearly washed up geezer that maybe should have retired 2-3 years ago but was to stubborn and thought he was to tough to throw in the towel... and then theres this pic of ya and it looks like yer still in your 30's...
> 
> thats a real impressive turn by the way.




I'm still pretty scared of him. Great looking work, and great stories from Tramp, TS and OT. Thanks guys


----------



## 056 kid (Sep 14, 2013)

Cottonwood bro...


----------



## treeslayer2003 (Sep 14, 2013)

056 kid said:


> Cottonwood bro...



i'm confused, cotton wood the same thing as aspen?


----------



## 1270d (Sep 14, 2013)

treeslayer2003 said:


> i'm confused, cotton wood the same thing as aspen?



No


----------



## hammerlogging (Sep 14, 2013)

1270d said:


> No



Yup, and its not poplar, may well be like you said though, I have family up your way and have heard of popple.


----------



## bitzer (Sep 15, 2013)

We have quaking aspen, big tooth apsen, and white aspen (3 main types of merch aspen). Big tooth can make some decent sawlogs. Its all called popple. Cottonwood is in the same family, but a different tree altogether. Usually a ditch or lowland tree not typically found in the woods. Yellow (tulip) poplar is in a family of itself of ancient lineage. 

Yep I've read about lots of hand cutting, peeling, and hand loading of popple back in the 30s, 40s, & 50s in northern Wisconsin. There wasn't much left after the big cut and it was either move west to log, farm, or cut pulp. 

Amish will buy popple bolts around here for about $120/cord. Otherwise the pulp will go for around $100/cord at the mill. $70/cord as firewood.


----------



## AKDoug (Sep 15, 2013)

Almost impossible to identify that as quaking aspen or balsam poplar by the photo. In Alaska the balsam poplar, quaking aspen and black cottonwood will naturally form hybrids in some areas.


----------



## 1270d (Sep 15, 2013)

bitzer said:


> We have quaking aspen, big tooth apsen, and white aspen (3 main types of merch aspen). Big tooth can make some decent sawlogs. Its all called popple. Cottonwood is in the same family, but a different tree altogether. Usually a ditch or lowland tree not typically found in the woods. Yellow (tulip) poplar is in a family of itself of ancient lineage.
> 
> Yep I've read about lots of hand cutting, peeling, and hand loading of popple back in the 30s, 40s, & 50s in northern Wisconsin. There wasn't much left after the big cut and it was either move west to log, farm, or cut pulp.
> 
> Amish will buy popple bolts around here for about $120/cord. Otherwise the pulp will go for around $100/cord at the mill. $70/cord as firewood.



My grandfathers both peeled "popple" back then. They would fall it, peel it with a spud in stringers and leave it sit in the woods to dry for some time. The time frame for peeling was late spring till around the fourth of July when the bark would tighten up again. Of course it was all loaded by hand. Later years it was loaded with a cable jammer. 

I still have the honor of working with one grandfather. He's 78 running a forwarder now and I'm sure will never leave the bush.


----------



## Sourdough54 (Sep 17, 2013)

AKDoug said:


> Almost impossible to identify that as quaking aspen or balsam poplar by the photo. In Alaska the balsam poplar, quaking aspen and black cottonwood will naturally form hybrids in some areas.



My place out in the Mat-Su had the skankiest aspen (Populus tremuloides) I ever saw. There were stands up the Parks and out the Glenn Hwys that were so white that 95% of the people driving by probably assumed they were pure stands of white birch It puzzled me for years until I finally came across an article mentioning the hybridization with Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) and Aspen in south central Alaska. The Black Cottonwood in Alaska is considered by many to be a subspecies of Balsam Popular (P. balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa), Wikipedia claims there’s a specimen near Haines with a DBH of 10’.

I hope no one takes as preachy or a know-it all (as I’m just an amateur dendrologist), but in attempt clear some of the confusion. Eastern cottonwood is (Populus deltoids) and Large Tooth Aspen is (Populus grandidentata (often with an orange hue to the bark and is localized in New England and the Lake States). All of the above mentioned species are of the genus Populus and combined with many less well known species are commonly and collectively referred as “popple”. 

It is my understanding that Tulip or Yellow Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera, a member of the magnolia family) comprises the vast majority if the “popple” saw timber (I can’t really say as I’ve only seen one in my life). 

As far as the original photo, going by the bark if I had to guess I would say Balsam Poplar or maybe young Cottonwood. It could be very mature aspen, but (not being familiar with the area) most of the aspen I’ve seen is riddled with conks and punky by the time the bark looks like that.

Regardless, it is a very nice turn / hitch.


----------



## hammerlogging (Sep 18, 2013)

View attachment 314878


View attachment 314879


I'll take _tulipifera_ any day


----------



## treeslayer2003 (Sep 18, 2013)

hammerlogging said:


> View attachment 314878
> 
> 
> View attachment 314879
> ...



yes sir, you n me both. make good time and worth good money. easy cutting too.


----------



## paccity (Sep 18, 2013)

the stink is bad but the crash boom is fun.


----------



## OlympicYJ (Sep 19, 2013)

treeslayer2003 said:


> i'm confused, cotton wood the same thing as aspen?



Sorry boys if this comes across as too confusing but I've had a long brain sucking day so bear with me.

Aspen and cottonwood are the same thing, kind of. Black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) are in the same family (Salicaceae) and the same genus (Populus) but are different species (SPP). Salicaceae is the willow family. Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoids), Balsam poplar (Populus balsamifera) are the same family and genus as is Black cottonwood, Quaking aspen and Bigtooth aspen (Populus grandidentata). So if you hear someone call something a poplar (other than yellow poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera, which is in the Magnoliaceae family) then they are talking about some tree in the Salicaceae family and of the Populus genus. So you could call an Aspen a cottonwood, but in a technical sense you will be wrong. This is why scientific names exist, to keep local vernacular from muddying the waters. Dendrology lesson for the month 

Nate correct me if I screwed the pooch on this one.

Ah I'm kind of late. Sorry Dough I poached on ya. A good dendro book is _Trees of The Northern United States and Canada_ by: John Laird Farrar.


----------



## tramp bushler (Sep 26, 2013)

Sourdough54 said:


> My place out in the Mat-Su had the skankiest aspen (Populus tremuloides) I ever saw. There were stands up the Parks and out the Glenn Hwys that were so white that 95% of the people driving by probably assumed they were pure stands of white birch It puzzled me for years until I finally came across an article mentioning the hybridization with Balsam Poplar (Populus balsamifera) and Aspen in south central Alaska. The Black Cottonwood in Alaska is considered by many to be a subspecies of Balsam Popular (P. balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa), Wikipedia claims there’s a specimen near Haines with a DBH of 10
> 
> Regardless, it is a very nice turn / hitch.




It wouldn't suprise me. Probably the biggest trees in Haines. Talk about some short junk. But there is a huge stand of cottonwood along the Chilkat river. Up around Klukwan .


----------



## slick700 (Mar 19, 2014)

Oldtimer said:


> Took this dandy out a few weeks back. Front tires kept coming off the ground on me till I got to where it sits in the pic..it's a slight incline. I think I counted 14 trees in that hitch.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


they are really aspen best known as popple


----------

