# tulip trees good firewood?



## thatguy83 (Sep 17, 2014)

I have a few down from recent storms that are huge and im debating cutting them up. Also I've included pic of a second tree I need help identifying. Thanks for help


----------



## zogger (Sep 17, 2014)

Tulip poplar, think of it as "ash lite". Looks similar, cuts and splits the same, dries fast. It is lower BTUs, but good enough to keep. I personally like it, use it a lot during shoulder seasons, and for getting the fire going again in the morning. It is actually one of my fav woods as it processes so nice and dries fast. 

The bark is harvested in the spring and used for high end siding on designer houses.

That oddball tree with the weird almost banana shaped leaves, no idea.

If you let it sit in the round a week or two until it checks on the ends, it hand splits *much* easier.


----------



## pweber (Sep 17, 2014)

Tulip poplar definitely has a place in my wood pile. I just dropped a 30" poplar yesterday because it was free, out in the open, and not too far from my house. For me it serves two purposes: kindling and getting a dying fire roaring again. I've learned though that it really won't last more than a year or two before it starts to get soft and rot. I like to split it and stack it relatively quickly, and I don't stack it tightly. Once it's dry it's really easy to split into kindling with a hatchet and hand maul.


----------



## Fred Wright (Sep 18, 2014)

A mature tulip poplar will yield a lot of wood. When I lived in VA we ended up with two huge ones that were dying. Had a lot of poplar firewood on the stacks but it burned quickly and doesn't emit as much heat as your better hardwoods.

Poplar is better suited for ambience and campfires than for heating.


----------



## unclemoustache (Sep 18, 2014)

Zogger said it all. Not the highest on BTU's, but it's good wood, and also leaves very little ash.


----------



## brewmonster (Sep 18, 2014)

Your photo seems to show seeds and bracts of linden, aka basswood, aka _Tilia_ spp.


----------

