Poplar question

[Typhoon]

Just a quick question and probably a stupid one.. but I figure this would be the best place to ask. 1. Is yellow poplar (tulip poplar) considered hardwood? And... 2. Does it make good firewood? For my firewood business I have been sticking mainly to oak, hickory and cherry. But I have a lot of poplar tops and I hesitate to sell it for firewood because when im cutting it it seems so soft... Thanks!

 

[bwalker]

1. Yes 2. No

 

[sedanman]

If one was burning an ornamental fireplace then tulip poplar gives a very pleasant flame. In a fireplace it will help harder woods like oak keep burning. I have trouble burning oak in a fireplace. I prefer ash and tulip poplar.

 

[Ryan Willock]

Poplar puts off smoke that'll make you choke! But yes it is a hardwood. I just logged off 30 acres of really good poplar.

 

[TonyM]

That poplar is very handy to have around for firewood for two reasons. 1) It makes great kindling to get a fire going quick. 2) It works great to build a quick hot fire to take the chill off on those late spring mornings when it's too hot during the day to have a fire. I wouldn't want to heat with it though, unless you have nothing better to do than feed a fire! Maybe you could make some kindling bundles with it and make a little by offering them to your wood customers.

 

[Bill G]

Conifer = Softwood
Deciduous =Hardwood

Now with that being said Willow and Cottonwood are hardwoods but are very soft. There are softwoods that are very hard. I am sure I will get tore apart on this easy explanation.

Bill

 

[buckwheat]

I almost always mix in poplar with a load of oak and cherry and make a point of telling people that that is the wood to start a fire with. A lot of people call it "day wood" because of how it burns fast. My biggest complaints about poplar for burning is that it tends to be dirty; and it creates a lot of ash.

I was wondering if anyone is seeing cordwood prices go up since fuel oil prices have been rising? Probably too early for people to think about stocking up for next winter.

 

[TonyM]

I haven't seem much of a change in cordwood prices around here. It's been pretty steady for the last 3-4 years. I think the supply is keeping pace with the demand right now. Seems everybody and there brother is selling firewood. So much wood is available that otherwise gets discarded, that anyone with a chainsaw and a pickup can get into the game. I guess that's what makes this country great though, so I'm not complaining. It's nice when the free market works, and big brother keeps his nose out of things. Just like the steel prices lately. I would never have imagined how much scrap iron people could find to bring to the scrap yard! Lines 1 mile long or longer waiting to get in. Think of how much "junk" got cleaned up, all to everyone's benefit. If Uncle Sam would have tried to force such a cleanup through regulation, the outcome would have been much less beneficial and more costly.

 

[buckwheat]

yup. This spring has seen a lot of storms with pushed over trees, so I think the wood supply is rather plentiful. I have started to notice, though, more interest in wood burners lately, and the used ones in the paper seem to get sold much quicker. I sense that people will continue to pay for the higher prices at the pump, but may react differently when their heating bills start to get as big as their mortgage payments.

 

[spencerhenry]

i sell firewood as a hobby (116 face cords last season). most of my customers are using the wood to heat with. i sell aspen, engelman spruce, doug fir, and pinon. the prices here dont seem to change much with the season, or the utility prices. what most people dont realize is that a pound of aspen has the same amount of heat as a pound of oak. pound for pound all wood is pretty much the same ( unless it has pitch in it). but obviously oak weighs alot more that aspen. so a cord of aspen has 'x' btu's, and a cord of oak, probably has '1.8x' btu's. aroung here pinon goes for $150/ face cord split delivered and stacked, aspen goes for $100.