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Firewood

Martin w

Martin w

Super User
I have an indoor wood boiler. My buddy called and asked if I need a load of firewood, all hardwood. $350 for a tri axle 40 yard bin. All in logs.
I jumped all over it. Take my money.
Truck showed up last Saturday in the rain, so I had it dumped on my driveway. Logs are all covered in mud and almost everyone is poplar!!!
Now I know poplar is a hardwood but Jezzuz that's a lot of work for a little bit of heat. Called my buddy, he said his load was all maple with 3 poplar logs.

So far, this week in the evenings I've bucked, split and piled 11-1/2 face cords and I'm halfway. Sharpened my saw 6 times.
I guess this winter I will be running to the basement more to stock up the boilero_O
Still a good buy for my area, just needed to vent. Lol
Martin
 
I burned poplar for years before I went to propane. It has about the same btu's as spruce. My friend also burns poplar. Even wet, in an airtight stove it gives off a lot of heat. Tamarack or birch is better, but the stands of those trees are far from me and poplar is a delight to kill on my own place.
There is a type of poplar which is identical looking to other poplar trees, but the wood is rippled and twisted, maybe black poplar,but damn its good heat.
 
When I used to heat with wood 100% I burned a decent amount of poplar and birch. I would order loads of logs that were mostly oak, maple, cherry, etc, but most of the stuff I cut from the property was either poplar or birch, with some ash and elm. Burned clean, nice and hot, but not for long. I didn't mind it, "free" heat. Then I installed a forced air Propane furnace and no longer rely on wood heat anymore, just burning on the weekend when we're around, and I only process the wood from trail and property maintenance. Most of which gets burned toasting marshmallows and hotdogs in the backyard now....A nice free workout though, as I split it all by hand.

One of the reasons I wanted to build a sawmill was so I could mill those trees instead of simply burning them. A much better use for them I think. Just need to finish it....

I would have been a bit cheesed at buying a load of "hardwood" and having it be all poplar though lol. Sure, it fits the definition, and not really a bad deal but still......a bit of a stretch.....

The worst was the Elm. Not much left here, but for a few years I was processing a lot of it. Thankful to have a hydraulic splitter, every single one was a corkscrew. Burned nice, but a lot of ash. There's still a couple dead ones out there I need to cut up, but I've been putting it off for a while......
 
That would be like ordering a load of maple and getting all soft maple, instead of hard maple. Close but not the same thing

There's a type of poplar called bam or bambaguillion that isn't in most tree books, at least when I looked years ago. It's even more junky than white poplar, typically found in wet areas or by waterways.
 
I got a call from a friend last fall that he had a few dump trailer loads of logs for me for free. Last time it was all birch, so i loaded up and drove the 40km's to his place. I was all wet balsam. Man was i ever pissed.
 
Some of this poplar splits easily, but a bunch is all stringy and knobby. I have less and less patience's for wood cutting. This is my 36th year burning wood, at this house. I have 8 acres of bush, so I have all the wood I need, but I have a very short window in the winter to harvest. Have to wait for frost in the ground, which doesn't happen much in the last few years. Also, the bush is on the next road so unless I cut across my field, it's about a kilometer drive on the tractor.
I really like the wood boiler, but it's not easy on wood. Takes a lot of BTUs to keep hot water in February.

The boiler is wood oil. Oil has been around $2/ liter. This year was around $1.65/ liter.

How do you guys heating with propane find the cost? I heat with propane in the shop, but it's a tube heater, not a boiler. I am thinking of just putting a propane boiler in, in the next couple years.
Martin
 
Burnt a LOT of Black Poplar out in Alberta (Edmonton <spit> and Cold Lake), and learned fast that if it was too large, or in ground contact, that it wasn't worth hauling home.

I shopped the windrows that were left as guys cleared farm land or cleared lots for houses.

Our house guests soon learned to bring Summer clothes, to hang around inside comfortably... Lots of ash though, needed to clean the ash dump about three times a week!

I feel the pain! Have always had access to great supplies of free wood. I'd be PO'd if I paid for a load, and it was all crap that I wasn't expecting! Sorta like the guy selling oats! New oats are fairly dear. Used ones can be got cheaper! You feel a little pissy if you find out you paid for new ones, and got used ones instead!
 
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