Posted: Thu Aug 14, 08 11:36 pm Post subject: free wood but ...............
our neighbour is letting us have all his poplar trees as he has not got a wood burner (we have) I know its deemed as smoky rubbish but its free (apart from chopping it up and carting it home ) BUT is it worth the effort and as it rots really easily how long would you keep it for ??? thanks for any help
vegplot
Joined: 19 Apr 2007 Posts: 21301 Location: Bethesda, Gwynedd
Posted: Fri Aug 15, 08 5:07 am Post subject: Re: free wood but ...............
rivergirl wrote:
our neighbour is letting us have all his poplar trees as he has not got a wood burner (we have) I know its deemed as smoky rubbish but its free (apart from chopping it up and carting it home ) BUT is it worth the effort and as it rots really easily how long would you keep it for ??? thanks for any help
Poplar has a high water content and requires patient seasoning to be useful as a firewood. It should keep reasonably well under cover but may be prone to worm.
Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year
Chestnut only good they say
If for long it's laid away
Make a fire of elder tree
Death within your house will be
But ash new or ash old
Is fit for a Queen with a crown of gold
Birch and Fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last
It is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
Elmwood burns like churchyard mould
Even the very flames are cold
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a Queen with a golden crown
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke
Apple wood will scent your room
With an incense-like perfume
Oaken logs, if dry and old
Keep away the winters cold
But ash wet or ash dry
A king shall warm his slippers by.
Beechwood fires burn bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year
Store your beech for Christmastide
With new holly laid beside
Chestnuts only good they say
If for years tis stayed away
Birch and firwood burn too fast
Blaze too bright and do not last
Flames from larch will shoot up high
Dangerously the sparks will fly
But Ashwood green and Ashwood brown
Are fit for a Queen with a golden crown
Oaken logs, if dry and old
Keep away the winters cold
Poplar gives a bitter smoke
Fills your eyes and makes you choke
Elmwood burns like churchyard mould
Even the very flames burn cold
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread
So it is in Ireland said
Applewood will scent the room
Pears wood smells like a flower in bloom
But Ashwood wet and Ashwood dry
A King may warm his slippers by.
I was just about to post that ode VP, then scrolled down to see you had beaten me to it.
It's true that poplar doesn't make the greatest fire wood, but providing it is well seasoned and above all dry, it is just about OK for mixing in with other, better stuff. Just don't try burning it on an open fire that doesn't draw too well - it will make your house smell 'orrible. I know, I've dunnit in the past
thanks I have the poem my friend printed it for me as the first tree we had to take out here was a HUGE ash and my neighbours thought I was nuts burning it green !!! we have access to about 40 poplars and as long as we cut them ourselves they are free just wanted to know if it was worth it its for a wood burner so the smoke will not bother us (can't say about the neighbours though ) but will burn it of an evening when its dark ) have plenty of ash for the next 3 years (I HOPE!!) so it well have plenty of time to season
thanks again!!
We harvested and burnt 8 tons of poplar the year before last.
The trick is to dry it. The fastest way to dry it is to strip the bark off, split it and put it under cover for two years. If the wood is cut into rounds the size of your wood burner its fairly easy to strip the bark with an axe by rolling the log sideways whilst stripping off with the axe. Then split and stack under cover. The bark makes excellent mulch for the garden.
If you dont strip the bark off it will remin wet for much longer and will produce a large amount of tar on the window of the log burner.
) but will burn it of an evening when its dark ) have plenty of ash for the next 3 years (I HOPE!!) so it well have plenty of time to season
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