Aspen, Popple, Poplar or whatever you call it. Best use for it?

[GeneralStark]

On this parcel of land I am buying there are quite a few nice straight 20-28" diameter Quaking Aspens (populus tremuloides) and some Big Toothed Aspen (Populus Grandidentata) as well. We will have to take most of them down to clear the lot for our buildings. We will be having a sawyer with a band saw mill come later this summer to mill a bunch of maple, ash, and hemlock logs that will also be taken down for site work.

My question is, never having worked with poplar, is it worth having these popple logs milled up for any purpose, and for what? The house and sugarhouse will be timber framed with hemlock timbers, and we will be using the ash and maple for interior finish. Can popple be used for rough framing material? I know it is light and brittle but could it be used for non-structural framing or siding? Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.

I know we could use it for sugarwood but these trees easily have two defect free straight 16' saw logs in each and it seems a shame to just turn them into firewood.

[Moser's Maple]

Popple green can be used for roof boards. If you have painted casings it works great too because the knots do not stain through. With the yellows, greens, and sometimes violets it can also make a beautiful flooring. I once milled out some for floor with just a simple ship lap and then took cherry plugs and filled in where I had screwed the flooring down. Took a lot of time by looked amazing when finished.

[red maples]

theres not much to aspen, poplar, it seems to soak up moisture like a sponge. but I do mix in with other wood. Kinda similar to bass wood work pretty good in the evap when VERY dry and a hot fire. not too good in the woodstove burns too quick and leaves no coals good for chilly mornings in the fall and spring, enough to take the chill out then shut r down!!! I hear it can be good for flooring with a thick seal but its pretty soft so maybe good for a low traffic area maybe.... just thinking

[moeh1]

The neighbors have been cutting the quaking aspen/popple for years for barn siding, so we started a few years ago for coops. as long as it isn't exposed to constant water, it seems to be pretty durable. Many of our larger poplar >20 in have some heartrot on the botton section. Nail it up wet is the advice I've gotten.

[Thompson's Tree Farm]

I use popple 2x6's for rafters and studs. also good roof boards as Moser said. As long as it is used in an application where it is pretty dry it is fine. I avoid using it for sills and don't like it for siding (I do know of one local Amishman who has an entire 100x34 barn built entirely of popple. Been standing about 10 years now and no visible sign of decay.)

[Dave Y]

aspen and poplar are two different species. poplar is a good building material. Aspen is good for nothing!

[Maplewalnut]

Agree with Dave y...poplar and aspen are very different. Tulip popular is great for 2x lumber Aspen is useless

[heus]

I think weve had this discussion on here before. I think its a regional vocabulary thing which confuses some people. DaveY and maplwwalnut are correct. Make sure the wood is tulip poplar not quaking aspen before cutting into boards. Around here people often call Aspen poplar and others refer to tulip poplar as poplar.

[maple flats]

In fact some real old barns have tulip poplar siding, usually board abd batten. As long as it can dry quickly and is not in contact with the ground it will last a very long time.

[GeneralStark]

Well, the logs are piled and the mill will be coming in the next couple weeks. Not all popple in the pile, but most of it is.

SawLogsSmall.jpg