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

[jimsudz]

I saw a a lot of aspen and cottonwood for framing lumber and sheeting. If its there then use it, cull wood can be burned. There used to be a market for aspen veneer,not sure but used to be a mill in whitehall Ny that made plywood. There used to be an ad in the Northern Logger looking for aspen in southern Adirondacks.

[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.

[GeneralStark]

I have heard the same advice, fasten it when it is green. At this point we are planning on milling the good quality logs for siding the sugarhouse board and batten. We'll be using some of it for sugar wood as well.

[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

[gmcooper]

We have been using poplar for interior trim for a few years with good success. I have seen it used as exterior siding a few times and it looked good several years later. The only issue I saw was where rain splashed up near the ground and there was algae and mildew growing well on the north side.
My guess is you'll out grow the sugarhouse long before the poplar wears out.

[PerryW]

Even though I have a bandsaw mill, I mostly use poplar for sugar wood and would not saw it unless someone if paying me to custom saw.

I've tried to saw boards out of poplar (quaking aspen) but they seem to warp and are harder to nail and seem to split. my neighbor has used it successfully for interior trim and furniture.

[lastwoodsman]

General Stark has it right on the genus and species.
Tulip poplular is not a popular at all but a lirodendron. Common names are realitively useless when a discussion that covers such a wide geographical area is talked about. Latin names are the only thing to use.
Here in the midwest-Minnesota/Wisconsin popular tremuloides and populus grandidentata (sawtooth aspen)as well as populus Deltoides (Eastern cottonwood) are all used for lumber in varying sitituations.
as long as it is kept dry it will last for a very long time.
The inside of my sauna I did thirty years ago in quaking aspen and it is perfect to this day. My deer hunting shack is 40 years old made from quaking aspen logs and is as solid as the day we built it.
As firewood on the farm it burn fairly fast and is not the best wood for home heating but 80% of the wood we burned on the farm was popular.
In the arch it would make a nice hot fire.
Woodsman

[lpakiz]

Here in our area in Wisconsin, "popple" has a reputation as one of the toughest pieces of lumber you can get. You can about bend it double and it won't break. Also known to "hold" a nail very tight. Prone to dry crooked and/or warp.
A fella a few miles from here built a cabin using popple logs stood vertically, like and old west fort. It is on a slab, and I wouldn't doubt the butts are elevated just a bit off the cement. I cut a bunch when we built the house in 76 and I do not recommend it for studs. Maybe rafters and sheeting boards. Like has been said, nail it together green?

[Clarkfield Farms]

Part of a rhyme that I remember from childhood about trees and their properties went something like this, when the poplar was "talking:"

"Though my cousin Oak be strong and stout, keep me DRY and I'll last him out!"

It was a very old rhyme long before I was born.

Just my two cents. What poplar I've dried, and kept dry, never any sign of decay.