Use for White Poplar other than second rate firewood?

[clique2]

 

We have two mature (9ft round the trunk) white poplars. The wife has taken a dislike to them and is thinking of having them taken down. She thinks it'll be good for firewood but I cringe at the thought the process and storage, let working like a stoker on the Titanic feeding matchwood into our 8kW stove! (Have done it  before with Lombardy poplars but I was 10 yrs younger!)

Is there any demand for poplar timber as planks etc?

We are in West Essex

 

Regards

Graham

[Rough Hewn]

Don't know about demand, but I've heard they use poplar planks on the backs of lorries/artics as its a yielding surface.

 

[Graham]

3 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Don't know about demand, but I've heard they use poplar planks on the backs of lorries/artics as its a yielding surface.

 

Yes it's good taking loading impacts.  Probably make it useful for workbench tops too.

 

[skyhuck]

Was used for building horse-drawn carts, there is a famous painting by Constable "The haywain" which depicts a hay cart parked in a river, apparently this was common practice as the Poplar shrinks causing the cart to become rickety, water would swell the joints and tighten up the cart.

 

It was also used for cabbage boxes, but they are now plastic.

 

Also brake blocks for traction engines, but this is a pretty limited market. 

[Rough Hewn]

Farmers in Brittany often grow a hectare for veg boxes, bit of a cash crop back in the day.

[openspaceman]

42 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

Farmers in Brittany often grow a hectare for veg boxes, bit of a cash crop back in the day.

Some poplars were planted just after the war to provide punnets for a local market garden, their coppiced regrowth can still be seen outside the formula 1 headquarters that now occupies the site.

 

I was told the reason poplar was used for rail wagon bottoms was that it didn't splinter (or burn very well )

 

We sold it for coffin boards when elm was too expensive but it wasn't allowed for mining timber

[Rough Hewn]

It burns really well, big flames, then it's gone.
Low calorific value, great as kindling though or mixed up with hardwoods.

[openspaceman]

44 minutes ago, Rough Hewn said:

It burns really well, big flames, then it's gone.
Low calorific value, great as kindling though or mixed up with hardwoods.

Yes I know  but it doesn't ignite particularly well as a board, which is why matches are wax coated. In fact most woods require a few sticks adjacent to mutually radiate heat to keep the fire going (this is one reason andirons were used to control a fire of cordwood lengths). I guess it could remain fairly saturated in an open wagon. Calorific value at about 18.6MJ/kg is the same as many hardwoods, less than many softwoods which have higher lignin and resins but it is low density so burns away fast.

[Mintsauce]

I would have liked some pop planking for reflooring my trailer (3.5t tipper) but couldn't get any. Ended up using 35mm decking turned upsidedown, which is OK so far, but I definitely would have given poplar a go as it doesn't seem too heavy compared to softwood. This was to replace phenolic ply which didn't last at all well.

 

I don't know what it costs to get it planked but would make an interesting experiment?

[Stephen Blair]

I had only ever heard of it being used for matches!