Logging and sawing Poplar trees (aspen) with pictures.

cutterboy · August 20, 2012, 08:56:13 PM

Hi all. On my farm there are a number of good looking poplar trees, tall and straight. We call them poplar trees here in central Massachusetts and every one I've talked to said they had no value. I've been thinking about sawing one tree into lumber to see for myself if the lumber was any good. So, I did some research and found out that my poplar trees were aspen.....either Quaking or Big Tooth. I checked the leaves on some short trees and found they were Quaking aspen, but I couldn't tell with the tall trees because the leaves were too high for me to see clearly. I then did a search here on the forum and found some old posts about sawing aspen. I found out that a number of ff members think aspen makes good lumber. That did it! I decided to saw aspen. Yesterday morning at 6:30 I was in the woods looking at an aspen tree.

I cut it down. The chainsaw cut through it real easy.

I checked the leaves ( now that I could see them close up) and found it was a Quaking aspen.

I cut the main stem into two 8' logs.

Then I rolled one log onto the tractor forks.

I brought it to the mill and then went back to get the other log and brought that to the mill.

Then loaded a log onto the mill.

and started sawing.

I love how the knots look like eyes.

The outer boards were white but the inside was an interesting brown coloration.

That one log gave me a nice little wack of lumber.....nine 11" boards and three 8" boards. 82bf.

I brought the lumber back to the drying barn and started the aspen stack. I've been told it's hard to dry. I'll hope for the best.

I went out this morning and cut another aspen down. It is a bigger tree and I got four nice logs out of it. That should give me 500+ bf. I'll go with that for now and see how it looks after it dries.

Happy sawing, Cutter

POSTON WIDEHEAD · August 20, 2012, 09:02:47 PM

CutterBoy.....these are some very good pictures! They tell the story.

b dukes · August 20, 2012, 09:09:32 PM

Beautiful lumber! What's your plans for it?

SCSawyer · August 20, 2012, 09:11:30 PM

I have sawed alot of stuff other folks have considered trash and ended up with lots of lumber, my well house is sawed from ole sweet gum we have here that is notorius for pulling nails and popping screws, I just sawed it and built it in one day, a 5x7x6 building board and batten style and it did great, so i say go for it you never know till you try 8)

shelbycharger400 · August 20, 2012, 09:13:20 PM

aspen, popple, make very nice trim boards, driving nails in them is like a hot knife in butter. People that are crafty like it as well.
It would make some nice veg./produce boxes as well. $$$
It also makes quick firewood if your in a jam, cut in spring, split, stacked, its dry by fall.

cutterboy · August 20, 2012, 09:21:34 PM

Quote from: b dukes on August 20, 2012, 09:09:32 PM
Beautiful lumber! What's your plans for it?

I'm hoping I can sell it once it's dry. I sell mostly to hobby woodworkers and some of them like to buy odd and different lumber.

WDH · August 20, 2012, 09:28:49 PM

Good show! It is a nice and light wood. I love that brown streaked heartwood.

BTW, put your stickers closer together, maybe 18" or less apart, and your stack will dry straighter.

cutterboy · August 20, 2012, 09:35:43 PM

Quote from: WDH on August 20, 2012, 09:28:49 PM

BTW, put your stickers closer together, maybe 18" or less apart, and your stack will dry straighter.

Thanks for the tip!

mad murdock · August 21, 2012, 02:36:31 AM

Aspen has some desirable qualities. When I was in high school wood shop I built a dog sled of aspen. I heat bent the runners, front bow and handle bow. It was a light sled, weighed 8 lbs, and could carry 400. Aspen also makes beautifule T&G paneling.

MJD · August 21, 2012, 05:49:15 AM

I use it in some of my woodworking projects for nailing strips and drawers.

thecfarm · August 21, 2012, 07:06:21 AM

Happy Sawing back to you. Nice pictures and story. Good luck on your poplar. I cut some as firewood to reclaim a pasture. What I cut would of made a nice log cabin. All just about the same size,about 6-8 inches through. That was about 20 years ago. I don't have many on my land. Had grapes growing to just about the top of them, I had to cut the vines on a few trees so that it would fall.

Leigh Family Farm · August 21, 2012, 07:36:40 AM

Very nice pictures! Really like the how the day unfolded. nice one.

Meadows Miller · August 21, 2012, 09:52:03 AM

Gday

Great Pics and some nice looking boards you should have no dramas getting rid of them once they are dry Mate

;D ;D 8) There are some under rated timber species out there

with stick spacing 4/4 is 12" 6/4 is 18" and 8/4 is 24" max spacings for optimum results ;) ;D

Regards Chris

Riggs · August 21, 2012, 10:07:21 AM

Nice pics....
I have lots of tulip poplar on my place. I love to saw it, nice strait logs, very few knots. I have use 4/4 for siding inside my barn, and bee hives. I have also sawed it into 2x4's for odds and ends.

OneWithWood · August 21, 2012, 11:03:57 AM

Nice work, Cutterboy.
I am in the process of sizing a few hundred 2x6x12 aspen boards that I will use for a barn addition. It is a nice light construction wood.

Magicman · August 21, 2012, 12:30:31 PM

I like it Cutterboy. Matter of fact, I would love to saw some. I see some huge Aspens in Colorado each year and my sawmill starts itching. ;D

cutterboy · August 21, 2012, 04:03:36 PM

Quote from: Magicman on August 21, 2012, 12:30:31 PM
I like it Cutterboy. Matter of fact, I would love to saw some. I see some huge Aspens in Colorado each year and my sawmill starts itching. ;D

Magic, if I see you scratching your sawmill I'll know you are thinking about those big aspens. ;D :D :D

Beeman · August 21, 2012, 08:11:12 PM

We have lots of popple here in Michigan. We burn it. If it's dry enough it puts out a lot of heat! We usually try to get a couple years ahead in the firewood department. Doesn't always happen of course. We like to mix it with oak so we only have to load the furnace twice a day. I've heard of people milling 2x4s out of it and building with it! I want a sawmill so badly I can taste the sawdust! Great pics and story. Makes me even more ready to have a mill!!

tyb525 · August 21, 2012, 11:28:00 PM

Lots of aspen in our woods, I would love to cut some of it into building lumber, I can't seem to bring myself to do that with the nicer hardwoods ;)

mad murdock · August 22, 2012, 01:23:34 AM

Aspen firewood a k a go'fer wood. Many years back my dad bought aspen to burn one year because it was "cheap". We burned twice as much that winter cause you had to get some and go 'fer more! Heat was good, but burn was fast

Migal · August 22, 2012, 01:35:04 AM

I like'd the heartwood dat's perrty to Me 8)

clww · August 22, 2012, 01:21:03 PM

Great thread and pictures!

cutterboy · August 22, 2012, 08:24:24 PM

I was sawing the butt log of the bigger tree today. Thought I'd show you a couple pictures of the lumber.

I got 116bf out of that 8' butt log. I got ten 12" boards and six more that ranged from 10" to 6". I'm impressed with the beauty of the lumber, I just hope it dries well.

Migal · August 22, 2012, 11:32:20 PM

Sure is a great feeling when getting into the grain of things ah! It's like a new adventure in every cut! 8) My Dang Day Job has me working so the only wood grain I've got to see lately is on here but the weather has been sweet here so I'm sure dust will be flying soon again ;D