Poplar

[JAB1]

I had a friend give me some very old wood.....poplar. Has anyone had any experience with this?....the wood has a greenish tinge.....very soft, easy to turn....

 

[wolftat]

It dyes and stabilizes nicely

 

[CSue]

Oh, yeah. I've used a lot of poplar. I went to a lumber yard and picked out the greenest tinged poplar I could find for some Christmas Slimlines. Works a little better than Sugar Pine.

I ended up using the rest of it to hold drill bits - little custom "rack."

 

[CSue]

It dyes and stabilizes nicely

Now, see? Thats what I should have done. Would have made a big difference!

 

[JohnU]

Poplar has been used in furniture building for many years. It stains very well, often used under veneer or with walnut. Its soft but works easy. It has a potential for many colors like yellow, green, purple, black. It will darken over time on its own but takes dye very well.

 

[ldb2000]

I've used poplar for allot of furniture projects and most of the toys I make are made with it . It's a great wood , it works easily , takes stains and dyes very well and it turns nicely .

 

[rjwolfe3]

Works easily and looks great dyed!

 

[bradh]

Poplar is a good hardwood for woodworking. Easy to work with, easy to cut and finish, and inexpensive. The most common poplar in my area is yellow Poplar. I do find it has a light colour, wide grain and makes a rather un-interesting pen. The colour variation in the grain is just too subtle.
I have seen pictures from UK turners who are turning with what they called Black Poplar, that is a nicer wood for pens.

 

[maxwell_smart007]

I bought a bunch of poplar dowels to make bottle stoppers from; I thought the two-tone would be spectacular....

They didn't turn out to be show-stopping, but they were nice.

Andrew