Poplar Ain't Popular With Me

[Jerry Bittner]

Just finished a sideboard and commenced the finish. Having never worked with poplar before, I got some tips and the consensus said to use dye. Unfortuntaely, the local places around here don't carry dye so I fell back on the traditional Minimax products.

Since poplar is a soft wood I used conditioner on it and then proceeded to apply the stain to the doors and drawers. The results as you can see are not good. (The cabinet was shot without a flash so the florescents account for the greenish cast)

I'm used to working with oak and love it when the grain jumps out at you after staining. With this poplar, you see little of the grain and for the life of me in some places it looks good and in others, blotchy. And yesI did try the stain on a scrap piece but as my luck would have it, the scrap piece was okay.

The good news is I did not stain the main cabinet so I can sand the doors and drawers down once I get some ideas about how to get the best finish. And yes the lady prefers something light.

All suggestions welcomed.

[Tim Sproul]

Those don't look so good.

I've only painted or applied shellac to poplar....or left unfinished as secondary lumber in furniture.

Shellac covers poplar without problems.

[Todd Burch]

Yep, that's some butt ugly wood there with the stain on it. Poplar looks GREAT with milk paint on it! :-)

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Well, once again, I'm the odd man out. I don't think it looks bad at all. Looks kinda 'antique-ie' to me. :)

KC

[Greg Heppeard]

I've found that a light coat of shellac before staining helps with this problem with maple. The stain doesn't penetrate as well, but with a couple of coats, it might turn out ok.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I'm, with Kirk, I don't mind the looks of it.... Must just not be the look you are going for though...

[Greg Narozniak]

I agree with Kirk and Jeff I think it looks fine.

[Donnie Raines]

I don't mind the look either...though I am sure you were going for something else.

Kind of late now, but use aniline dye on poplar from now on. Heck, you may want to take a cut off, apply the stain you have used(allow it to cure) and then apply a dye over that and see what you think. Aniline dye will be much more even in color, and much more rich in color. When the dye dries it will look rather bland...but that will cure it's self when you apply a top coat of________ whatever.

Try it on some scraps.

[Ken Salisbury]

I am somewhat confused by the look of the wood.

Questions:

1. Sanding through what progression of grits?

2. What type of 'wood conditioner' did you use?
- Brand ?
- Procedure of application ?

3. What type of stain did you use? How many coats?

- Procedure of application ?

The reason I ask is that I have had good success with poplar. I have made numerous pieces using poplar to simulate cherry with great success. I have also stained poplar with "Early American" stain successfully.

Something is amiss here (IMHO).

[Jim Stastny]

Since you're not happy with the results I would suggest you put a glaze over it. I've never had a problem with poplar bloching. As Ken mentioned, I've seen poplar stained in a way that you would swear it was cherry.

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

It's interesting this question came up here. This month, our woodworking club is having the General Finish representative in for demonstration. Cheryl is very informed and asked for "Problems" we would like covered. The first one that came up was finishing poplar. I'll try and take notes and report back here on what she suggests.

Bruce

[Jim Becker]

Dye for me, too...stains with pigments just don't work well for woods like poplar, maple and cherry that are closed grain and subject to uneven absorbtion. Dyes are much more even...and the only thing I use. Yes, few "local" sources, but these days, that shouldn't be an issue.

Recovery of the existing piece maybe could be handled by glazing with a gel stain (which sits on top) as you can work it by hand to vary the coverage to even things up. Regardless, you will either have to use the same regimen on the rest of the piece or sand/redo the doors to start over.

[Richard Wolf]

I have had some success in this type of situation with Ployshades by Minwax. A combo of stain and ploy in one. Of course the stain stays on the surface with the ploy much like a glaze like others have suggested. After enough coats to get the color you can switch to plain ploy.

Richard

[Ralph Barhorst]

The pictures below show an entertainment center I made from Poplar several years ago. It is entirely made from Poplar Plywood and solid wood.

I used a light gel stain on the drawers, top and side panels and a cherry gel stain on the rest. I then used a Minwax poly varnish. I thought it came out pretty well.