A couple of questions from an experience

[Ken Fitzgerald]

challenged turner:


1. Does poplar turn well?

2. Would it be better to buy some 4"x4" turning material or could you glue something up from 1" and turn it just as well?

I want to take a try at turning a spindle leg for a table. I'm open to suggestions about types of wood, glue-up.........I'm open for other ideas.

[Frank Parker]

Poplar turns real easy and takes a finish great, plus it glues up great and if you want 1x for segments most lumber places have it. That platter I turned in a previous thread is poplar and it's one of my favorite woods.
Frank

[Gary Max]

Ken poplar is real nice to work with---very little tear-out and sands out great.
For turning spindles it would be great.
You may want to wait on the glue up stuff for a while --that has it's own set of tricks.

[John Hart]

Wanna try some 4X4 Cherry Ken? You'll forget about all that poplar.;)

[Jim Dunn]

Ken the first little box I did was a glue up of popular. You can see a picture of it herehttp://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=31045
My granddaughter has it in her room now.

[John Hart]

Ken the first little box I did was a glue up of popular. You can see a picture of it herehttp://http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=31045
My granddaughter has it in her room now.

yer link is broken Jim ;) Oh wait...I see....There's two http's in there

[Jim Dunn]

Fixed the link above:) Not enough coffee yet.

[Andy Hoyt]

Ken - I agree with the guys. Turns great. I glued up some poplar flat stuff to make desk legs a while back and they turned out wonderful. Good learning wood too, since it's relatively inexpensive.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Andy...........that was my thought about using poplar. The stuff I've seen locally ..........usually pretty straight grained, it's cheap and if turning a glue up doesn't increase the difficulty too much.....I thought I'd try a table leg out of a glue up.

John, I'd love to try turning some cherry. Unfortunately we don't have a local supplier. I haven't talked with our one remaining "real" lumber yard yet to see if they can even get me some. There supposed to be a couple of suppliers in Spokane and one that's reasonable for rough dimensioned lumber in Walla Walla. If I'm going to mess up something on the first try I don't want to screw up something as expensive as cherry.

My plan was ....I've got a lot of plywood scraps left from my shop walls. I thought I'd make a full size pattern and try turning some glued up poplar. If everything goes as planned......purchase something more expensive?


GRINDER.......GRINDER........GRINDER.......dull tools are a drag...literally and figuretively! NO pun intended!

[Jim Becker]

David Ellsworth teaches on wet poplar and wet ash--literally straight from the log. Check out the pictures at this link (http://sawsndust.com/a-ellsworth.htm).

Poplar (Tulip Poplar/Yellow Poplar) can be a little fuzzy sometimes, but is a wonderful wood to work with. It will also help you understand the value of sharp tools.

[George Conklin]

John, I'd love to try turning some cherry. Unfortunately we don't have a local supplier.

Spffft! Why am I thinking this is not going to be a problem:cool: .

[John Hart]

Spffft! Why am I thinking this is not going to be a problem:cool: .

Yeah....Ya know, if you look at it from a Planetary point of view...Ohio and Idaho are practically the same!!

[Andy Hoyt]

Yup - right next door!
32356

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Some how I think I'll soon be singing.....I'm in the cherry.....I'm in the cherry....

[Bill Stevener]

Hi Ken,

Another wood you may wish to try and may be available in your area is Birch. Turns and sands nice, considerably much less expensive than some of the pricier woods. In chair, rocker and other furniture, generally if Oak, Cherry or Walnut was not used, Burch was often the choice for the spindle work.

Just something I thought you may like to try, glues up very nicely as well.

Bill.>>>>>>>>>>>>:)

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

Ken, there is a rumor flying around Portland that one of our major hardwood sources is going to open a branch in the Tri Cities. This could work out well for you...

Doug

[Jim Dunn]

They didn't even consider it till they found out Ken got his lathe! Figured to send the kids thru college on his salmon bonkers.:)

[Mike Ramsey]

1. Does poplar turn well?

I've noticed that if you turn well you become poplar :D ...
Poplar is fun to turn Ken, glued up will work fine. It's an easy
wood to learn with..

[Curt Fuller]

Ken you can also try some alder. It grows along a lot of streams I've fished in Idaho. Maybe you can find some of that to play with. At least I think it's alder. Grows in clumps and has reddish bark.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There's a lot of what's locally called "tack alder" where I elk hunt. Nasty stuff....get's cursed a lot! I've yet seen any big enough to turn, however!

[Jim Dunn]

I've yet seen any big enough to turn, however!
Ken you could make a couple of these. The biggest one is 2" in diameter and 6" tall. Before Andy asks' their supposed to be mushrooms, not street lamps.