Some Questions About Poplar

[Howard Rosenberg]

Poplar is a hardwood, right? It's got leaves.... they shed those leaves.... but it seems kind of soft.

I'd like to make a child's bathroom stool and expect it to receive normal childhood use/abuse, is it hard ENOUGH?

I'd also like to make something that ends up being an heirloom but
don't want to use maple - I prefer poplar's pricing.

Any insight and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Howard

[Richard Allen]

I think Poplar would be perfect for a child's bathroom stool. It should hold up for several years if good joinery is used.

Mostly Poplar is for paint or as a secondary wood on the inside of a cabinet like the drawers.

If you think about the length of time you will spend making the heirloom and the lenght of time the heirloom will be in service you might want to spring for the extra cost of maple or oak or cherry or walnut...

Thanks

[Ted Shrader]

Howard -

Yes poplar is a hardwood. So is balsa, by the way.

Your idea of a stool from poplar would be fine. Plan to paint it or just varnish it, because it requires special care to get an even color when staining.

Ted

[Bob Lasley]

Howard,

I too use poplar as a secondary wood for things such as drawer boxes, however once in awhile I come across poplar with beautiful grain. I am working on a little box right now built from such a piece. Dennis Peacock has built a fair amount of furniture with poplar. I do agree with Richard though that if you are going to build an heirloom piece, go with as nice a lumber as you can afford. It takes the same amount of work to build a piece out of figured cherry as poplar or pine. But, if poplar is all you can afford, by all means, build it out of poplar.

Good luck,
Bob

[Halsey MCCombs]

I build one last year out of oak and it is standing up fine for one boy and the next boy will be on it soon. Also being heavy it does not tip easy. What ever you do it will be used alot. Halsey

[chris toomey]

for the few board feet in a step stool, the price difference between poplar and say oak or cherry or anything else for that matter is negligible(sp)....maybe 10-15dollars. over the life of that stool is it worth skimping. that being said, i just got back from the hanncock shaker village in massachusetts where i saw a 140 year old stool made from butternut and pine :)

[Jim Becker]

Yes, Poplar is a hardwood...as is Balsa!

Howard, I regularly build furniture from poplar and have had no problems with it relative to durability...for me, it isn't just a "secondary" wood and I enjoy working with it. "How" you build can make a big difference, too. If you use joinery that is designed to be strong from the get-go, you'll be pleased with it.

There is an article on my site that shows the furniture I built my nieces from poplar if you want to see how beautiful it can be when dyed.

[Ken Salisbury]

I agree with the previous suggestions of using cherry, walnut, oak or some other higher grade hardwood since the piece is intended for an heirloom.

I will add however, poplar can be used to make some really nice furniture.

Plan to paint it or just varnish it, because it requires special care to get an even color when staining.
I have good luck staining poplar when using Minwax Wood Conditioner as a preparation prior to staining. This evens out the stain effects. I actually made some Shaker style end tables and coffee table for a customer, staing with cherry stain - and it was pretty tough for the untrained eye to tell the difference to actual cherry. Don't sell poplar short - it is an extremy stable wood -- the main reason the old furniture makers always used poplar for drawer boxes.

[Dan Smith]

I will second Ken's suggestion of using minwax wood conditioner. I have used poplar for some pieces, and it can finish nicely bright or painted. It machines easily, and hold glue quite well.

Good luck, and be sure to post pictures when it is done.

[Mac McAtee]

I am with the upgrade crowd here. Poplar is nice. However, I would use American Walnut and in my dreams figure that the next five generations of my family's children would be using something that I made and remember that old goat who made it. On something as small as a step stool the difference between a nice poplar board and a very nice walnut board wouldn't buy a six pack of good beer.

[Lynn Sonier]

I have to ring in with the upgrade crowd here. I recently made a cross for a local church which was 10 foot tall with a six foot cross piece.
They wanted something light so they could carry it so I used poplar. It IS light enough so that I can pick up the cross and stab it into the base but I spent a few hours repairing which we RC modelers call "hangar rash".
Personally, I love working with red oak.

[Lee Schierer]

Depending upon the exact variety of wood you get as poplar (around here we get tulip poplar) it should work well for s step tool. Here's one I made for my grandaughter out of Oak. http://home.earthlink.net/~us71na/footstol.jpg My grandson is using it now too.

Just make sure it is stable so it won't tip over on them when they climb up on it.

[Daniel Rabinovitz]

Howard
Use a bunch (about 800 bd ft a year) of poplar when teaching wood shop in high school.
Also ordered in about 300 bt ft of walnut; 100 bd ft of oak, 100 bd ft of honduras mahogany; and the list goes on.
Found poplar to be an excellent wood for beginning woodworkers to learn how to "work wood".
It holds up to everything said in previous posts, really well.
Watch out for the "green" wood when staining - don't like that too well.
As far a stools go. I know this one is large but it is a stool made out of Red Oak. I have made smaller but this is the latest style and example.
Size = 48" long, 17/18 " high, 11-1/2" wide

[Howard Rosenberg]

May I ask the general dimensions you used?
I'm thinking of making it with a top surface that is 9" x 11" or 12" total of 7' or 8" tall.
Thank you. Howard

[Howard Rosenberg]

website to look at your poplar projects.
WOW! What a great website! Really well thought out, but... which projects were the ones in poplar?
Thank you. Howard

[Lee Schierer]

Sorry it took a while to get you this information, but the stool was at home and I wrote the original post from work. Also thank you for the nice comments about the projects on my web site.

The dimensions are:

Top 3/4 X 10 X 16 holes are 1-1/4 dia.
Leg 3/4 X 8 X 6-1/2 tall
Stringer 3/4 X 2 X 13-1/2

There are two pocket hoe screws in each end of each stringer holding on the leg and a total of four pocket hole screws holding the top to the legs. The finish was Deft Semi-gloss Clear wood finish.

[John Christiansen]

I don't know Howard,

I built this one for my third Grandchild.

I'll never build anything for a child out of Poplar again! The stuffs so soft, it dents if they look at it hard.



Poplar is a hardwood, right? It's got leaves.... they shed those leaves.... but it seems kind of soft.

I'd like to make a child's bathroom stool and expect it to receive normal childhood use/abuse, is it hard ENOUGH?

I'd also like to make something that ends up being an heirloom but
don't want to use maple - I prefer poplar's pricing.

Any insight and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. Howard

[Jim Becker]

website to look at your poplar projects.
WOW! What a great website! Really well thought out, but... which projects were the ones in poplar?
Thank you. Howard

All of the bedroom furniture made for my nieces is poplar. The finish is water-based dye (I don't use stains and no conditioner is needed) followed by a coat of dewaxed garnet shellac followed by several coats of Target Coatings Oxford PSL. (water-based lacquer)

I use a lot of (tulip) poplar because I have a lot of poplar from when we had a new septic system installed in 2000. (I have a lot of walunt from the same situation) I would not hesitate to use it for just about any project. Although the heartwood can have a green cast when frest cut, it will turn a nice shade of brown once exposed to UV. It's certainly not the strongest wood, but given good joinery and design, it's plenty strong for most puposes. For a bed that might be exposed to a lot of "athletic" activity by adults, I would probably choose something different, but for the kid's stuff, it was just the ticket.

Some of the material I have is a little knotty and will be a great replacement for pine in an armoire that I have on my project list. The clear stuff works great for more formal pieces.

That all being said, I still love to work with cherry...and it's my first choice for furniture projects when ever possible.