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Leo Van Der Loo
08-19-2008, 2:56 AM
Always been told, and yes we believe often what we hear, and maybe we want to believe something for that's what we expect from it.
Anyway I have a couple Tulip trees Liriodendron tulipifera growing on my property, AKA yellow poplar and white wood in the lumber department.
They aren't very big and have had their share of bad weather which caused the top and branch-wood to break out/off.
And I turned some small pieces for birdhouse ornaments, most with the bark left on, from the branch-wood that came down or was trimmed off, never had any larger pieces till last week, when a thunderstorm broke a Manitoba Maple tree's trunk with the result that a large 10"D. limb broke/split off of the Tulip tree standing next to it.
I turned a couple dozen bowls from the MM, but never even thought about turning the Tulip wood, "it's a no good for turning wood anyway" so having used all but a few crotch pieces of the MM, I was all done with the wood and had all of it cut and stacked up for my buddy to come and get it, then the thought struck me to why not turn a piece of the Tulip, so I'd know how bad it is to turn.
End of story, it turns not bad at all when green and so I turned almost all of the wood out and off this tulip tree crotch half, just left enough for this very skinny bowl :D.
It's 8½" and very thin, the rim bead is just thicker than most of the rest, and that measures .060", about 1½ mm.
I sanded it very carefully :eek: with oil and it's still wet in the picture.
Still have to take the tenon down some, though there's not much wood left there, might still end up with a funnel, and that's still not bad as an end-result of a "it's a no good for turning wood anyway wood :D" as of now I know it isn't that bad to turn and looks OK also, I think :confused:.

Steve Schlumpf
08-19-2008, 7:26 AM
Leo - that looks like some interesting wood! Nice grain pattern! Amazed at how thin you managed to turn this one! Very nice tool control! Looks like it could be one of those transluscent bowls if given enough oil! Thanks for sharing!

Jim Becker
08-19-2008, 8:56 AM
Leo, David Ellsworth trains on yellow poplar and ash. I still have my poplar pieces from the class and have turned it a number of times since, given half our property is forested by this particular species. (I also build a lot of furniture from it)

My bottom line...if you can mount it on the lathe...it's turnable. :D

BTW, what you call Manatoba Maple is called box elder "down here". It's a very popular turning stock, both for the burl and for stock that carries the red stain.

Jack Mincey
08-19-2008, 10:04 AM
I use it in my high school shop for my students to turn. It returns very easy after dry. Some poplar has very nice green to blue color in it. Large blocks are easy to come by. One of my 10th grade students sold a poplar bowl he turned for $150.00 last school year. Ages ago when I was in high school one of my friends made a few tables out of curly poplar that had a dark green to blue color in the wood. I've never seen any like it since.
Jack

Glenmore Henry
08-19-2008, 1:34 PM
Leo really nice turning. Like the look of it.

Leo Van Der Loo
08-20-2008, 1:44 AM
Thank Steve, I was surprised as well Steve, also with it being able to get turned this thin, it was so flexible but stayed together, of course works when it doesn't matter, try next time when it does :eek:.
I don't know if it will be anything like NIP, though I doubt it, but we'll see :D

Leo Van Der Loo
08-20-2008, 2:01 AM
Leo, David Ellsworth trains on yellow poplar and ash. I still have my poplar pieces from the class and have turned it a number of times since, given half our property is forested by this particular species. (I also build a lot of furniture from it)

My bottom line...if you can mount it on the lathe...it's turnable. :D

BTW, what you call Manatoba Maple is called box elder "down here". It's a very popular turning stock, both for the burl and for stock that carries the red stain.

Hi Jim, Yes I'm aware the Manitoba Maple is called Box Elder, one of those things with common names, but as long as everyone knows about them it's no problem, If I'd called Acer Negundo it could be a bigger ?? what's that :)

The "turnable" thing though sometimes is, Why bother ???, but yes it goes right there with "if it's free wood it's good wood".

It's used also a lot for paint grade trim etc, straight grain and knot free, a bit soft maybe, You have a furniture shop Jim ??.

Leo Van Der Loo
08-20-2008, 2:11 AM
Hi Jack thanks for looking and the info, I will turn the other half of the crotch thick so I can return it later, I had been wondering how it would turn dry, this wood had the common green heart in the branch as I would expect, I was surprised with the purple pink color of the late-wood, wasn't expecting that, and it does look good now, the other question now is will that color stay or just fade away, as what happens often, still it was fun turning it ;-))

Leo Van Der Loo
08-20-2008, 2:17 AM
Thanks for looking and the comment Glenmore, take care

Jim Becker
08-20-2008, 9:09 AM
It's used also a lot for paint grade trim etc, straight grain and knot free, a bit soft maybe, You have a furniture shop Jim ??.

A healthy portion of the North American furniture industry uses Yellow Poplar as the prime material and another good portion uses it for secondary. And this is not painted--commercial multi-step finishes can make it look like just about anything that is close grained. The only time I've painted it was for the face frames for my kitchen cabinets and for the legs/aprons of a bow-front hall table. All of the rest furniture I've built with it was dyed and finished accordingly, simulating cherry or pine. (Using knotty material for the latter)

Yes, I primarily do "flat work" (Blasphemy in this forum, I know...) but turning is a major love of mine when I get the time. Both are serious avocations that I do for, umm....mental health...;)