Working with Poplar

[Mark Kelly]

I have never worked with poplar. I have heard it is one step above balsa wood but have also heard it is a nice wood to work with and use.

I plan on using it for drawers in the future as I am not to keen on using plywood for them.

Any thoughts/suggestions on poplar and working with it?

[Dan Stuewe]

I've used it for painted trim and like it a lot for that. It isn't as hard as maple/oak/cherry, but better than pine. It is a bit splintery and can fuzz some with less than sharp blades, but it cleans up nicely. You can get quite a bit of color in the wood, so be aware if you want just a light wood for your drawers.

As for painting, just make sure to mill up some extra boards to use as strechters over the next few hundred years. You wouldn't want the restoreres to cause more harm then good!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/05/04/mona.lisa.xray.ap/index.html

[Mark Kelly]

Hmmm, I guess I would let my kids worry about that kinda of a problem!

Is poplar a good carving or turning wood? I do neither of these (yet) but a curiosity streak has hit me about this wood.

[Russell Svenningsen]

Check out Jim Becker's website www.sawsndust.com for some very nice projects in poplar.
I love the wood. I use it as a secondary wood in many of my projects. It Shellas is mr preferred finish for poplar. Color variation can be a problem, but with the wealth of dyes and tints available, it's easy to match boards.
It takes paint better than just about anything.

Good luck,
Russell

[Steven Wilson]

It's nice to work with, easy to paint, and quite nice as a secondary wood in a piece of furniture. It can be fairly ugly though. As a cheap practice wood for practicing spindle turning its quite good.

[Chris Padilla]

My wife LOVES the green color one can get with poplar. I find I am selecting boards based on that for her.... :D

[Peter Stahl]

I really like working with poplar, machines easily. Much easier to work with than pine. Would be a excellant choice for drawer sides and frame components. Most people don't like the way it looks stained. It takes paint well though.

Pete

[Lee Schierer]

Poplar is an easy wood to work with. It is stable and readily accepts paint or stain. You will tend to get fuzzies with the first coat of paint, so be prepared to sand lightly after the first coat. Subsequent coats will lay down glass smooth.

Screws hold well in poplar and it makes excellent framing since it is strong stable and low in cost. I use 1/2" poplar for all my drawer boxes. I do apply a clear finish on it inside and out. The green and purple hues some of the wood can get will turn brown after exposure to light. Glue joints are as strong as the wood itself.

[Jim Becker]

Whomever represented what most woodworkers refer to as poplar as a "step above balsa" is smokin' somethin'!! Poplar (Tulip Poplar|Tulip Tree|Yellow Poplar|Liriodendron tulipifera L.) is a member of the magnolia family and is one of the most prolific trees on the eastern seaboard. It's not to be confused with "poplars" that are members of the aspen family which has different characteristics. Tulip Poplar gets that name from the large and beautiful green and orange blooms it gets in the spring...I find them on my property in th 4" - 6" diameter range when they get blown off the larger trees!

While certainly not as hard as maple and cherry, poplar isn't il-suited to furniture, either. You can dent it easier than those heavier woods, but I haven't found that to be an issue, frankly. Traditional joinery is strong and it machines wonderfully. Some folks are not taken by the greenish color of the heartwood when the wood is freshly milled, but a little time with some UV rays makes it turn a nice, medium brown which compliments the lighter heartwood. The grain is not dissimilar to cherry and maple and with careful finishing, it can emulate those woods. Knottier "common" material (usually from local mills rather than premium suppliers) can even take the place of pine in country furniture, but offer a harder characteristics for durability. Like cherry, pine, alder and some other species, poplar can take pigment stains unevenly so a pre-conditioner is a good idea. But dyes work very well--I prefer water bourne dyes followed by shellac for toning.

One of the nicest things about poplar is it's low cost in most markets, at least compared to other hardwood species. It sells for anywhere from $.50 to a few dollars a board foot, depending on the quality/grading and drying method. Unfortunatly, many folks only know this wood from the 'borg where they charge an arm and a leg for it! Poplar is also great for air drying your own as it gets to workable MC faster than some other woods. Most of my supply is off the property and was milled in mid-2000. I've been using it ever since...one example below.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=1186&stc=1

[Tim Sproul]

Mark,

How are you going to do the drawer mechanism? If using metal slides, poplar is fine. If you are planning on using the bottoms of the sides as the glides or going to use wooden glides fit into stopped grooves in the drawer sides, poplar may not be a good wood....it doesn't wear very well. Using the traditional method of a floating drawer with runners and kickers, you can "weld" a strip of oak or other well-wearing hardwood to the bottom of the drawer sides.

'Course, if you don't plan on keeping the furniture for many years poplar will be fine as it will last awhile. Just don't expect it to last generations - though drawers can always rebuilt.

[Bruce Page]

Mark, I used poplar for my shop bench drawers. It machines easily and seems to be very stable – at least here in NM. You can have a wide range of color & grain patterns, all in the same board. I used Watco natural on the bench drawers. They turned out ok but it took 3 or 4 years for the watco smell to subside.