What about Aspen?

[Garth Keel]

While driving to Lake Tahoe on back roads, I live about 1 hr away in the Sierra, I noticed a lot of aspen trees, some quite large. I have never seen or heard of anyone using this wood. Why not?

[Matt Ocel]

I believe they are a close relative of the white poplar.
I would suspect its a paintable grade, soft wood.

[John Bush]

One of my favorite trees to ski thru!!

[Pat Germain]

There's a guy in Buena Vista, CO who makes beautiful turned vessels from aspen. I've seen his work, his studio and his shop. Here's a link with some examples:

http://www.robertgraystudio.com/portfolio.htm

I'd say those are more than just "paint grade" projects. :)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I suspect it's awfully soft.

I love seeing the leaves as I walk into elk camp in late October, early November. The late afternoon setting sun makes the leaves look like gold shimmering in the tree tops.

[Matt Ocel]

There's a guy in Buena Vista, CO who makes beautiful turned vessels from aspen. I've seen his work, his studio and his shop. Here's a link with some examples:

http://www.robertgraystudio.com/portfolio.htm

I'd say those are more than just "paint grade" projects. :)


I have to agree with you Pat. Those are beautiful vessels.
I keep forgetting about the turners.;)

[Robert Parrish]

I am currently using Aspen to make trim pieces for a Carousel horse. It is a member of the Willow family and is a light brown to creamy color. It is a hardwood but very soft. I purchased mine from Steve Wall lumber.

[Dewayne Reding]

I have about 100 foot of it I picked up cheap. Much of it as white as white pine. It is definitely soft as pine, but also seems far more stable. I've been using it for drawers (not the fronts of course). It seems like a pretty good use for it. Doesn't sand up well, but you can get a clean cut with a good saw blade. Secondary use only IMO.

[Doug Shepard]

The stuff I've seen and used is very pale and without any real grain lines or figure. It looks decent but suffers from the fuzzies if you dont keep plane blades or scrapers sharp. Sanding has to go to a few finer grits than you'd probably use normally to get rid if the fuzz. No issues with either gluing or finishing.

[Rick Levine]

I recently added full extension pull out shelves with 3" tall sides around each shelf for several open cabinets in my kitchen. I used a small cottonwood tree that fell at my former employer's lot, had it cut into planks at a local saw mill, let it dry for about a year (it's quite dry here in New Mexico) and when I ran out of the cottonwood I used aspen that I bought a my local Lowes hardware store to complete the project.

The aspen worked nicely with the cottonwood and the shelves are holding up quite well. The top shelf is aspen and the bottom is cottonwood.

Before you say it, I know, my wife collects dishes, but it does demonstrate the weight the wood will handle. I did use 1/2 ply for the bottoms.

As an added note. I just turned on the TV and was watching an episode of The Woodwright's Shop and Roy Underhill was touring a place called Tiller's International where they were making Ox yokes out of aspen. I guess if it is stong enough for an Ox yoke it should be strong enough for my shelves.