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Thread: Is Poplar a Dumb Buy?

  1. #1
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    Is Poplar a Dumb Buy?

    I'm wondering if I just wasted some money.

    I want to make a shelfy thing for the headstock of my metal lathe, to hold a chuck and some tools. Hardwood would be nice, but it's really expensive. I figured pine would do.

    I went to look at wood, and I saw that poplar was not too much more expensive than pine, so I bought a $20 board. Then I got home and looked it up. Apparently, it's softer than pine, and it is hard to see what the advantages are, apart from having fewer knots. It's pretty ugly.

    Was I a fool to buy this board, and will I weep bitter tears of regret?

    Now I feel like I need to put something on it as a protective layer to resist dents. A lathe chuck that probably weighs 75 pounds will sit on it. I'm not sure what to use. It would have to be something thin, hard, cheap, and easy to attach. Maybe no such product exists.

    Other relatively cheap materials available here are pine, fir, spruce, and western cedar. The spruce looked pretty good. I can use the poplar for the top shelf, which will not hold heavy items. That would allow me to use something else to hold the chuck.
    Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of bench.

    I was socially distant before it was cool.

    A little authority corrupts a lot.

  2. #2
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    It doesn't sound like you wasted your $20-save your bitter tears for another episode of buyer's remorse.

    Poplar is rather ugly. and soft.

    I think it blotches, too. But-who would stain it?
    David
    Confidence: That feeling you get before fully understanding a situation (Anonymous)

  3. #3
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    I was thinking I would cover the resulting product with some kind of super thick coating. Maybe truck bed paint.
    Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of bench.

    I was socially distant before it was cool.

    A little authority corrupts a lot.

  4. #4
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    I've always thought of poplar as being a bit more dent resistant than pine. I would just use your poplar board and not worry about it.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott DelPorte View Post
    I would just use your poplar board and not worry about it.
    +1. My saw till is poplar. I don't care if it gets dinged up - it's a shop accessory, not fine furniture. Likewise, I use 1/2" or 3/4" plywood all over the place in the shop. It's sturdy and looks good enough if I buy a decent grade.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  6. #6
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    Don't know if I'd use poplar for heavy shelving, I usually use plywood for shop shelves but don't be afraid to use it for another project.
    Think you'll find a decent piece of poplar can finish nicely with blotch controls/dyes/stains/clear coats as well as paint grade work.

    http://walzcraft.com/cordovan-w-14-36913/
    http://classiccabs.com/Poplar%20Value%20Line.htm
    Last edited by Tom Ewell; 08-01-2015 at 8:44 PM.

  7. #7
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    Poplar is a hardwood, but is softer than yellow pine. It is significantly harder than white pine. It is an easy working wood that is great for frames or pieces that are to be painted.

    Make your shelf, finish it with your favorite polyurethane or paint and enjoy your creation. It will last a lifetime with reasonable care.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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  8. #8
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    You are underestimating poplar.

    These are poplar.. http://crookedtreejoinery.com/?page_id=38
    Last edited by Larry Edgerton; 08-01-2015 at 9:18 PM.

  9. #9
    For utility uses like this, poplar is a good choice. While yellow pine may be harder, most "pine" you look at is just generic softwood. Many are softer than poplar. Spruce is very soft, for instance. In furniture, poplar is used for things like drawers. It machines well, sands well and is generally well behaved. It's coloring varies from white to green to black which may be off-putting for some. I would rather use it than softwood. I kind of like yellow pine but it's dark yellow grain is hard but the whiter wood inbetween is not. So if you sand it with a soft pad, you will dig out the soft areas a little. But yellow pine smells great when you cut it and is strong and the grain is interesting. All wood species have pluses and minuses.

  10. #10
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    What Larry said. Too many "purists" give poplar a bad rap, when in reality, it has many uses.
    Do like you always do,,,,,get what you always get!!

  11. #11
    A lot of furniture store are selling furniture that might say "cherry finish". You might be under the impression you are looking at cherry, but look closer.....it might be poplar. Poplar is good wood for many uses including fooling the untrained eye!

  12. #12
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    I use poplar all the time if what I'm making get's painted. It is harder than white pine as already said. Poplar is one of the only woods that takes stain really well. I made some poplar cabinet doors & stained them to look like cherry & it would be hard to tell them apart....I trimmed out my house on the interior with poplar & painted it. I used one piece of pine because I ran out & wanted to finish. It's the only piece of wood that has sap streaks the came through the paint. As far as a shelf I use it in 5/4 plenty strong enough as long as it's not a really long run 4-5 is about it.

  13. #13
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    Go Poplar!!!

  14. #14
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    Poplar is often my first choice when it's going to be painted. It's stable, and "takes paint well".

  15. #15
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    I use poplar all the time. the work bench I beat on daily at work is primarily made of poplar, the bench I beat at my last job for 10 years was poplar, half the interior doors in my own house are made of poplar. Its not as hard as southern yellow pine, but its not a sticky pitchy unstable mess either. Can you imagine making drawer sides out of SYP? They might never open again! Poplar was often traditionally used for drawer parts, secondary wood in very fine furniture, even case parts in lower grade work. I'd probably take SYP over poplar for a floor or stair tread, maybe a bench top, but for almost anything else I'd rather work with poplar. So put me in the "poplar's not a bad deal" camp.

    As far as a shelf to hold a heavy metal object, short of IPE or lignum vitae, most species are going to dent under the pressure of heavy steel. I don't like dents in my furniture in the house, so I don't keep lathe chucks on the end tables in the living room. In the shop I could care less about dents. If you do perhaps a sacrificial replaceable layer on the top might make sense, like a piece of 1/8" hard board. You could wrap a lip around the shelf to keep round things in place, then line the thing with a thin replaceable layer. In my mind when two things meet you have to decide which is the more important and make the other one softer. Better the shelf dents than the chuck. My vice jaws are lined with poplar, some use white pine, just because its very soft so its unlikely to dent the more important stuff its meant to touch.
    "A good miter set up is like yoga pants: it makes everyone's butts look good." Prashun Patel

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