poplar wood

[jeff oldham]

I have got some big square chunks of poplar wood that would make nice bowls.my only problem is its the green type of poplar,,can anyone tell me of a finish that I can use to cover up the green in it,,its a shame to waste this wood but the green makes it absolutely ugly,,any input would really help,,thank you

[Pete Staehling]

It browns up in time with UV exposure. Peroxide speeds the process.

The green can actually be pretty though IMO. For some reason I think it looks especially nice with a wet sanded and buffed lacquer finish.

[Don Jarvie]

Use a dark stain. The green will turn a bit darker and match well with the lighter wood.

[Dwight Rutherford]

Black or white Gesso is another option

[John Keeton]

Red and green make brown, so you can dye it brown and use some red dye on the green areas to blend them. Or, if the whole piece is green use red dye on all of it. Play around with a test piece. Poplar dyes very well as long as one considers the inherent tones of the wood itself.

[Reed Gray]

A light weight wood, but takes any of the paints well, and can be died easily. Frequently used for 'paint grade' woods in building. It will oxidize even out of direct sun light.

robo hippy

[Pete Staehling]

I didn't mention how long the peroxide took. It may vary with the piece, but with the hot Florida sun I have had a piece turn brown with an hour of sun after a quick application of peroxide. The brown went deep enough for light sanding.

Also, others mentioned dying or staining it. A very light application of cherry stain takes the edge off of the green-ness while not eliminating it entirely. If you want to tone it down a little that is one approach.

I build mountain dulcimers and poplar was a popular wood in traditional dulcimers and is a decent tone wood so I tend to use it a good bit. Personally I think it can be lovely and do not mind the greenish cast unless it fights with the other colors in the instrument. I do find that opinions vary among my customers so I use a variety of approaches depending on the customer. I am not big on stain beyond maybe a light wash to change tone slightly. Depending on the customer and the individual piece i do one of the following:

1. Embrace the natural color. I find it can be downright pretty especially when finished with wet sanded and buffed lacquer. It looks okay with my usual hybrid oil finish too but poplar has a creamy look that I really like with the lacquer.
2. If the colors fight, use a slight wash of stain to warm the tone. I use it with warmer colored woods like cherry sometimes and the color fights. In those cases I warm it up with a light application of cherry stain, just enough to take the edge off of the green.
3. Treat with peroxide and leave it the sun for an hour or so. This is enough to turn the green to brown in at least the last batch of poplar that I bought.
4. Choose pieces with little or no green.

[ALAN HOLLAR]

Oxalic acid, which was once sold as wood brightener, and is useful for removing the black iron stains on wood, will turn the green to brown nearly instantly

[Pete Staehling]

Oxalic acid, which was once sold as wood brightener, and is useful for removing the black iron stains on wood, will turn the green to brown nearly instantly

That reminds me... Ebonizing also works with poplar. You may need to add some tea since it isn't real high in tannins. I have done it. Not a big fan, but it does work.

[Harold Balzonia]

‘You can also chop it up into segments to make a new block and use it to contrast with other woods....
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[Perry Hilbert Jr]

I get a lot of yellow poplar for free. Nice soft wood, but I get tears outs when I get near the sap wood/heart wood border. I kind of like the greenish hue. I normally paint the poplar items. A very dark stain hides the green. I made a few small ornaments with poplar and then dyed them with artist's ink. Like India ink. The red and green colors turned out very nice. But the ink raises the grain again slightly.

[Marvin Hasenak]

Get a few bottles of Feibings alcohol based leather dye, any colors that you like. Take the wool daubers that come with the dye and draw lines in odd shapes all over the finished turned piece. Let the lines overlap a little. Depending on your artistic drawings with the dye it can become an explosion of colors. If you over lap the colors, that will add another color.