Poplar or Maple

[Bob Cooper]

I’m pretty sure the two outside boards are Maple but I’m not sure if the long center board is Maple or Poplar. I don’t see the distinctive green that would give it away but I don’t use these woods all that much so I don’t have a good sense

[Bill McNiel]

My best guess from far away is that you are correct in your assumption.

[Greg Funk]

Push your fingernail into a board. Poplar is much softer than maple.

[Andrew Seemann]

It is probably maple with heartwood in it.

[Lee Schierer]

They all look like maple from here. One thing I do before lumber goes on my wood rack is to write what it is on the end of each board. You can either write out the whole word or just the first letter. I use a Sharpie to do this.

[Rob Luter]

All three look like Poplar to me. Go figure.

[Justin Rapp]

Looks like soft maple to me. Soft maple has a slightly darker tone to it than rock maple.

[John TenEyck]

It all looks like soft maple to me.

John

[Jim Becker]

I'm with John...all soft maple.

[Justin Rapp]

I'm with John...all soft maple.

haha should be 'I'm with John and Justin' We both claimed it was soft maple! I am glad you agree.

[Michael Drew]

I use both soft maple and poplar for drawers. I buy whichever one is less expensive (it varies where I am at). Sometimes they are difficult to identify by appearance, but the 'soft' maple is always a tad more dense than the popler. Like mentioned earlier, a thumbnail test will tell you what species you have.

[Jim Becker]

haha should be 'I'm with John and Justin' We both claimed it was soft maple! I am glad you agree.

[Bob Cooper]

Thanks. Glad it wasn’t obvious. I’ll try the fingernail test tomorrow