Does anyone know why poplar is not used in making stringers? It seems to have all the right qualities, but what gives?
Yes, you can use poplar as stringer
have you tried cutting/sanding poplar? from my experience…poplar wood is very stringy. When cutting or sanding poplar, leaves strings of wood. Just take a little more prep work.
One of the nice things of poplar wood, you can find this wood at any lumber yard.
Bass usually needs custom ordering ( esp. here in hawaii)
enjoy and have fun
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Yes, you can use poplar as stringer
have you tried cutting/sanding poplar? from my experience…poplar wood is very stringy. When cutting or sanding poplar, leaves strings of wood. Just take a little more prep work.
One of the nice things of poplar wood, you can find this wood at any lumber yard.
Bass usually needs custom ordering ( esp. here in hawaii)
enjoy and have fun
Jim Tolpin, in his excellent bench reference “Working Wood” (1997, Davis Publications, ISBN: 0-87192-301-7, recommended) actually rates yellow poplar (l. tulipifera) slightly better for machine planing (70 to 63) and nearly identical (identically poor, actually, the worst hardwoods listed) for sanding (19 to 17), compared to bass (t. americana - t. heterophylla). Numbers are on a scale of 0 - 100, original data source is U.S. Forestry Service publications. Some poplar varieties are among the fastest growing hardwood trees, it may come down to specific cases. Bass does seem to be scarcer and consequently pricier…
-Samiam
Poplar can also be quite variable in color. Sometimes even green. Not green in the moisture/swollen lumber manner, but actually green like an avocado.
In carpentry, its generally considered paint-grade because of the colors. It would be disappointing to begin to depend on poplar and to find that the next load you cut came out funny looking.
. Actually, poplar is the tallest of the hardwood trees and is used as a paint grade wood because it’s inexpensive and sands nice and flat. Bass is like cottonwood, very punky, but strong relative to its weight. You will have an easier time finding poplar, but I wouldn’t use it in an unsupported way as it has a lot of movement
I’ve seen some very impressive book matched door panels made from spalted poplar
Daniel Hess is making hollow eps/wood boards using poplar and cork. check it out www.hesssurfboards.com admittedly, his are parabolic stringers, but the entire deck/bottom skin is poplar.
good luck
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Daniel Hess is making hollow eps/wood boards using poplar and cork. check it out www.hesssurfboards.com admittedly, his are parabolic stringers, but the entire deck/bottom skin is poplar.
good luck
man, Hess makes nice boards. Do you know where I can get recycled poplar? evidently he uses recycled or sustainable products. I wish I could do that more often.
Does green poplar turn brown with time and /or UV exposure, the way cedar goes from being purple red to deep brown orange?
i have sooo many poplar trees around me, always the first to break during windstorms, i also have some basswood trees around too, they don’t break asmuch it would seem.i work with poplar on a really regular basis in my shop class and it’s pretty easy to work with. currently i am making a hollow CO2 powered race car with it, like swaylocks i tend to think outside the box(mine is the only car that has departed from the standards tick with wheels and co2 holder.
Poplar has similar qualities to basswood but it is heavier – specific gravity basswood = 32, poplar 40. I would imagine it is not used commercially due to the uneven color. Stringer woods need to be “clear” of knots – basswood is one of the few woods that is nearly always clear - plus it is highly warp resistant.
Well, there is poplar, and poplar. Lombardy poplar (p. nigra) is a fast growth, short-lived tree that is popular for windbreaks and as a “sacrificial” starter for groves of more valuable timber. Tulip poplar (l. tulipifera) also grows pretty quickly, but is a longer lived species that can be used as a specimen tree. This is the tree in common commercial use (at least as of the compilation of the Forest Service data). Which means that a conclusion about the working characteristics of the wood from observing what could possibly be Lombardy poplars near the end of their life span may or may not be valid.
-Samiam
I saw tulipmentioned
what is the species relationship with the hawwaii comon ''african tulip?
friend ben has tapped this resource in the last year
grows fast enough to be somewhat of a nusance tree in some areas
light weight ant clear grain long sections…
does that book include this tree by this or another name?
spec grav criterion sounds cool…
…ambrose…
ambrose, we have the tulip polar around here, if i can, i will take a photo of the tree so you can do a comparison based upon the looks.
Spathodea campanulata Beauvois
also fouontain tree.
hmmmm…
…ambrose
tropical trees of the pacific
hargraves 1970
Liriodendron tulipifera Other Names: Yellow Poplar, Tulip Wood
Strength and mechanical properties
Yellow poplar trees grow taller than any other U.S. hardwood species and they are members of the magnolia family. The bark, leaves, flowers, fruit and roots contain pharmaceuticals. Poplar is the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Where it Grows
Widespread throughout Eastern U.S. Tree heights can reach 150 feet.Main Uses
Light construction, furniture, kitchen cabinets, doors, musical instruments, siding, paneling, mouldings and millwork, edge-glued panels, turnings , carvings,and surfboard veneer skins.
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man, Hess makes nice boards. Do you know where I can get recycled poplar? evidently he uses recycled or sustainable products. I wish I could do that more often.
Danny’s boards are quite unique. He was fully trained and employed as a green carpenter before he began making boards, so the sustainable/recycled wood is normal for him…email him and ask. He’s about the greenest person I know.
re: Spathodea campanulata
“…its soft, brittle wood is easily broken by high winds…”
Apparently it is also on the list of species that some in your area consider “invasive” and “potentially harmful”. Whether those designations are valid or not I cannot make an informed and fair judgement from here…
-Samiam