Turning Poplar

[Happy Chappy]

Having seen a big old Poplar tree, that adorn the sides of the roads in NE Vic, gone over in a storm, it has posed the question as to how good the wood would be for turning?
Does anyone make use of this wood and if so how well does it turn and how aesthetically pleasing is the finished product.

Thanks

[ticklingmedusa]

we use poplar here for waste stock to glue on a blank and screw a faceplate to...
some people turn bowls etc. out of it but often it doesnt seem to have a very striking grain pattern.
it does sand and machine nicely and takes a nice finish.

[bennylaird]

Don't know how Poplar it is for turning? Sorry...................

[soundman]

In the dim dark ages poplar was a major turning timber.
it was split and turned for legs and stretchers for windsor chairs.
the thing with poplar is that you can kack it off close to the ground , it will then come back with twice as many branches & you can do it all over again in a few years time.
this was known as copicing.
cheers

[Rough Country B]

Gidday

Poplar is quite a good timber. It is used in the States for flooring and over here in N.Z. for truck decks. Apparantly ig get quite hard when dry.

I have a portable saw mill and have cut a fair bit for cockies as farm timber which they have had treated to make it last better.

There is one type of poplar, I think it's a Chinese one, that has a really beautiful wavey grain.

[rsser]

Yeah, good turning but not a lot of interest in the figure.

Does take finishes well though.

It was widely used in Europe in fine cabinetry for backs and drawer carcasses and the like since it could easily be stained to match the more expensive visible timber.

[hcbph]

If your poplar is the same as our poplar, then it does turn ok. Not has hard as oak or maple. If you're not using sharp tools, you can get some fuzzing. Takes paint well and is used a lot for internal parts. It's fairly bland in grain and can have some green streaking to it. I prefer Birch to Poplar for most things just because of the graining.

Paul

[bsrlee]

Richard Raffan recommends it for practice turning/exercises. It would also be good for experimenting on a design before you waste some expensive/exotic wood on something that doesn't work out.

You can drop off a cube or two at my place when you get it dried properly:D The staining is caused by a soil bacteria, so get it cut & off the ground asap - ditto 'spalting' & dry rot.

[Mikko]

Poplar is a very nice timber to turn.
As said the grain is not the best, but here they tend to burl a lot(caused by severe winters)....and that stuff is pretty neat.
Also, this timber is great for spalting as it does take the fungi pattern but does not go soft easily.

Like aspen, poplar does not react to moisture too much.
This is probably the reason why it is used for truck decks.

Here is Finland aspen is becoming very common timber for sauna interiors.

Oh....one nice thing about the European black poplar is that it grows very fast and thick. A good option for VEEERY large bowls and other projects.

Cheers,
Mikko

[ribot]

The trees around our town are all being pruned and cut into firewood lengths which happen to be just the right length for a bowl blank.
Some of them are Poplar and if you are lucky as I was to pick up one lot with a stain through the middle then you are lucky as it is usually pretty boring colour and not much figure to speak of, in fact none.
However an exellent timber to turn, go for it.