Thread: Working with Poplar.

Thats interesting, poplar seems to be mentioned quite often in US woodworking programs. From my position of complete ignorance I would have expected something more akin to pine
I am hoping that there will be a Masters near me soon but theya re building yet another Bunnings a few kms away

"building yet another Bunnings a few kms away"

Just up the road, at Caroline Springs, the next Masters store to open is exactly across the road from the local Bunnings !

Returning to Poplar, it basically behaves like a "furry" pine, but now and then when routing on the table, it spits as if it's hit a wood knot. Examination shows no grain change.
The "ribbons" of waste are a pain in the rectum.

Don't know anything about poplar but a Masters store opens near me tomorrow. so look forward to having a sticky beak when I get a chance

Originally Posted by stringybark

I've viewed past posts on the subject of Poplar (some very old) but find my relationship with Poplar somewhat contrary to others. When the new "Masters" store opened locally, the first in Australia, I noticed they had some very nice looking Poplar in various sizes. Never having used this before, I decided to buy a couple of planks and make another carriage clock.
Didn"t like the way it worked! It's supposed to be a soft wood like pine, but my tools (and they are sharp) soon lost their edge. Routing this timber produced "ribbons" instead of chips, and even a brand new router bit soon started to have a burnt odour after a while. My Japanese draw saws struggled as well.
The timber is trade marked "Black Label" and manufactured in New Zealand.
I've used plenty of hard and some exotic timbers over the years, but not anything like this.
As Masters are directly competing with Bunnings, I assume Poplar will be a regular stock item.
Has anyone else had experience with working Poplar please?

Kids used to bring it to school for their woodwork projects because it was cheap and plentiful.
The woodwork teacher had the same experience as you - blunt tools after a very short time. He made enquiries and found that poplar seems to have a high silcon(silica?) content and it was this that was wrecking the cutting edges of the tools.
Banned it from the shop from then on.
Cheers
SG

Matches and paddlepop sticks full stop!

Thanks Scribbly Gum, interesting trivia. I have continued the carraige clock build, rather than waste the timber. My routers and other tools can always be re-sharpened.

Poplar is a cheap imported Nth American hardwood. Masters have brought it into Australia togther with a very course grain Red Oak from their sister stores Lowes in the US. Both timbers are very poor finishing timbers. Certified Meranti is considered a better timber than these imports.
There is no industry timber certification on these products. They do list a non certified number which to the international council of PEFC and FSC means absolutely nothing. These products are cheap and purely designed to finish what is left of the Australian Timber market.
It's funny that we have 'Greenies' protesting in properly managed and sustainable Australian plantations yet they wont take on these and other cheap imported and uncertified timber that is flooding the Australin market. Go figure folks.