Thread: Poplar, elm, cotoneaster, ash & willow uses

you should seal the ends with paint or something like that and keep them out of the sun.

Logs are hard to season.
Its best to cut the log into timber straight away then stack the timber away to dry

I have just used Scottish Ash for my new kitchen and I thought I should maybe mention its caveats.

Using 40mm X 650 deep made up of two planks made a stunning job, but I found out two things about Ash(the Scottish variety anyway) along the way.

1: It stains very badly in ordinary water. Belt sanding for hours eventually got most of it away. Accidentally leaving a damp cloth on it overnight left a horrible stain. It is OK after oiling though.

2: I have never seen a wood that moves so much.

Seems to suck moisture in like a sponge, which could ruin the job, so I would advise keeping the raw wood in a warm dry place before making anything.

I have heard of a guy eventually ripping out an Ash fireplace that he made after 3 months as all the joints had opened up.

Same thing happened to me as all my perfect mitres opened up on skirting and dado.

Cheers,
Ray.

I use poplar a lot (mainly because I have heaps) it is light weight and atractive. Willow would be the same.
Elm looks great and is stable, my bench tops are elm slabs.
Cottoneaster what else could you do with it but turn it they don't grow big enough to mill. Well maybe little boxes would look good it is beautiful wood.

Poplar takes stains well and was widely used in the hidden parts of antiques to simulate the more expensive timber on show.

Elm is good stuff, tho the striking colours when green fade a lot when exposed to light.