Beginners Guide To Wood Species - Everything to Know About Poplar 

This video was requested by POPLAR demand

I've used poly, teak oil, lacquer and other oils on poplar and achieved great finishes with rich colors on poplar. Definitely a nice wood to work with in my opinion.

I have it growing all over my property in North Carolina. It is one of the most beautiful wood varieties that I've ever seen, besides curly maple or a purple heart type. It's a soft hardwood, but the streaks of dark purple, to pink, orange, green, and blues are astounding. When you cut the bark off, it is almost fabric like in the amout of string(y)ness. The smell is that of pepper and spice like the creator mentioned. It dries flat and straight and dosen't tend to tear out as much as pine, and no sap. The piths of the logs tend to be hollowed but I've seen them full just as much. It splits when dried too quickly, but nowhere near as much as maple. I've fallen in love with the amount of pedals that falls into my yard in the early spring, and sometimes you'll catch a full flower twisting it's way down from over 100ft tree. Some of the trees we have are as big around as my cabin in my truck, but looks like something from the dinosaur Era. I'd never touch one of those by the way. Thansk you for the information and great video

I am weird enough to LOVE the look of raw poplar, I like how strange it looks with the green and purple veins in it. (I love how affordable and available it is too). It's a margin more durable than pine, but still very cheap.

With the advice from a pretty big woodworking RU-vidr, I did the side banding of my project table with poplar. I gave it a chamfer to knock off the edges and I love how it turned out. It's held up great over the past six months. Also, on Sunday I'm buying four lengths of black poplar live edge slabs. Excited to do some table tops with them!

Just bought some nice poplar boards yesterday, it was nearly expensive as oak, the price of all nice woods is crazy right now

Super informational, thanks man!

At the mill I work at we cut aspen tulip balm cottonwood willow basswood and Manitoba maple. They all go in the poplar pile

Very information video! Thanks for sharing

You are the man brotha! Thank your for your explanation. I am going to give it a try soon for some cabinets I am making.

Great information well done Thank you

Finally got time to watch this video. Wednesday night! I will have to check out popular wood for a project idea I have. Really was thinking Oak or Maple for it. I have enjoyed the wood species series. ~ Hairy Gary

My husband and I are sanding down a McDougall hoosier cabinet, it's about 100 years old. I get the fuzzy sanding as we believe it is poplar. Solid cabinet, and we've refinished three others of oak. Thanks for the encouraging video.

Very informative. I’m just starting out on doing furniture flipping and don’t know different wood types. Great video.👍🏻💕💕

Poplar grows heavy up here on my Adirondack mountain. I personally enjoy it alot by the fire pit, practicing carving techniques on it because it's so cooperative and easy on my knives.

What a wholesome video

Really nice comprehensive review on poplar. I don’t get the opportunity to purchase hardwoods living in southern New Mexico and you got me interested in trying this hardwood now. I just got a 6’ x 5 1/2 x 3/4 board from the orange store. Going to see how far I can stretch that plank. Thanks again.

Thank you so much for the video :)

Very nice video, information rich. One thing you neglected to mention was that Poplar in very light and therefore used extensively in marine and motorhome applications and anywhere where weight is a primary consideration.

Lot of drum companies use poplar as the core ply in a vintage sound drum. Maple/poplar/Maple...or mahogany/poplar/mahogany, all with maple reinforcement rings. Good to know about the wood in its natural state Thanks for the video

Thank you!! ❤

Really appreciate your channel. Been watching since the mug!

Cigarette box, red pot and tiger in the background. I like it! Tnx for this video!

Very informative

I have rough sawn and planed 18 inch poplar in my living room. I sprayed it with lacquer to keep its color. So far its still fresh looking.

I’m definitely a poplar fan too! It’s really a shame it’s not as popular! By the way, just subscribed to your channel! Consider me a new fan!

I know, old video, but I found some 2x8 8/4 rough poplar here locally for 1.75 a linear ft. I'm milling it and using it in our rv because of its light weight.

Thanks for covering the guitar/instrument side of the wood. Thats what really made me curious, I would say you are correct that the guitar industry is using it a bit improperly for the budget spectrum of instruments.

Poplar is used quite a bit in snowboards because of it's flex, light weight, and affordable.

Very true, I am making a beautiful end / game table out of Poplar and the light, creamy colored is beautiful against the other woods - walnut, Ipe, granadillo and curly maple. Good video!

Thanks for the video! Wondering what clear finish you would recommend for a poplar dining table. I'm painting the base dark blue, so I just want it to be a natural color. Thanks!!

What exactly are you doing to all the chickens that are going crazy on the background? Lol

The older the more colorful. Logger called it iron wood . When the Sun shined on the cut stump it looks kinda like a piece of steel. Beautiful fresh sawn and planed. Minerals from rich bottom land color the 1st sectiin of the tree. 🇺🇸👍

+100 for chicken sounds and guitar! I want to build a rainbow poplar telecaster!!! I would say it would be a good thing to mention the blotchiness if you want to stain it from raw IMO.

I like it because it’s not as hard or as expensive as oak but is harder than pine. I also like the green-ish color as well

How does popular paint? Wondering because of the various shades in a board.

Would this be good to use for office desk 60"x30"?

Cool video. Where I am treated Poplar is often used for split rail fence's. I've considered using the treated variety for decking, but can't find any information on how it would fare, vs treated pine, long term in that kind of application. Any insight into that matter? Thanks

Hi!! I'm a painter, 1 client has a porch and some exterior stairs built w cedar and pressure treated wood, he wants to cover the pressure treated wood areas (posts and stair stringers), railing i guess is cerdar or redwood.. I'm using poplar to cover that areas, but now im wondering if is poplar recommended for exterior?? I'm gonna paint everything but I'm worried about how long can it last?? What do you think??😕

I am relative new to woodworking, so I don't have a ton of experience. That being said, I've found that poplar can be prone to have a lot of tension in the grain which can cause problems when ripping.

Poplar takes paint really well. I have also seen it used as a cherry substitute using a dark Danish oil. I hope the baby and mom are doing well.

In a tele with GFS Retrotron Liverpool HB's nothing and I mean nothing does that old country tone better! One major studio pro in Texas who has recorded with the biggies like Willie, Waylon, and Johnny Cash among others, prefers this combination.

Don't be an ash, be the poplar choice.

thanks M8... I think i'm about the 1 person in history that likes poplar. I am building a solid dining table out of it...end thickness is looking to be about 1-1/2 to 1-3/4 inches thick, sitting on black pipe legs. trying to find a clear coat finish that has the least chance of yellowing. My wood has lots of greens and some purples running through it. I know the purples will fade to brown, but the contrast will be awesome. again, thanks for the vid

I've got the opportunity to buy a huge poplar piece to use for a table 10*100-140*200-400 cm (sorry about the metric). Bit worried that it will dent easily. It's popular to use for tables in Japan, apparently. I'm looking for ways to strengthen it... Things to apply.

Is Tulip (yellow poplar) sold together with white poplar? I k now the mills pay almost nothing for a load of tulip here.😢

with a guitar add a thin 1/4" hard top like pear, apple, maple, etc and poplar tone will shine!

I was hoping to hear about things like warping, water/weather resistance, and strength.

Very informative video, I think the music in the background is distracting. Don't know why so many informative videos have background music just my 2 cents worth

I'm a craft artist and my suppliers have switched from birch to Poplar which I've never tried. I use a large heat press to press my prints onto the surface of 3mm wood. This process worked perfectly on birch, sometimes there would be some bleeding and smudges within the grain but nothing serious. Would 3mm thick Poplar hold up under high heat of 190 degrees or would it warp, and more importantly is it treated with any chemicals as I don't want nasty fumes released under heat. I'd be greatful for any info regarding poplar for my requirements.

My uncle built kitchen cabinets and he had a long board of poplar leaning against the wall in his shop. He said that poplar wont warp unless you warp it and clamp and glue it. Is that true ?

Poor poplar- always the bridesmaid! I agree that poplar is underrated. I’m happy to pop a clear coat on it and enjoy the grain. I do find that the streaks of color fade with time, but that’s okay with me too.

Is Tulip and Poplar, the same thing?

Poplar is the softest of the hardwoods.

Only down side I feel strongly about with poplar is that (in my experience) it tends to get more raised grain issues then many other hardwood species. This means that when I work with poplar I always have to wipe it down with a REALLY wet rag before I can consider it fully sanded because I have had a few projects where it drank the finish oil and the grain popped up really high.

do you think poplar would be a good wood for a traditional hand hewn log cabin?

hows the end grain hold up? for like a cutting board?

I don't know if you'll see this and I know it isn't the right video but I couldn't find a vid about my problem. I have a poplar guitar body I sanded to 320 but it's still rough almost fluffy. Nothing I do seems to help. The poplar just won't sand right smooth. Do you have any ideas? thanks Rob

what oil was that you were rubbing on it?

Would Tulip Poplar be good used as exterior wood siding without paint or stain? Would it hold up well? I want to cover three sides of my 1850s log cabin to help protect the logs. Thanks

The only problem I have with poplar is that it doesn’t stain evenly. That’s it. It works for every other application I’ve tried it with. And with prices of wood what they are now it’s the cheapest hardwood, at least in my region.

Could you frame a house with poplar?

Hard as hell when dry. I'd like to try it for flooring in my camp. Anyone try that?

I'm just a snowboarder trying to understand the wood my board is made of.

Your chickens are in distress :)

You lost me at "poplar takes longer to sand...." 😂😂

I actually use pine on my guitar body blanks and use popular 1/4" for a cap on my guitars. You can check it out on my chanel. I actually like it . It's a unrated wood. Just use wood harder.

I hate the smell. My only complaint about it.

Can you hear a chicken being raped in the background?

Don’t tread on poplar

WTF is going on in your background dude? It sounds like your shop is in the middle of a giant chicken farm...lol

Why is totally unnecessary music competing with your voice? What is all that noise in the beginning? Why aren't you using a lavalier/clip-on mic? The video and presentation is good, but your audio leaves much to be desired.