Wood question - poplar???

[Teacher_of_the_Arcane]

Hi All,

There are a couple of types of poplar, yellow and white. Yellow poplar is what I've used for whittling....ball in a cage....chain links.....I work with the Boy Scouts. White poplar is sometimes called hickory poplar because it's so hard. You might want to avoid it. I've got a buddy who operates a small scale saw mill and generally has poplar pieces laying around, free to a good home, especially if some of it ends up with the Scouts.

Don

[frank mack]

I have used it to carve fish and have found it to be good for that purpose.

[Robson Valley]

Poplars (Genus = Populus) are distributed throughout the Northern Hemisphere with maybe 40 species recognized. Half a dozen are native to Canada, lots of others introduced. Plus, they seem able to hybridize. . . . so there's all sorts of "intermediates" possible, too. Windsor Plywood sells Aspen in one bin and poplar in another. Precisely which species the 'poplar' is, I have no idea.

Get some. Try some. Don't fall in love with the project and expect a home run every time.
With indistinct annual growth rings and diffuse-porous wood anatomy, I expected that the poplar would be OK for wood-cuts. Plus it was 1/2" x 6" and flat. Works for me.