Our eldest daughter, her handsome husband and their five children recently moved into a “new to them” home. Now they have a small but nice dining room, but their table isn’t nearly large enough to accommodate them all at once. Seating visitors is out of the question unless our precious grandkids are set up elsewhere.
So, as a housewarming gift and in honor of their 15th wedding anniversary, I have offered to make a trestle table for them. It is a project that I am looking forward to, but my pension rather limits the materials I may use.
After shopping around for a time, about the best bang for the buck in my area seems to be Poplar. The plans call for 6/4 stock, but my choices at my favorite lumber yards seem to be either 5/4 or 8/4. I really like the idea of having an 8/4 top (just in case my grandkids feel the need to use the table as a dance floor), but that thickness comes at a cost as well.
Now comes the big question to all of my esteemed colleagues: is there a good way to treat Poplar in terms of stain and finish? Is there another wood that should be considered over Poplar for this project?
FYI: the plans are an early Norm Abram project which are being pared down from a total table top length of 89″ to 78″ and the width is being expanded from 31″ to 36″ due to the room dimensions. Your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Replies
Poplar is often considered a secondary wood used for drawer construction and alike however, it is a nice wood for painted furniture. I recently made a dining buffet out of poplar painted black and it turned out well.
I don't know if I ever seen a table top made out of poplar as it tends to dent easily. Considering there will be five kids running around the house and the table may be used as a dance floor, the top may be dented to death. As far as staining, I've messed around with staining poplar but it never turned out well. Others may have had success.
You may want to consider making the table out of red oak if cost is an issue.
Poplar for a table is kind of soft in my opinion.
It is usually used as a secondary wood, either paint grade or for hidden components of furniture.
It dents easily.
Norman
I have stained it, but it needs a dark stain to hide the color variations.
I also think it is too soft for the top or legs on a dinning table.
Doug M
As the other posters have said, poplar is soft for a hardwood. If you're aiming for rustic, it'll be okay; a few acquired dents will be fine. However, if you want something a little stronger, you might look at ash. In my lumber dealers, ash is only a tad more expensive than poplar. (It used to be more expensive, but a bug is killing all the ash trees, so lumber owners are harvesting and selling for whatever they can get.) Ash is a good-looking wood, and much harder to dent than poplar.
I've seen Poplar used extensively in painted mill work; stair pickets and the like but not where it will take any abuse such as base molding where it will get banged into by vacuum cleaners.
I've seen some photos on this forum of stained Poplar work that looks spectacular but it may not be what you want to look at three meals a day.
I think (IMHO) you would be better off a denser, more stainable wood and reduce the thickness to help reduce cost.
You might even ask the recipients to help with the cost and work with them on material selection.
Best of luck with the project and best to your family!
Mack
"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
Well, A bit of competing opinion - I've seen a fair number of trestle tables made of poplar or hard pine (southern yellow pine). Both do pick up dents over time, but if it's a semi-rustic look you're going for, those dings and dents add to the appeal, in my opinion. One idea would be to make the table out of poplar or pine and put a distressed finish on it (for example - milk paint and a crackle finish, overlaid by varnish).
If you want a clear finish, you can get rid of the greenish color of the poplar heartwood by leaving it in the sun for a couple of days. The sun will turn the color an overall tan, and is pretty quick. In my experience, poplar both dyes and stains well, though I prefer a dye to a pigment stain for a more uniform color. If you use yellow pine, I'd suggest tinting the varnish with a dye rather than applying it directly to the wood, as it tends to blotch pretty badly.
One other thought - if you can get it, heart pine (yellow pine, except the heart of the tree - it's often recovered from old barns and houses as flooring) would make a great table top. It's hard as glass and is resinous, so it will need to be sealed with shellac before applying the top coat.
heartwould,
I'd go fishing around down there in Brown County for some nice oak or ash at about $1 a foot green. We have guys up in Maine that will provide most woods for about a buck or two and the whole log for 60 cents a board foot.
My kitchen pine/fir harvest table I bought as unfinished furniture about 30 years ago. The table shows all kinds of marks from homework and projects...if I dared to touch the finish I'd have to pack my bags...:)
Hi heartwould ,
You certainly can use Poplar if you want , but I would tend to agree that Poplar would not be the best choice unless it is exactly what you want .
Imo take a look at soft Maple the cost is similar out West and the Maple has some beautiful color and grains .
regards dusty
My goodness! Thanks to all of you who have responded thus far!
Poplar was considered primarily due to the availability and price. Ash is also available, but not in the thickness I want, plus it is just flat heavy!
My biggest problem in building the trestle table is having a small shop that is not so well equipped. Unfortunately, I do not have a planer or joiner, so I am pretty much at the mercy of either the sawyer/lumber yard or the friend who has yet to come forward. (My one contact told me yesterday that he let some folks of dubious character use his planer and it is trashed with his spare blades MIA).
Brown County sure has a lot of trees, but most of the folks I know there want to keep them as they stand.
I went out this morning and finally found some folks who were willing to part with some custom cut 6/4 Red Oak for just a tad over $8 bf. That's pretty steep for my budget.
Two of my grandsons (6 year old cousins whom I affectionately refer to as "Cain & Abel") will most assuredly put some markings on the table, whatever the material. We can either go for the distressed look from the beginning or just let them have at it.
Btb, Poplar has traditionally been used in these parts for interior trim--including baseboards. I tried making a thumbnail print in some Poplar yesterday and left nary a mark. How soft is soft?
Edited 10/21/2008 12:26 pm ET by heartwould
Edited 10/21/2008 12:35 pm ET by heartwould
If you are going after a distressed worn look, you could always buy 2x10, 2x12, etc.. material at your local lumber yard. Just make sure you let the lumber acclimate and dry to about 10% moisture content in your shop before cutting it up. Otherwise the wood may warp when allowed to dry.
The goal is more utilitarian than anything, but I do hope to make something that looks pretty good. I would rather not begin with a distressed look, but I know that it will have dings and scratches soon enough.
If the box store had some reasonable Southern Yellow Pine, that could work, but I would still have the problem of joining the edges for the tabletop glue up. The Pine I looked at yesterday had nice grain but huge knots.
The Pine I looked at yesterday had nice grain but huge knots
I hear ya. You have to sort through a whole bunch of boards to find a choice few.
You could always get clean edges on the lumber by cutting off the round overs on a table saw and using a jointer plane (if you own one) to plane them straight.
The TS I have access to is a cobbled together contractor's type, but no jointer to be had. It was at a much better "true" lumberyard where I saw the Pine. They will happily joint an edge for $.25 per lf.
very good.. you can also joint edges by using a really long straight edge and a flush trim router bit. Place the straight edge where the roundover meets the top of the lumber and go to town.
Poplar is not as soft as some might think, especially heartwood where most of the color is to be found. One of the nice things about it is that you can get some pretty big stock for a nice price. Make sure it is well dried before working and if you are worried about the wear, make it thicker and leave yourself room to resurface when the kids are older and less destructive. Biggest complaint about poplar is that it will not wear outdoors at all and needs to be sealed well or you can have some interesting movement problems.Dan Carroll
It is a bit of a drive, north of Cincinnatti, Ohio, but C R Muterspaw lumber Co. has 8/4 red oak for $4.05 a bf kiln dry. Here is a link to their pricing page. http://www.crlumber.com/domestic.html
They are probably about 100 miles from you but their lumber is great. They do not list 8/4 ash but they might be able to help if you give them a call. 937-572-WOOD
Bruce"A man's got to know his limitations." Dirty Harry Calahan
Bruce,
Those prices beat what I have been looking at by a mile! The problem is that Xenia is 144 miles away, so the cost of a tank of gas would have to be factored in. But they do sound very interesting and I would love to give them a look see.
Thanks!
Heartwood,
Use the poplar. There is an anti-poplar bias that I find hard to understand. Poplar is not a dramatic looking wood so people who like oak find it bland. But poplar can be stained to look like cherry, which many of us consider the most beautiful of American hardwoods. If Cain and Abel nick-up the table you can fix it or consider the nicks love marks. We have a poplar coffe table that my teenage sons routinely used as a foot rest for many years. It doesn't have a dent. Use the poplar!
Ron
Another, perhaps less artful, option you might consider for increased durability would be fiberglass/resin on the stained poplar table top. You can always "dial-back" the high gloss by hand rubbing with rottenstone.
Also, have you considered getting a #7 jointer plane to do the edge joints? Used, they can be found relatively cheap, and a new Groz, while not the best, is only $90 new at Woodcraft.
Hart,
I have seen some real nice furniture made from poplar. I think it takes a dye stain very well. In fact I have seen a dye stained poplar side board that looked real close to walnut; I had to take a better look to conclude it was actually poplar. I say go for it.
Bob, Tupper lake, NY
I'm not as experienced as many of the posters who have already replied, but if you decide to go with poplar, choose your boards carefully and take a block plane with you. The color variation with poplar is pretty wide and by smoothing a small section with your block plane, you can get a better sense of how well your boards will match.
Thanks to everyone for your very helpful suggestions!
Some years ago a longtime friend (the guy with the now wrecked planer) was in a similar predicament and was able to buy a nice little stack of rough sawn Sassafras very cheaply. He used that wonderfully grainy wood to make a very nice hutch for his wife, plus a few other projects.
There are so many "ifs"! If I had the shop I would love to have . . . If my pension was that of a Wall Street CEO . . . If I had the strength, stamina and reflexes that I once had . . .
Once again, Poplar is the leading candidate for this trestle table due to cost and the fact that it is readily available in a thickness I can use. If there was a more suitable wood at a similar price and dimension (Norm used Cherry in the one he made), I would absolutely take a look at it. So far, it is looking more and more like Poplar will be it.
My workbench, which doesn't receive dainty treatment, has heavy poplar legs and a maple top. The legs are pretty much unmarked after several years, so I'd second that poplar's a lot tougher than many people think. However even on drawer sides the colour contrast can be pretty violent, at least until the green fades. If you're buying milled lumber, though, you'll have the advantage of knowing ahead of time what the appearance is going to be.
Jim
so I'd second that poplar's a lot tougher than many people think.
I agree Oak dents also. And ALOT harder to remove!
My wife was very Poplar when she was 18 but still a Lady..I had the opportunity to prove I was a Gentelman!
Edited 10/26/2008 10:03 am by WillGeorge
heartwould,
Another good aspect about Poplar is the quality. In my experience (out here in the Pac. NW), Poplar is easier to get in nice, clean, almost clear boards. I bought a bunch of it and made it into paint grade picture frames for my better 1/2. I ordered 200 bd. ft. and was pleasantly surprised how little defect and waste there was. (Yeah, I know, that was a GROUP of picture frames!!)
Sounds like you've pretty much talked yourself into Poplar; just helping you along! LOL
Best of luck with the table!
Mack"Close enough for government work=measured with a micrometer, marked with chalk and cut with an axe"
Well, Red Oak here is $1.50 more per bf than Poplar while Ash is $.50 more; Cherry and White Oak are twice the price, etc. And you are right on the money about the clarity of the Poplar. While some of the boards had some minor checking on the ends, there were virtually no knots at all--and many of the 8/4 boards were in the 12" range.
"I went out this morning and finally found some folks who were willing to part with some custom cut 6/4 Red Oak for just a tad over $8 bf. That's pretty steep for my budget."
Holy cow! Where do you shop?!? $8 a b.f. for red oak of any size is near highway robbery. I don't know much about Indiana, so I'm not sure how common red oaks are there, but around here in Raleigh NC, red oak is $1 - $3 a b.f., depending on whether it's 4/4, 8/4, or 12/4. This is, of course, purchased rough, but at the prices you quoted, you could buy a Dewalt 735 portable planer and still come out ahead on the deal. For reference, I typically pay about $8 a b.f. for exceptional quality walnut and cherry, and for average mahogany (about $13 a b.f. for superior mahogany).
Regarding getting Southern Yellow Pine that's clear - not sure about where you're located, but in NC Chris Schwarz's advice for getting clear stock to build workbenches out of was right on the money - the 2X12's at the local home center were largely knot free, and getting boards with almost no knots or just a couple of tight ones was easy. The smaller sizes were chock full of knots.
By the way - I found the wiki reference to poplar being the equivalent of white pine in hardness to be hilarious. I'm a hand tool worker, and nothing will aquaint you with the relative hardness/toughness of different wood species faster than having to hand-plane everything. Take my word for it, poplar, while still relatively soft and easy to work compared to cherry and walnut, is far harder and stronger than eastern white pine (and, by the way, regardless of what the Janka scale says - while I find this scale useful, I also find it misleading when translating to the homw workshop).
Don't I wish I lived in your neck of the woods! My woodworking would be way more productive if material was that readily available.
You may have missed another post where some of the prices were discussed, but 8/4 Poplar goes for $3.45 per bf at my local independent lumberyard. Their 8/4 Ash is $3.95. They will joint an edge for $.25 per lf which drives the price up pretty quickly.
It was a larger outfit (also independent) that offered the Red Oak at such a high price. Without a planer or jointer, I am pretty much at their mercy. They offered to give me a quote for gluing up the table top in 6/4 Red Oak, but they haven't called as yet. Probably just as well as I doubt I could stand the shock.
"It was a larger outfit (also independent) that offered the Red Oak at such a high price. Without a planer or jointer, I am pretty much at their mercy."
No you're not - at least if you plan to do woodworking in the future. A jointer plane and a smoothing plane will allow you to dress and surface boards without the need or size restrictions of a powered planer or jointer. But it does take more sweat, though I find that poplar works easily and beautifully with hand tools - not so with maple (it's really, really, really hard!). While you can spend as much on a nice new jointer and smoother as you will on a powered planer and jointer, you can also get used Stanleys for very little - you just have to tune them yourself.
Still, I think you're being taken advantage of by the local lumber purveyors. I'd do a search on http://www.woodfinder.com and see if there are some other local suppliers in your neck of the woods that aren't quite as pricey. To give you a comparison, tulip poplar at the local retail woodworking shop is $1.50 for FAS grade poplar 4/4 up to 12" wide, and $3.00 for FAS grade 4/4 poplar in widths to 25". 8/4 is $1.75 a b.f.
And if I look on Craig's list, there are several guys in the local area with WoodMizer sawmills that sell air-dried poplar at $0.75/b.f., any width and thickness.
Craig's list has someone selling an old Red Oak barn beam 6x6x11' for $75 which would be a great resaw project, if I had a bandsaw. The Woodfinder website came up with the same places I have visited, plus one in Louisville, but their website appears to be under construction.
Thanks for your help! The deal of the century is out there somewhere . . .
That's still fairly pricey for red oak. Assuming that all of it was usable (a questionable assumption at best - there are likely to be knots, and the surface is likely highly checked if it's been in a barn for years and years), that's still $2.27 a b.f. If it was kiln-dried and clear of knots, that'd be a pretty good deal.
You might also try the WoodMizer site - these are portable sawmills that can be taken to the tree instead of the other way around. Their site has an owner search, that some of us in the past have used to find individuals that cut up downed trees as sell the lumber (usually very cheaply).
You are right about finding Woodmizer sawyers. I know one in particular that is pretty difficult to get ahold of, but he generally has either wood on hand or a good notion of where to find it. Of course, he thinks nothing of taking his mill to Tennessee or Mississippi or wherever to ply his trade.
Thanks for the reminder! I'll give John a call.
So far, it is looking more and more like Poplar will be it.
Well get going on it then! The work is far more important than the wood. I can do just about anything with any wood and while I have lots of choices I would NOT hesitate to use whatever is available. Poplar is a bit trickier than many woods to finish beautifully... but save some offcuts for samples and experiment till you get a winner going. Personally I WOULD go for some carved texture or distressing marks and an antiquing wash (dark glaze that sticks in the recesses)! I think it would look better and save heartache as the table aquires it's natural patina. An elegant finish is a source of family stress and worry! Who needs that.
Hand work offers an excellent opportunity to create interesting surface textures and (rather than working like a dog to eliminate them) you should celebrate them... consider them the hallmarks of the love with which you approach this project! be GRATEFUL that you have ONLY hand tools to work with... people like Norm, who are inundated with fancy tools, rarely know the DEEPER joy of taking firewood to furniture with a few simple tools.
Here is a picture of parts for a pegboard that I made as a gift. The pegboard base is SYP stair tread whacked up a bit with my carving axe. The peg is persimmon firewood. The table that they are sitting on was an unfinished stripped antique that I gave a bit of faux graining and antiqued (it was already distressed). Don't dwell on your limitations! Soar above them! They serve you by creating challenge. With your hands, your love and the unstoppable determination that is humanity you will MAKE it happen.
Edited 10/22/2008 9:19 pm ET by bigfootnampa
I like your thinking! My Young Bride is a bit under the weather and I have been tending to her, but it looks like this thing should be under way before long! Maybe one of our sons will help get the wood down into the shop . . .
Poplar proves to be difficult to stain, because of the amount of green color in the wood, and it doesn't take stain very evenly. If you to go w/ poplar, I would use a dark stain. I have also found that misting the wood w/ water before staining help it to stain more evenly.
Another option to reduce cost would be to use a 4/4 top and double up the edge w/ same species, but use a cheaper species or manufactured board for the rest of the underside of the top.
I personally hate the idea of spending all that time building something that nice and having to build it out of a secondary wood like poplar. But I totally get the money thing.
I finally heard back from the guy with the Woodmizer mill. He thinks that he has a good lead on some 8/4 Red Oak that might be had for a pretty good price--and he has a very nice planer available! We'll see how that works out--I'll keep you posted.
I hope you good luck on your red oak but the poplar is going to do a nice jo too. One sawyer here built a family business providing poplar to the N.Carolina furnature factoys. They wanted only the white sap wood because they could use it as primary wood and stain it any color they needed. Personally, I like the heart wood. An earlier poster pointed out that 2 days in the sun and the garish colors all turned a rich brown. Beautiful and no stain needed. If you have to get red oak at a high moister content it is slow to dry and rushing the drying time will cause it to split. Get it anyway if you can afford it. It will make beautiful projects down the road.
BJ Gardening, cooking and woodworking in South'n Murlyn'
Using Poplar is absolutely fine with me, but it was suggested that I check with a sawyer. According to my friend with the mill, the Red Oak in question has just been kiln dried.
The design of the table top calls for bread board ends and paired cleats (for attaching to the legs) which should minimize cupping or warping in case the wood still contains too much moisture. Likewise, the leg assembly calls for m/t joints and the pegged stretcher should be fine as well, IMO. Any comments on the design would be appreciated.
Trestle Table - Item #107View Image29"h x 87"w x 31"d
I have seen the Poplar and I really like it. The 8/4 boards vary in with from 3" to nearly 12" and are mostly heart wood, and it is all kiln dried and stable. I have no clue as to what the Red Oak may look like as yet, and he hasn't given me a price.
Sorry for belaboring this, but the table is a project that really I want to get right. Btb, my daughter has decided that she would like the table dimensions to be 30'h x 80"w x 42"d. As always, your suggestions are greatly valued.
The design looks pleasant enough. At first, I thought there might be a potential for knee-knocking on the angled cleats, but upon further consideration, I don't think that would be an issue.Years back, I made a trestle table using a maple workbench top with some history as the table top. (It came from the Skunkworks at Lockheed, so who knows what sorts of top secret stuff might have been made on it.) I ran the 2x10 legs all the way to the top, and attached them to the top with a metal plate. Less elegant than your design, which distributes more edge pressure to the supporting column - a good thing with kids.
The design is from Norm Abram, but thanks. My hope is that by changing the dimensions I can maintain the balance of the design.
I'd do a scaled drawing, and see if it retains the visual balance. You might need to adjust the size and angle of the support cleats a bit. But, I'd think the 42" width would be more practical. That gives room for settings on both sides, plus room down the middle for serving dishes. My table is 30" wide, and serving dish space is really cramped.
My daughter asked for the wider surface (and my wife seconded the motion) because my dear grandkids evidently have developed a habit of knocking things over on their current table. Hopefully the adjusted measurements will alleviate that problem.
I'm thinking that I will probably have to widen the leg standards as well as the support cleats, plus widen the breadboard ends for balance. Suggestions?
For a child-dominant environment, it would probably be a good idea to widen the leg bases to about the same width as the table top. I'm thinking in terms of a couple of kids leaning on the edge of the table with most or all of their weight. You don't want the table to tip over in such a situation. That also means considering the strength of the joinery with respect to the additional lateral stress. You might, for example, want to make the leg tenons a bit more beafy than you would otherwise. Other adjustments to the plan might include "stretching" the curves to fit the additional length of the base, keeping the same proportions, but with longer radius curves. Those adjustments can be done by overlaying a grid pattern on the plan, and keeping the ratios of where a point falls about the same. Having a full-size drawing is quite helpful, but not absolutely necessary.
One thought is that, at least as nearly as I can tell from the photo that you posted, the stretcher looks a bit too wide and a bit too low for my taste. A stretcher needs to be carefully placed on a trestle table, IMO, both to look right and to avoid a constant hazard to the knees when one pulls themselves up to the table.
By the way - regarding "getting it right" - this is more a function of personality than it is woodworking skill. There are a few (very few) that look at a project a couple of years or more after its completion and think "I did a good job on that". Most of us will look at a project, no matter how complex or well crafted, and think "boy, I really screwed that detail up". This thought applies regardless of the skill level involved - a local gentleman that has furniture in several museums still thinks this of his own work, though it's head and shoulders above all but the most talented in the country.
The point is that it's probably a waste of time to obsess excessively over the details of a project. Some thoughtfullness is good, of course, but regardless there will likely be some detail upon its completetion that you would make differently if you made a second one (and your daughter will think its perfect and will not be able to understand why you are unhappy with some detail or other).
The stretcher/rail in the plans (and the photo) is 64 1/4" between the trestles/standards. (That means a table overhang of a little more than 11" on the ends of the table top.) The stretcher is 8" in width (height) and centered in both directions on the trestles. Does that sound about right?
" my dear grandkids evidently have developed a habit of knocking things over on the current table .Hopefully the adjusted measurements will alleviate that problem ."
heartwould , in time this too will stop .
regards dusty
heartwould , in time this too will stop .
Hardly!
My oldest and favorite granddaughter just turned 25. She still knocks stuff over all the time!
Another possible option for you might be a solid core door without the cutout for the doorknob. Salvage yards have them quite often.
Also, if there are any cabinet makers/furniture builders in your area you might want to check with them. Sometimes they have a stash of left over stock they might make available to you at a good price.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Thanks! Those are options that I had not considered. A friend works at a cabinet shop that uses a lot of different hardwoods. I'll see what she can conjure up.
Poplar is a white and green wood. I think it is horribly ugly.
Alder actually has grain and at least at my supplier is only a few pennies more for a board foot.Regards, Scooter"I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow." WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
My supplier doesn't list Alder. Poplar is the least expensive wood they offer in the thickness I need, but I am waiting on a call back for a price on Red Oak.
heartwould,
Just stopped in to see how you're making out. Ye know don't ya, bigfoot said it all. And that Samson fella, if I remember correctly, has done some pretty spectacular things with wood too.
I just keep gettin this feelin that whatever you do your family will cherish it for many years.
Now git down in that woodshop, get them sons to give ya a hand and I'll betcha a 100 bf of cherry it'll work out just great!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 10/29/2008 9:31 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
I hear you, Bob! Just overthinking and waiting for the guy with the Red Oak to give me a call. If that doesn't work out, we're headed down Tulip (Poplar) Lane!
The thing is, I've worked in other people's homes a fair amount of times, but I've never had this kind of apprehension. Never have I wanted a project to be more "right," if you know what I mean?
Never have I wanted a project to be more "right,"
Now that strikes a chord with me. Oh man, if you only knew..........
I agonized over 4 cabriole legs for what seemed like an eternity. Many folks in here encouraged me along the way, I felt intimidated to the point that I couldn't seem to do anything right, everthing was getting botched.
One night I said to hell with it, I can make these dang things. After all I had already made one!
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Edited 10/29/2008 9:57 pm ET by KiddervilleAcres
Scooter, for what it's worth, the green streaks and patches turn into carmel and chocolate browns after a few weeks of UV and air. They do not remain green.
I tend to like poplar.
In looking over the responses to your letter I see nothing about the obvious question, what kind of "poplar"? The lumber trade, being uninterested in science calls the tulip tree (liriodendron tulipifera) "yellow poplar", when it is a magnolia, and totally unrelated to the poplar family, whose members are the familiar aspen , cotton-wood, and other poplars.
Let's be consistant, and use the term yellow poplar, which I assume to be the topic of discussion.
Tom
Tom, you are correct in saying "Yellow Poplar." The "state tree" of Indiana is the "Tulip Tree" from which we harvest what we call "Poplar."
Maybe we could say, "A Tulip Tree by any other name would cut as sweet."
Hi Tom , Here out West we call it Tulip Poplar , grown in states to the East .
dusty
Tom,
Your post prompted me to do a little search. Here is a portion of the current Wikipedia article:
The soft, fine-grained wood of tulip trees is misleadingly known as "poplar" (short for "yellow poplar") in the U.S., but marketed abroad as "American tulipwood" or by other names. It is very widely used where a cheap, easy-to-work and stable wood is needed. The sapwood is usually a creamy off-white color. While the heartwood is usually a pale green, it can take on streaks of red, purple, or even black; depending on the extractives content (i.e. the soil conditions where the tree was grown, etc). It is clearly the wood of choice for use in organs, due to its ability to take a fine, smooth, precisely-cut finish and so to effectively seal against pipes and valves. It is also commonly used for siding clapboards. Its wood may be compared in texture, strength, and softness to white pine.
Used for interior finish of houses, for siding, for panels of carriages, for coffin boxes, pattern timber, and wooden ware. During scarcity of the better qualities of white pine, tulip wood has taken its place to some extent, particularly when very wide boards are required.[1]
Thanks for your diligence!
With five kids, I'd say use cast iron, but it can crack, so maybe titanium ;>)
I've made a couple of pieces of furniture out of poplar and while they are not abused, poplar is harder than I first gave it credit for. I have two kids that have done a job on oak flooring, so I don't know if any wood short of hickory will survive without dents. Besides, dents tell a story and as you know Grandpa, those kids will be grown in a flash of time, but they can look back at that dented table and remember all the fun they had around it. Poplar takes a darker stain very well, after a sealcoat.
While many posts here have lamented on the density and softness of Poplar as a suitable material for a table top I'd have to agree somewhat. On the other hand, any table this is expected to stand up to 5 kids will take a beating and IMHO Poplar will take it just fine. Think of it as a patina showing it's character as the table gracefully ages.
As for the color I'd go with a light stain or none at all. Over time Poplar turns brown (pretty much like a ll wood) and if the family can put up with the green tint for a couple of years they'll soon forget what color the table was when it starts to age in a few years.
Stillfigurinitout, Roninfante2 and Ted,
Thanks so much for your encouragement! The goal is to build a table that will accommodate all of my daughter and son-in-law's family at once, plus have a space or two for friends and/or extended family. Hopefully, it will be the place where meals are shared and good discussion is had and homework is pondered. I would hate to offer them something that would become some sort of shrine that would be used only on special occasions.
My Young Bride and I just came from enjoying a 2nd birthday party for my youngest grandson, and we were reminded just how much they need a suitable table. The three of you have certainly helped me to a better understanding of the true mission here.
Thanks!
Im using poplar for a project right now. Essentially its a piece of kids furniture. I agree that poplar is somewhat soft but its still harder than white pine and where I buy my poplar its almost 1/2 the cost of white pine( select). It has no knots and it takes paint very well. The Mona lisa is painted on a poplar panel.......Leonardo like it. The thing I would worry about mostly, for a table top is the staining aspect. being so white and somewhat soft it will absorb coffee and jelly and juice and you will never get it out. Seal that top well.very well. So what if it gets dinged a bit. We call that "patina"
Wicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
Thanks for your comments! My concern is not so much for the colorization (probably something dark, but I'm open) , but to seal it well as you have suggested. I'm thinking of beginning the process with a few coats of shellac to get a good seal, then maybe some varnish on top of that. If there is a better way to seal Poplar, I'm willing to hear about it.
my all time favorite finish for stuff like a table is Waterlox........... the stuff is greatWicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
I've used the Formby's (not a fan), but not Waterlox. This forum has mentioned it a few times, pro and con, but mostly pro. Any tips or just follow the instructions?
its like falling off a slippery log in a rain storm.......simple. 3 coats will get you thereWicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
It seems that I am beccoming more and more a slave to gravity, so falling off of a log (slippery or dry) is becoming second nature. If waterlox is that easy, count me in!
its that easyWicked Decent Woodworks
(oldest woodworking shop in NH)
Rochester NH
" If the women dont find you handsome, they should at least find you handy........yessa!"
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