Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Nov 16, 2002 08:49pm | #1

   Jase, all of the woods you've listed here are prone to blotching when stained.  Sounds like you have plenty of scrap to practice on, anyway <g>  I'll let the experts provide feedback on your plan.  I have an alder project upcoming, and am thinking about using gel varnish as my first coat, and then gel stain, and then the finish.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

2. 
   jonsherryl | Nov 16, 2002 11:32pm | #2

   Jase, I'm puzzled by your comment about the poplar's poor stability and wonder what "poplar" you are dealing with? If you're working with the common commercial yellow poplar, it should have respectable stability. It's average volumetric shrinkage is almost identical to that of alder. Poplar of the cottonwood variety (Populus spp) is the one with some serious stability problems.

   As for finishing techniques, if you are trying to make these dissimilar species look the same (and you're using yellow poplar), you've got a bit of a staining challenge. Alder has a reddish hue, while yellow poplar leans to the greenish side of the spectrum...and the birch ply (probably with hard birch face veneers) is denser and less absorptive than both the solid stock woods you're using...so, getting these three married up in terms of appearance is going to be no cake walk.   

1. 
   Sancho | Nov 17, 2002 12:51am | #3

   It will stain ok. Just got to make sure you have the right color wood such as all white and no green. Ive seen it done with a minwax oil base stain and finish it came out ok.. you could also use a tinted laquer depending on what color you want.

   At Darkworks cut to size made to burn......Putty isnt a option

2. 
   jase | Nov 17, 2002 03:12am | #4

   I'm not worried about matching color. In fact I look forward to seeing the prettier alder stand out from the poplar face frame.

   Perhaps the stability problems are due do the lack of drying time. The cabinet was a school project. So the wood probably did not not have much time to acclimate. Maybe the wood would have been more dependable if it had seasoned in the schools racks for a year. Buying half again more than I need seems ridiculous. But cutting and building with wet wood is just silly. Next time I'll find out if any of the wood supply has been around a while.Jase--Is there a better way?

1. 
   davamoore | Nov 18, 2002 06:56pm | #5

   I'd like to throw in a vote in favor of yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipfera, a.k.a. tulipwood, etc.) as good for more than just interior, structural portions of a piece.

   Much of the bad press yellow poplar receives is due to confusion with true poplar, as Jon mentioned above.  This means that yellow poplar can often be purchased at a very reasonable price vs. other, preferred native woods.

   Some people dislike the considerable difference between the yellow sapwood and green heartwood.  Me, I like the variation and think this is an opportunity to create pieces with some very interesting, bookmatched designs.  In short order, and with exposure to sun, the sapwood develops a warm, light brown color and the heartwood becomes a nice medium brown.  Also, when finished, yellow poplar has an iridescence not unlike that found in quartersawn cherry... I've never seen truly "quilted" or "figured" yellow poplar, but much of the wood I have shows an almost-wavy reflectivity that is quite attractive.

   I haven't had any problems with stability.  One of my early projects was a toolbox made of yellow poplar that has been dragged all over the place and through some fairly extreme conditions, and it just gets prettier.  All of the joints are as solid as the day they were made, and the wood just gets prettier and prettier.  Even the dings are fewer and less deep than I thought they would be.

   My 20-cents.  And again, I'm talking about yellow poplar, or tulipwood, not true poplar.

   DavidLook, I made a hat -- Where there never was a hat!