Replies

1. 
   BoardmanWI | Dec 12, 2006 02:15am | #1

   Butternut, often called "white walnut," is the closest to walnut in grain appearance, etc. - but I can't recall seeing butternut plywood.  I've never stained poplar but it's the primary "paint grade" lumber so I suppose it would accept stain fairly well.  Maybe someone has direct experience.

2. 
   BoardmanWI | Dec 12, 2006 02:19am | #2

   did you see this? -

   http://forums.taunton.com/fw-knots/messages?redirCnt=2

3. 
   Omah | Dec 12, 2006 02:25am | #3

   I don't think there is a substitute for walnut. I'm not a snob beleive me, I do my share of faux finishes. To me walnut speaks for itself . Alder may come closer than poplar if its stained right. If the job calls for walnut though you might as well go with it, the money you save in finishing won't offset the difference in cost, but it will help along that direction and because of the stunning look of the walnut you may end up with some nice woms.

4. 
   CStanford | Dec 12, 2006 02:40am | #4

   In a word, no.

5. 
   terrylee86 | Dec 12, 2006 04:18am | #5

   Yellow Poplar is not poplar at all, it is a member of the magnolia family and has the same stringy properties.  It stains poorly ( looks like you rubbed mud on it ) but it has some of the best paint holding properties of any NA hardwood.  YP is pretty stable so if you want a painted kitchen you may want to consider that species.  Butternut is in the same family as walnut, but it is lighter, softer and more expensive and I have never seen butternut plywood (that does'nt mean they don't make it).  If you are not buying walnut strictly as a money issue you might want to try Hickory.  In SE Michigan hickory goes between  $2-3 bdft. and walnut is $4-6.   You could check the woodweb, sometimes you can get deals on walnut if you want to drive a little.  You may even want to consider Rustic Walnut (#1 & #2 boards) a buddy of mine made a cabinet using #2 walnut and it was incredible.  All my life I have sorted my walnut piles and gave him my sorted lumber.  I considered it firewood.  Shows you what I know. 

   Getting back to the hickory,  it is hard, dulls your tools, splinters, can be unstable sometimes, but natural or stained it is beautiful.  You can get hickory plywood for about 1/2 the price of walnut(3/4 VC AB) It is in the same family as walnut.

6. 
   stantheman | Dec 12, 2006 04:32am | #6

   SJ

   Well, you could stain it to get approximately a walnut color, but not the grain and figure (and smell) of it. 

7. 
   forestgirl | Dec 12, 2006 08:01am | #7

   Alder might (might) get you close.  It does blotch, but that can be controlled with a wash coat of shellac and the right staining technique.  You'd never get the grain of walnut, of course, but the color could come close.  Alder plywood is available through internet sources.  It is a rather soft hardwood, so it doesn't stand up to banging things around.

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

8. 
   bigfootnampa | Dec 12, 2006 08:10am | #8

   Poplar is rather difficult to stain nicely... looks very little like walnut.  Alder is not too bad if you are a skillful finisher but maple will come as close as anything.  You just don't save enough to make it worth the effort though, maple might even cost more.  My advice is to buy what you want.

9. 
   joinerswork | Dec 12, 2006 08:54am | #9

   SJ,

   Yellow poplar (tulip poplar, tulipwood) was often used here in the Shenandoah Valley for less expensive, or ornately turned (bedposts) furniture, even back in the days when walnut was cheap and plentiful.  Try coloring with a stain made by boiling black walnut hulls in water, or use van Dyke crystals.  It will give a passable imitation of walnut.  A reddish dye will look more like mahogany, amber will pass for cherry.  It won't fool anyone who knows their wood, at first, but it has made me look twice at some old pieces.  I've had a walnut drop leaf table turn into poplar with just the touch of a plane.

   Regards,

   Ray Pine

10. 
    Ronaway | Dec 12, 2006 04:46pm | #10

    The major cost in any woodworking project is labor. If you require 100 bd. ft. of lumber for this project the most you will save by buying poplar in lieu of walnut will be a couple hundred bucks. If walnut is the look you want then it is just not worth putting your time into the poplar just to end up with "not exactly". Using walnut would also solve issues with plywood availability.

    Ron

11. 
    Dave45 | Dec 12, 2006 04:48pm | #11

    My finishing skills are basic (at best) and I take all my "serious" finish work to a real, live, finisher.  That's all he does, and he's an artist at it - lol

    I was bidding a set of cherry kitchen cabinets a few weeks ago and asked him about using alder and finishing it to look like cherry.  His response was that it's usually a wash.  The money I would save on materials would probably get eaten up by his finish work.

1. 
   coolbreeze | Dec 12, 2006 07:12pm | #13

   IMHO the best finisher who ever walked upright could not make poplar look like walnut. Might make it the same color but, again IMHO, it would be easier to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

    

1. 
   Dave45 | Dec 12, 2006 07:50pm | #14

   I totally agree with that one. Breeze. - lol

   I actually like the look of some finished poplar.  I've done a couple of small pieces with (mostly) white wood and an oil-based poly finish.  It can actually look pretty nice.

   I have some scraps with the dark brown, green, purple, black, etc in them.  Next time I'm making raised panel doors, I think I'll make one with those scraps - just for fun.

12. 
    PCWoodworks | Dec 12, 2006 05:13pm | #12

    I have used willow successfully as a walnut substitute. If you are not married to the idea of plywood panels and are just looking for an inexpensive alternative to walnut solids.

    Willow in it natural state is a very very light brownish. These were stained with a mix of minwax stains.

    Here are some pics of my shop cabinets.

    
13. 
    glasswd | Dec 13, 2006 04:54pm | #15

    friends of mine had cherry cabinets (kitchen) that had been stained fruitwood. I don't know why someone would do that, but one of the cabinets had a badly damaged face frame. They wanted me to repair it but didn't want to go for cherrywood. It was for a tenant with rotten kids and big dogs. I salvaged the doors and used poplar for the frame. I used Minwax cherry stain to which I added some fruitwood. It came out to be a really good match and the poplar DID NOT blotch at all. With a little experimentation I guess it could work with walnut also. If you dig around enough you can find poplar with a minimum of green in it. Good luck & MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU AND ALL WHO YOU LOVE.

1. 
   Biscardi | Dec 14, 2006 12:33am | #16

   Friends,

   My very first furniture project was a Queen Anne chair with cabriole legs. I made it in the kitchen of our apartment while sitting on a toolbox. I used a spokeshave, buck knife and  poplar.

   It was an abomination. It looked awfull. Everytime you sat on it, dowels would occasionally just explosively break (sort of like a hand full of .22 cal shells that someone threw into a fireplace).

   I stained it Walnut. The finish was the best part. It really didin't look like walnut though.

   After hiding it in the closet for years I finally took it to the dump. As I was throwing it into the pile some guy asked me if he could have it. "That's too nice to throw away". I laughed all the way home.

   Frank