Poplar

The colour ranges from near-white through creamy-white to grey, and is sometimes pinkish-brown or very pale brown. It is typically straight-grained, with a fine, even texture, but can be woolly.

Properties:

Poplar has a medium crushing strength, very low stiffness and resistance to shock loads, and a low bending strength, with a poor steam-bending rating. It generally works well with both hand and machine tools. It has a slight blunting effect on cutting edges, which must be kept very sharp to avoid a woolly finish. It glues, nails and screws well, and polishes, paints and varnishes satisfactorily, but staining gives variable results.

Seasoning:

It generally dries fairly rapidly with only slight warping and splitting. Moisture in the centre of thicker stock may be a problem. Movement in service is small.

Durability:

The heartwood is highly durable and very resistant to decay fungi and dry-wood termites; the sapwood is vulnerable to the powder-post beetle. The heartwood is highly resistant to preservative treatment, but the sapwood is permeable.

Typical Uses:

Quality furniture, turnery, inlay and marquetry, boatbuilding, billiard- or pool-cue butts, handles and shafts, flooring, heavy exterior construction, bridge building, cladding (siding), vats, piling and decorative veneer.

Populus spp. (Salicaceae)

Also called:

peuplier (French), Pappel (German). A large number of species are known as 'poplar'. Amongst them are European black poplar (P. nigra), black Italian poplar (P. canadensis), robusta (P. robusta), Swedish, Finnish, etc. aspen (P. tremula). North American poplars include Canadian poplar (P. balsamifera, P. tacamahaca), American whitewood, yellow poplar or tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera, q.v.), and the cottonwoods (P. tremuloides,q.v.)

Grows:

Central America and northern South America

Weight per Board Foot:

2.4 lbs

Typical dry weight:

28lb/ft3 (450kg/m3), with variations dependent on species

Specific Gravity:

.45

Typical Height:

100-150ft (30-45m)

Trunk Diameter:

2-4ft (0.6-1.2m)