# Could this really be poplar???



## wood_doctor (Jun 17, 2011)

Hello everyone! I'm new here and have truely enjoyed spending tons of time just looking at all the info in the different forums. I have learned so much without picking up a tool. But this brings me to a rather simple question on a small project I am getting ready to start. I friend of mine needs a couple of drawers duplicated to replace ones lost in a piece of furniture. The attached pic shows in unfinished side of the drawer front. I feel it is poplar but cannot imagine trying to use a dark stain on this type of wood. Could someone with more experience please have a look and let me know what I have here? Many thanks and keep on posting... I have a lot to learn.

Dave


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Dave

" poplar??? " I would say it is , the green tint is a big tip off..

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wood_doctor said:


> Hello everyone! I'm new here and have truely enjoyed spending tons of time just looking at all the info in the different forums. I have learned so much without picking up a tool. But this brings me to a rather simple question on a small project I am getting ready to start. I friend of mine needs a couple of drawers duplicated to replace ones lost in a piece of furniture. The attached pic shows in unfinished side of the drawer front. I feel it is poplar but cannot imagine trying to use a dark stain on this type of wood. Could someone with more experience please have a look and let me know what I have here? Many thanks and keep on posting... I have a lot to learn.
> 
> Dave


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## tdublyou (Jan 8, 2010)

Dave,
I agree, it looks like poplar. As long as you carefully select your pieces for a fairly uniform color match, staining with a dark stain shouldn't be a problem.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

wood_doctor said:


> Hello everyone! I'm new here and have truely enjoyed spending tons of time just looking at all the info in the different forums. I have learned so much without picking up a tool. But this brings me to a rather simple question on a small project I am getting ready to start. I friend of mine needs a couple of drawers duplicated to replace ones lost in a piece of furniture. The attached pic shows in unfinished side of the drawer front. I feel it is poplar but cannot imagine trying to use a dark stain on this type of wood. Could someone with more experience please have a look and let me know what I have here? Many thanks and keep on posting... I have a lot to learn.
> 
> Dave


I agree, it could be. Poplar is very light and not very hard. One place I worked was trying out poplar mouldings. Most got stained dark and they looked pretty decent.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

I am no expert but I do not think it is poplar. It looks to me like a contrast between heartwood and sapwood. It's hard to tell in the photo, it the heartwood greenish tinted or grayish?


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## 01stairguy (Apr 18, 2010)

i have the felling thats soft maple, i have a pc in my garage thats looks like it. and yes alot of people uses plplar and use dark stain to mimic brazilian cherry witha a real dark stain,


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## papawd (Jan 5, 2011)

Welcome,Looks like poplar and I have stained it with cherry and a few othyer dark stains and it comes out nice,just take Your time


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

wood_doctor said:


> Hello everyone! I'm new here and have truely enjoyed spending tons of time just looking at all the info in the different forums. I have learned so much without picking up a tool. But this brings me to a rather simple question on a small project I am getting ready to start. I friend of mine needs a couple of drawers duplicated to replace ones lost in a piece of furniture. The attached pic shows in unfinished side of the drawer front. I feel it is poplar but cannot imagine trying to use a dark stain on this type of wood. Could someone with more experience please have a look and let me know what I have here? Many thanks and keep on posting... I have a lot to learn.
> 
> Dave


That is poplar . I use lot's of that wood it can have green srteek's and black streed's and also clear. If you are staining you should use a blotch control to control the even stain on the wood. What happen when you stain the stain goes in the soft wood more and less on the hard part of the wood that will cause blotching. Now lot's of the people don't know what blotching is. I use charles neir blotch control here is the link InTheWorkshop's Channel - YouTube


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Dave it also looks like poplar to me... and as some have stated use something to limit the blotching that occurs.


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## wood_doctor (Jun 17, 2011)

Thank you everyone for the quick response and all the great information. I finally get a 3 day weekend and want to get this knocked out asap. A special thanks to Del for the information on blotching. I am a little hesitant when to comes to staining anything but I need the practice. If the final results are close enough I will post some pics and see what everyone thinks and can suggest for my future projects. Thanks again everyone!!

Dave


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

They were spraying the stain on where I worked. It wasn't blotchy that way.


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## jschaben (Jun 21, 2009)

Furniture factory I worked at used poplar for sofa frames. I raided their scrap heap a few times and it took walnut stain very nicely, at least the pieces I got did. That stuff was very strange, color would vary from coal black to green to purple to snow white. Sometimes very pretty and others really ugly.


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## derek willis (Jan 21, 2009)

Definitely Poplar, stains o/k, have used it quite a lot.


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## theexpozay (Oct 4, 2011)

Poplar is my favorite wood to work with. It does stain exceptionally well. It is very stable, medium hard, and is readily available. I also like that it is domestic. Less important to non-VA natives, but important to me, it reminds me of Thomas Jefferson's wife's family home, "Poplar Forest"

When I use it for jigs and I often do, I like to find pieces with a lot of green in them. I think it makes the jigs look nice. (linseed oil does not change the hue much)

Try this for a nice simple finish,
2 coats of a cherry or mahogany stain. I use a rag to apply and then wipe of the excess after about 10 minutes. Then apply a good quality orange shellac. (I use a horse hair brush) then apply either a poly shade to darken or just a couple layers of plain poly. (again with a horse hair brush)

It is one of my favorite finishes.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Looks Poplar to me, I like the way it works, but the natural color, unless it white to near white just doesn't appeal to me.


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## Bonka (Aug 28, 2010)

I am in the process of using poplar for a blanket chest design. This is a pratice piece before moving on to more expesive lumbar. I used General finishes water based Antique Cherry and Waterlox original varnish on a test piece. It is gorgeous. 
If the wood is left in the sun the green turns brown. As posted before it will blotch. Don't use Minwax blotch control. Charles Neil makes an excellent product for this.


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## capjimy (May 31, 2012)

Very possibly.Try cutting it or routing the end grain, poplar is very "stringey"and soft. Jimmy


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## del schisler (Feb 2, 2006)

i use charles neil blotch control on every item i make. It is very good . If you don't belive you have blotch just try some on we will say 1/2 of a board and 1/2 not with control and you will belive than . here is the link to see
Blotch Control: CN's Pre-Color Conditioner - YouTube


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## 01stairguy (Apr 18, 2010)

maple is blotchy it is a comun problem. poplar is more flexible with stains and finishes. By the way poplar has more grener and purple grain i will upload some pics. i use poplar alot and i am able to tell. again thats just me


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## marlinjenson (Jul 24, 2012)

It does seems poplar....agree with Derek.


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