Poplar i think

[musomaniac]

i have access to a load of poplar , is it any good for turning ? These are just the smaller branches

 

[gregmcateer]

Seem to be mixed views.
I have been given a load and it's great for practising on, as being free and fairly un-figured, it has no 'value' and therefore doesn't feel like a waste if and when it ends up in the burner pile.

Just fling it on the lathe and try it.

(Seems to dry very quickly as well)

Greg

 

[Dalboy]

Any plain woods are good for turning.

1 for practice
2 if you want to do some colouring
3 if you want to do some texturing
4 if you want to do colouring and texturing.
5 keep you warm in winter.
6 if you want a contrasting piece in segmented work.

So if it turns nice there are choices.

Nothing is turned away here there is always something to use it for

 

[marcros]

be aware that our poplar is different to the american poplar, which is what we call tulipwood.

 

[woodpig]

You could turn some bird houses out of the bigger bits?

 

[musomaniac]

As you know guys i'm pretty new to turning , if i cut these up into blanks , would they be ok to put on the lathe even though the pith will be in the middle ?

 

[duncanh]

Might be ok with the pith in the middle, might not - some species it works ok to leave it. I've never used poplar so couldn't say. If you have enough of it just give it a go and see what happens. You could leave some hole and leave the pith in and cut some up into blanks.
I think the poplars are fairly fast growing so the timber might not be that dense and perhaps not great to turn but if you can get it for free just give it a go. The only thing I've turned that was similar was aspen and it wasn't great, although useful for what I wanted to do.

If they've just been felled they'll be full of sap and will probably take ages to dry. The aspen I had I sealed the ends with wax and left for a year. I expected them to have dried a little through the bark but they kicked out so much sap it was as if they were fresh.