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What area are you from? I have never seen or heard of a big box store selling 2× poplar. I am also surprised to hear that the poplar 2×s are cheaper than pine.

by dfc 3y ago

What area are you from? I have never seen or heard of a big box store selling 2× poplar. I am also surprised to hear that the poplar 2×s are cheaper than pine. For hobbyist woodworking I think poplar is preferable to pine everyday.

eropple 3y ago
I think it depends on what you want whether poplar or pine are better, tbh. Poplar's very stable, it's great if you want to paint it, and it does take some machining (chiefly routing) a little nicer, but I personally really like the grain of pines and firs quite a lot compared to the weird greens/purples of conventionally available poplars. Both are soft enough that you can't really beat them up.
- dfc 3y ago
  I'm not buying pine or poplar for the appearance.
  - eropple 3y ago
    I do! Helps that I live an hour from an EWP sawmill.
    - dfc 3y ago
      Do you have a picture of the pine grain you find appealing? It sounds so crazy to me I feel like I am missing something.
      - eropple 3y ago
        So I mean, I'm from New England, and maybe this is just a cultural thing, but I think that well-treated pine looks really nice - a golden hue from an oil-based finish, plus pretty brown knots. I don't love the table design here, live edge isn't my thing, but this wood looks great to me: https://cswoods.com/products/eastern-white-pine-dining-table-2047 https://cswoods.com/products/eastern-white-pine-dining-table... But you can get nice grain out of other softwoods, too. Because it's very easy to get hold of here, I use white fir sometimes in furniture. Not "fine" furniture, but simple house stuff. This tabletop was actually the first thing I ever did in my shop and while it hasn't held up amazingly (my breadboards popped and I haven't fixed them yet) I quite like it for what it is as a learner messing around, more or less, and the sap intrusion along the breadboard still makes me happy when I see it: https://i.imgur.com/nipUhLs.jpg https://i.imgur.com/nipUhLs.jpg

by dfc 3y ago

eropple 3y ago

I think it depends on what you want whether poplar or pine are better, tbh. Poplar's very stable, it's great if you want to paint it, and it does take some machining (chiefly routing) a little nicer, but I personally really like the grain of pines and firs quite a lot compared to the weird greens/purples of conventionally available poplars. Both are soft enough that you can't really beat them up.

dfc 3y ago
I'm not buying pine or poplar for the appearance.
- eropple 3y ago
  I do! Helps that I live an hour from an EWP sawmill.
  - dfc 3y ago
    Do you have a picture of the pine grain you find appealing? It sounds so crazy to me I feel like I am missing something.
    - eropple 3y ago
      So I mean, I'm from New England, and maybe this is just a cultural thing, but I think that well-treated pine looks really nice - a golden hue from an oil-based finish, plus pretty brown knots. I don't love the table design here, live edge isn't my thing, but this wood looks great to me: https://cswoods.com/products/eastern-white-pine-dining-table-2047 https://cswoods.com/products/eastern-white-pine-dining-table... But you can get nice grain out of other softwoods, too. Because it's very easy to get hold of here, I use white fir sometimes in furniture. Not "fine" furniture, but simple house stuff. This tabletop was actually the first thing I ever did in my shop and while it hasn't held up amazingly (my breadboards popped and I haven't fixed them yet) I quite like it for what it is as a learner messing around, more or less, and the sap intrusion along the breadboard still makes me happy when I see it: https://i.imgur.com/nipUhLs.jpg https://i.imgur.com/nipUhLs.jpg