Woodworking guys - Need your advice

[silver912e]

I recently acquired the piece of tulip poplar pictured below. It's actually from a tree that is probably over 200 years old. The center of the tree was hollow, so the exact age could not be determined. The tree also was on a historic site and so this wood has some special value. I'd like to have some keepsakes made from it and know some people with woodworking skills. I'm thinking about making some picture frames and possibly getting some carvings done.

So should I let this age & dry for a while, or have it cut up right away? The tree was cut down last month, so the wood is still very green.

Also, any ideas about what can be made from it would be appreciated.


Thanks.

[bell]

how many items do you want to make?

[silver912e]

It really does't matter to me how many. At this point I'm just looking for ideas.

[blk911]

You should have it rough sawed to the various dimensions that you think you might use in the future, and then find someone to kiln dry it for you. That will eliminate some of the checking(cracking) warping and general instability from just air drying.

Poplar is a nice fine grained hardwood, that once dried properly, is fairly stable. Only drawback, if you consider it to be so, is no discernable grain, usually it is painted, although it will readily accept stain if you prefer.

Enjoy.

[craigster59]

Poplar is a soft sapwood, I think with the piece you have pictured maybe drying it and making a set of bowls on a lathe might be nice.

[3.2 CAB]

OK, we have an offer of Poplar being a hardwood, and an offer of it being a softwood???
I actually lived in a small city named Poplarville(wonder how it got its name) and there was a fairly good sized lake on my property. Then one summer after a severe dry period, the level of the lake went lower than anyone ever remembered seeing before. That was when I discovered close to 100 very large Poplar logs laying on the bottom of the lake. The logs were about 45 to 60 feet long and many were over 2 feet thick. A friend with a large track-hoe, helped me pull them out of the lake and carry them to the shop, where we cut some on the sawmill. That wood was beautiful. There were several agents from some of the wood flooring companies come out to make bids on the old logs. They fetched a pretty decent price, for something that was just sitting there since the Civil War era.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Poplar is classified a hardwood. It has to do with the species of the tree more than the actual hardness of the wood. Softwoods tend to be in the evergreen family.

Poplar can look nice stained but is usually painted due to its varying color, lack of grain, and a 'fuzzy' appearance.

[David McLaughlin]

Lots of options for a piece like that. My Father-in-law runs a wood carving club and from what I've seen at some of his shows, there are numerous people who could use parts or even the whole thing to create a work of art for you. Carvings (including using parts of the bark), turnings (bowls, pens, orniments, etc) scroll work and so on.

If you're interested, I could ask him to have someone from the NEWC to contact you.

[notfarnow]

This thread reminds me of when Lubmaster had that old oak tree trunk carved into a pice of lawn art. His description of the chainsaw "artist" was classic.

[lendaddy]

[Jadams1]

I did something with a black walnut tree I was given. This is what I made for the owner of the tree.



Here's what I made for myself.







Here's what I have left. It was a pretty big tree, 33" dia.



For your project, here is a clock made out of poplar that is stained to look like black walnut.