Question about Hand Cut DT's...

Re: And DON'T say popUlar

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Curiously, real poplars are in the genus Populus, as is Bob's popple, aspens and cottonwoods. Go figure.

Tulip poplar, tuliptree or yellow-poplar, used in the Midatlantic "colonies" is Liriodendron tulipifera. Secondary woods were too cheap to bother to export to New England or back to England, so furniture built in those areas used instead a cheap local pine as a secondary wood. I strongly prefer the working and wear properties of the tuliptree, but even if I were a purist, I could get away with using it on the colonial furniture I prefer to build, because it grows here, and as far north as Newport, RI.

In some other parts of the U.S., I've been told that the Borg mixes aspen and tulip poplar in the same rack. That's too bad, because in my experience, tulip poplar is much more stable than those other woods, and thus much more suitable for building furniture.

Popular,poplar,popple,tulip,aspen---huh?

Jack Guzman

>I'm confused on this.I've always thought those trees that grow everywhere among the pines around here were poplar(and called popple by some)They are tall,fast growing with only a small bunch of branches near the top.They fall over during windstorms due to a poor root system and make poor firewood when fully dried.They don't put out alot of heat.Very white wood.Then there's the stuff they call poplar at the local borg.It is a white ,smooth grained wood that sometimes contains green or purple colors.Are these the same wood? I thought they were.What exactly are they? Aspen?Tulip? True poplar?---Jack

Good question.

Joe in a Cleveland suburb

>

Re: Popular,poplar,popple,tulip,aspen---huh?

Bob Hackett

>The weed trees up here with the white wood are actually aspen.

The wood at the borg with the green in it is Tulip,or what most folks call poplar.If you could see it in the spring you`d know why it`s called tulip.It blooms with large white flowers with yellow and red centers that are about the same size as the tulips in the garden.The trees my brother had in his yard in PA were HUGE.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Popular,poplar,popple,tulip,aspen---huh?

paul womack

>I'm confused on this.....What exactly are they? Aspen?Tulip? True poplar?

Exactitude and common (or regional, or national) names don't make good bedfellows.

If you want accurate names for tree, make like a botanist and use the scientific names.

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/naturalresources/components/6413ch1.html

Names for trees

People who process, distribute or use wood products on a daily basis refer to tree species or wood by a "common" name. However, sometimes the same name is used to describe wood from several completely different tree species, which may or may not have similar properties or appearance. And sometimes different common names are used for the same tree; for example, yellow poplar may also be called tulip tree or just poplar. This can be confusing and create problems for buyers, sellers and processors.

The only way to be certain of a wood species is to refer to it by its scientific (or Latin) name. As an example, Eastern white pine and Western white pine may sound like the same tree growing in different areas of the country. In fact, they are different species of trees, which can be distinguished by studying the needles, cones, bark, flowers and wood structure. The scientific name of the former is Pinus strobus L. and the latter is Pinus monticola (Dougl.).

see also:

http://www.medievalwoodworking.com/articles/wood.htm

BugBear