Poplar Bowl

Re: Poplar Bowl

Kurt Aebi

>OOps, Here some Pictures

Re: Poplar Bowl 

Kurt Aebi

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Re: Poplar Bowl 

Kurt Aebi

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Re: Poplar Bowl 

Kurt Aebi

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Re: Poplar Bowl

JL

>Poplar gets "fuzzy". Sharp tools are a necessity. You can try shear scraping with your bowl gouges, sanding extensively or scraping with a scraper. My $0.02

Re: Poplar Bowl

David

>I like the bowl - pretty piece of wood and I like the shape a lot. I'm very new to this myself, and am hoping to post a few things before too long.

For what it is worth, I think I'm seeing a few places where the finish isn't in place - maybe where there are gouges or rough end grain. I fell into a habit of letting the lathe spin to complete all finishing, but have found I need to stop the lathe and dab finish into the "sin" areas to get coverage as I go. You can spin till Sunday, but you won't get coverage in those rough end grain areas or gouge areas unless you dab it in there when it isn't spinning.

Re: Poplar Bowl

Ruth in S.Cal

>Kurt, I think it's great for your first venture into a larger size. How do you sand? Most people use power sanding (using the hand drill with sanding discs attached)rather than hand sanding. Until you get the handle on tool use it will help get rid of the tool marks.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Re: Poplar Bowl

John K Jordan

>One thing you can do with soft "fuzzy" grain is harden it with something before cutting. Sometimes people use CA glue for this, but that is quite expensive, especially for a large area. I find the Mylands sander sealer works pretty well and much cheaper, although slower to dry. Might need repeated applications as the wood is cut away.

JKJ in East TN

Re: Poplar Bowl

Brad Vietje

>Hey Kurt,

Bravo on your first full-sized bowl ! That must be Yellow Poplar, or Tulip Puplar with all that color...pretty spalting, too.

Poplar is one of a number of softer hardwoods that can be difficult to get clean, shiny cuts on, along with Cottonwood, Basswood, Willow, and many softwoods. Even the hardest of woods get pretty challanging when the spalting goes a little too far, and the wood fibers might need to be stiffened up a bit.

Here's an all-natural, non-toxic method that often works, at least with green or unseasoned wood: Wrap in plastic, or place in plastic bag, and put rough-out in freezer for a day or two. Turn while frozen solid, omitting shop heat if you will take more than a few minutes.

Here in Vermont, I can freeze wood for absolutely free for about 5 months of the year, just by tossing it outside, but below zero nights work better than overnight at 25 degres. If you are in a warmer area, or want to try this in July, the freezer should be very helpful, and many freezers are -40, which will harden it up just fine.

I can't guarantee this will work, but the experiment will be educational, nonetheless. BTW: If you are not satisfied with the finish you get on spalted woods, try some of the suggestions you've been given here, or wait until your bowl skills are ready -- they're a challange. Spalted Birch can be pretty soft, depending on which Birch, and how advanced the spalting.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Thetford, VT