A neighbor lost several Poplars in their backyard during last month's major storm system. Insurance finally coughed up some dough, so I came home yesterday to several trees lying on the ground. I took several 12-14" sections for playing, but one piece I was really interested in was about 20' up the trunk. In a 4'-long section there were about 8 or so crotches, with the branches ranging in size from 6" to 10". This section was maybe 2.5' in diameter, and the interface between the sapwood and heartwood (about 2" in from the bark) had an amazing blood red color to it... I don't know what caused the color, or if it's even permanent, but it varied in thickness from 1/2" to several inches.
I mentioned to the trimmers I wanted the crotch pieces, so they were kind enough to trim that one section from the trunk (yesterday was felling, today is wood removal). With a LOT of sweat and grunting, I rolled that section out a bit and started cutting it in half with my lowly 20" Husky. I cut the first half straight through the pith, and even then it was entirely too heavy for me to move... I ended up moving that quarter piece end-over-end for 20 minutes to get it into my yard. I left the other 75% there with a note (and $20) asking if they would mind dropping it into my yard with their moving equipment (I'm hoping it will be there when I get home today).
So, side story aside, what would you do with such a large piece of Poplar (I'll try to include a pic or two later this evening, assuming they've moved it over)? I've read a number of comments that it's a very plain wood, so many people use it for practice, but this chunk appears to have a lot of figure (all of the crotches coming together in one spot) and color. I hear Poplar takes dyes well, so maybe the smaller pieces would be ideal for practicing some HFs with dye? Thoughts?