I'm wondering if I just wasted some money.
I want to make a shelfy thing for the headstock of my metal lathe, to hold a chuck and some tools. Hardwood would be nice, but it's really expensive. I figured pine would do.
I went to look at wood, and I saw that poplar was not too much more expensive than pine, so I bought a $20 board. Then I got home and looked it up. Apparently, it's softer than pine, and it is hard to see what the advantages are, apart from having fewer knots. It's pretty ugly.
Was I a fool to buy this board, and will I weep bitter tears of regret?
Now I feel like I need to put something on it as a protective layer to resist dents. A lathe chuck that probably weighs 75 pounds will sit on it. I'm not sure what to use. It would have to be something thin, hard, cheap, and easy to attach. Maybe no such product exists.
Other relatively cheap materials available here are pine, fir, spruce, and western cedar. The spruce looked pretty good. I can use the poplar for the top shelf, which will not hold heavy items. That would allow me to use something else to hold the chuck.