Popple Burl

[cal thelen]

Got this Popple burl from a friend Asking me to do a bowl, Wanted to leave as natural as possible. Was not expecting a whole lot. But the figure Was great! Want to keep this myself but He wants it. Sorry the photos are not that good but a Photographer I am not. The white mark on the inside is just poor lighting not a mark on the wood. First big bowl off the new Nova Galaxy. Love the lathe. Wish I did not wait so long to get it. Bowl measures about 12 inches diameter and about 5-1/2 inches tall.
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[Mark Greenbaum]

What kind of wood is Popple? (Poplar?)

[Steve Schlumpf]

You did a great job on bringing out everything that chunk of wood had to offer! I can see why your friend wants it! Nice!

[Robert Willing]

Yes in the UP of Michigan we call it popple as well. It grow like weeds and is used for OSB, plywood and paper pulp. When you cut down one tree many saplings come up from it's roots. The young sapling serve as food for the deer as well, they love the buds. The DNR encourages landowners to manage their forest to increase the deer herd.

[Mark Greenbaum]

OK - poplar - popple, I get it. Very nice job on that bowl. I've never seen Popple pop like that - awesome.

[John K Jordan]

OK - poplar - popple, I get it. Very nice job on that bowl. I've never seen Popple pop like that - awesome.

I really appreciate it when people use the name popple rather than poplar to distinguish true popular (populus spp.) from yellow/tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), it eliminates confusion between the two entirely types of wood!

This article from the Wood Database might be interesting: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...en-whats-what/

Wonderful figure in that piece!

JKJ

[Dan Grebinski]

I really appreciate it when people use the name popple rather than poplar to distinguish true popular (populus spp.) from yellow/tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), it eliminates confusion between the two entirely types of wood!
JKJ

Yes, they're very different. The Popple burl is too hard, the Mommle burl is too soft, and the babypple....Oh, never mind.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Got this Popple burl from a friend Asking me to do a bowl, Wanted to leave as natural as possible. Was not expecting a whole lot. But the figure Was great! Want to keep this myself but He wants it. Sorry the photos are not that good but a Photographer I am not. The white mark on the inside is just poor lighting not a mark on the wood. First big bowl off the new Nova Galaxy. Love the lathe. Wish I did not wait so long to get it. Bowl measures about 12 inches diameter and about 5-1/2 inches tall.
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You sure got that color come up nicely Cal, I have turned some Aspen, being included by what the pulpwood cutters and haulers call Popple, as there are some 25 or so closely related species that hardly anyone knows, especially as they deal with just the logs,
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I have these trees growing right on my property, they are interesting trees and believed to be the largest plants on this earth.

Aspen or Popple.jpg

I cut about 20 that were growing on the west side of my property, not large but very tall trees they gave too much shade so down they came, now I am mowing all the shoots that are coming up in my lawn, the ones away a bit shot up better than 4 feet in the first year, with very large leaves while the mature trees have pretty small leaves, though all have these long stems, making them wiggle in the least bit of wind.

Aspen leaves.jpg Also Aspen leaves.jpg

Of course Tulip trees are also called Poplar by the lumber people, is not a Poplar at all but a Magnolia species, as if one looks at the leaves or flowers or seed cones it would be very apparent.
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Where the Popple grows and Tulip trees does overlap a bit, popple/Aspen does not like the heat but grows best in the cooler areas and is very cold hardy, whereas the Tulip tree is not very cold hardy at all.
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An Aspen turning I made.
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[Leo Van Der Loo]

What kind of wood is Popple? (Poplar?)

Mark, Popple is not one tree, but the common name for all the Willow relatives, with soft white wood, like Quaking or Trembling Aspen, Cotton wood and Big tooth Aspen, Balm Poplar, so Polar and Aspen and Cottonwoods are all included into this name.

As I said they have white wood, some people call the Tulip tree a Poplar, but it isn’t a Poplar at all, but a Magnolia species and it has this yellow and greenish wood, not the White wood the Poplar Aspen and Cottonwood trees have, HTH