poplar for workbench?

[Jim Becker]

Ok...which kind of poplar is it that has a green color to it?

Yellow Poplar, AKA Tulip Poplar AKA Liriodendron Tulipifera L is a member of the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae) which has about 200 different species, 11 of which are native to North America. Liriodendron, Illicium (anise) and Magnolia are the three "branches" of the family, as it were.

Yellow poplar heartwood has a green cast to it when fresh-cut, but that color will turn brown with exposure to UV and through oxidation.

I just had 1550 board feet of yellow poplar milled in my back yard last week and had even more produced back in 2000. (There are pictures of the latter event on my web site)

[Billy Dodd]

Jim,
That sure is a nice pile of wood you wound up with. By the looks of the slabs, it looks like you had several logs. That will help out the wood stove as well. Nothing wasted. I can see a bunch of work involved with that and I can feel your pain. Picking up a 12 inch 4/4 board dry is one thing but some people don't realize how much that same board weights wet and fresh cut. Need some of my Ibuprofen? I'll be expecting to see something made with that. I'll post the follow up on my bench when I get it going.

Billy

[Jim Becker]

Yes, the 5/4 ~18" wide slabs were, umm...hefty. The amount of water in wood prior to drying is substantial and heavy. Hence, those boards are on the bottom of the pile, both because they take a little longer to dry and because there was no way I was going to lift them higher than that myself.

Three trees came down this time and the sections we cut up were 8' long. (at my request)

[Tony Bilello]

I built my workbench using 4x4 treated pine for the legs, 2x4 pine for the lower shelf frame and double layer of plywood for the top. You could sit a car on top of my workbench. If your bench is designed properly, poplar will work just fine.
A also agree with the idea of a softer top depending on what kind of work you will be doing. I only make my mallets from scrap 4x4 pine. They last for many years beat up as they look but they cause minimal damage to my projects when something has to be 'persuaded' into place.

If poplar is what you have, then poplar is what you should use.

[David Keller NC]

"David you can point your timber guide out this way and I can show him the difference between pecan and hickory. They look nothing a like."

Yeah, I was aware of that - but I'd bet the idiot salesman never took a walk in the woods. Species distinctions matter in some cases - live oak isn't remotely similar to red oak in workability characteristics (particularly with hand tools), but quite a few of the timber dealers I've asked have said "it's the same stuff"...

[Anthony W Rich Jr]

I came across some 12/4 poplar and was wondering if it would be strong enough for a workbench. I know it's not maple, but around here hard maple seems hard to come by. Billy

I'm trying to buy some 8/4 x 4 for part of my Bench, Add some 3/4" Bamboo Plywood to your Bench Heavy Dense Material. I was going to glue a sheet to my poplar top but after planing the boards the grain has beautiful random patterns in it, so now I will use it to add weight to my rails and legs maybe a cabinet door or two. Built a 6' Poplar and Bamboo Moxon Vise to go on top.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Anthony and welcome to the Creek.

I must have missed this thread during my moving to Washington from California when it started.

Poplar is readily available in this area.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

My base is poplar. It works well and has served me well. I assume traditional holdfasts might eventually wear the dog holes fast than a harder material if that is in your future. I cobbled these together out of some HF clamps and prefer the more controlled pressure I can apply with them; hole wear is of no concern.

holddown-3.jpg . holddown-4.jpg

My top is 2 layers of MDF on 2 layers of 3/4" marine ply so weight is not an issue. You could add drawers as I did for weight as well. I'd forge ahead.

TNNW (70).jpg

[Rick Malakoff]

Glenn, great use for the HF clamps, thanks for the pics.
Rick

[Ted Reischl]

Heavy does not automatically mean stable. You can build a bench out of hard maple, big honking legs, stretchers and the top 4 inches thick and it will wobble all over the place if the joinery is sloppy.

If you get the joints right and the bench moves when you plane then it needs more weight.

In my case, I built ten drawers that sit across the lower rails (my lower rails are 5 X 5 japanese pine right on the floor). Those drawers became my hardware store. It is where I keep lots of nuts, bolts, screws, steel and brass rod, etc. I found putting tools in a drawer under the bench was not all that convenient for the way I work, but putting the hardware there has worked out great!

My bench is a little unconventional when it comes to joinery. The legs are attached to the rails with bridle joints, big, honking, about 2 inches thick tenons. Since the rails are 5 inches, I have lots of shoulder area (which is what actually keeps things from racking). I then used BIG lag screws, like the 1/2 inch variety to screw through the tenons and cheeks.

The maple top rests on "bearers", the top is not fastened to the legs whatsoever. In the center of each bearer is a large diameter dowel with a large chamfer that registers the location of the top on the support structure. That idea might have come from the Workbench book, not sure anymore.

BTW, if you need to have a hard top surface there is nothing wrong with lamination .5 maple to the edges of those boards. I would do it before gluing up the top slab so that it is easier to clamp them down, no cauls required. Then just use a flush trim bit to get them flush.

Look forward to seeing your new bench!

[Prashun Patel]

+1. Thanks for the great ideas, Glen.

[Don Peters]

I built a bench out of yellow poplar forty years ago, and it's served me well. I'd do it again. Build it thick and as heavy as you can stand. Allow for some wood movement.

[Bill Houghton]

My grandfather worked as a carpenter/kitchen remodeler/furnituremaker for half or more of his career. His bench, which I have, was Douglas fir, which is similar to poplar in hardness and weight. Worked for him.

[Alex Burkhardt]

Do it.

Making a workbench out of what's cheap and readily available to you seems about as true to the craft as you could get. Keep in mind, too, that starting from 12/4 material will cut down on laminations.

I think i recall Rob Cosman mentioning in a video that he made one of his workbench bases from poplar simply because he stumbled across some in the 12/4 variety.

Use what you have!

[Stanley Covington]

Hate it when the timber industry does that. I've had someone at a local timber company absolutely insist that hickory is "the same as" pecan, even to the point of insisting that it's the same tree! Anyone that's ever tried to eat a hickory nut can tell you they aren't the same thing - neither is the wood from the two species, but it seems that in regards to timber industry standards, the workability characteristics make them "equivalent".

Happens a lot doesn't it.

Maple flooring and ballustrades and other partially processed wood called maple is perhaps 25% birch. Not sure it is ALWAYS planned that way, but I am sure little effort is made to prevent it. Theft in any case.

I have taught my suppliers and subcontractors the price they will pay if they do not properly sort materials per specs, a price that always makes the contract unprofitable or them.