In article .com,
"Doug" wrote:

On Mar 30, 5:04 pm, Frank Boettcher wrote:
Contractor friend called me, said he had a little poplar left over
from a job, he would drop it off if I wanted it. Said sure. He
showed up with about 75 bdft of select poplar finish dimensioned to 1
x 6, and a few 1 x 4's, in lengths from 8' to 15'.

It is all perfect.

Generally, I've only used poplar for drawer sides, backs, dust
partition frames, and other internal uses for my cherry, oak, and
walnut furniture. I did do one sofa table for a womans beach house,
but it had some shell carvings attached and was painted white to match
the rest of her beach house furniture.

Has anyone used it for show, and what finish schedule seems to work
best. Hate to hide this pretty wood.

Frank

I've always felt that poplar had a bad reputation. I recently went to
a WW show up in Saratoga NY and there was a wood vendor there selling
a beautiful slab of poplar with a creamy dark swoosh running through
it. I did not buy it, but he had it on prominent display and it would
be wasted for use as a secondary wood. I also find that poplar works
beautifully, so I'd definitely get creative and have some fun making
something out of it!

This may sound weird, but I did all the dressers and night stands in the
master bed room in poplar and to finish them, I used 10 parts water to 1
part gray house paint (latex based) - then hosed it off. I painted the
mix on with a 4 inch brush. After hosing off, I let it dry and then used
4 coats of poly. The end result is that the gray shows thru on the grain
and in areas of sap wood. It gives the items a "sun baked" look
according to my wife. It is now more than 15 years old and still going
strong.