On 2/4/15 10:07 AM, RonB wrote:
On Monday, February 2, 2015 at 2:27:48 PM UTC-6, DerbyDad03 wrote:
I'm learning stuff...

As my kitchen upgrade continues, I had the pleasure of ripping
about 100 linear feet of 1 x 6 Poplar this weekend. The pieces
ranged in length from a few that were over 60" to large number
between 25" and 35".

I was using a 40 tooth GP blade, Freud D1040X. The ripping went
very smoothly and I got a pretty good edge on all boards, but I did
run into an interesting (at least to me) situation.

I learned that the darker the Poplar, the greater the internal
tension and the more apt that the kerf was going to close around
the splitter. In some cases I wasn't able to rip more than halfway
through the board before it would bind up. Early on I was pulling
the boards back out (with the saw off, of course) flipping them
and coming in from the other end to complete the rip.

I eventually got to the point where I was putting the darker boards
aside, ripping the "lighter" ones with the splitter installed, and
then (somewhat nervously) ripping the darker ones without the
splitter/guard. I don't know for sure that all of the darker ones
would have jammed around the splitter, but I can say for certain
that none of the lighter ones did.

I have a 24 tooth ripping blade, but it is in serious need of
sharpening. (In fact, I dropped it off at a saw and knife shop this
morning) The 24 tooth cuts a wider kerf than the D1040X, so I might
not have had the binding problem, but I don't think it was sharp
enough to have given me such a clean edge. I have read about
internal stresses causing kickback and other issues, but this was
the first time that I actually experienced it first hand - not
kickback, but the closing of the kerf on the splitter.

In any case, the ripping is done, I now have to wait for a decent
dado set to magically appear in my shop so that I can start on the
grooves and stub-tenons.

In the meantime, I'm going to build a *real* cross-cut sled to
replace one I made years ago when I had even less of a clue than I
have now. It works, but just barely, and it's not big enough for
the MDF panels I'll need for the kitchen doors.

Don't write the darker poplar off entirely. Some of it it is pretty.
In fact, poplar gets kind of a bad rap for being a featureless,
utility wood and it can stain up very nicely.

Our son is a construction superintendent for an an area company. He
was building an office building in Bentonville, AR that had some
pretty nice conference rooms. He called me one evening and asked me
about poplar because the architect had specified poplar for a lot of
the conference room trim, chair rails, etc. I asked how it was
going to be finished and he read the finish spec from his plans. I
asked him if he had faith in his finisher; and also ask if he was
going to pre-treat the wood before staining. He had previous
good-history with the finisher and I just said "get out of his way."

He called a week or so later and said the finish in the rooms was
beautiful. I got to go down a month or two later and he was right.
The architect and finisher turned lowly poplar into a cherry
look-alike.

RonB


I love poplar and use it often, but I only use it for painted projects.
I call it snot-wood for a reason. As you say, it is a beautiful wood...
until you run into a one of its infamous green-yellow streaks and then
you're screwed.

Perhaps this particular supplier offers cherry-picked (PUN!) stock that
doesn't have any snot-wood in it. But around here, I've found I end up
having to order twice as much poplar as I would a more expensive wood,
so I usually just go with birch or maple to avaoid the hassle of cutting
around all the snot.

BTW, I'm curious if the "cherry look-alike" finish you mentioned is the
real cherry as in a natural blonde that patinas over time or what Ikea
considers "cherry" which is something stained to be the color of the
skin of the cherry fruit. Like this...

http://goo.gl/YDMWH4


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-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
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