I was hoping someone could help me fill in some gaps on mineral stained
poplar. I've always thought of poplar as a pretty dull wood and would
only use it if I ran out of pine. Recently, I've been digging through
poplar at home improvement store and lumbar yards and discovered a
bizarre array of varieties. I've seen some that mimic curly maple, oak,
have bizarre grain patterns, and tonight I found some pinstripe grain
pattern. The one variant that has gotten my attention (and my
obsessive-compulsive desire to get enough pieces to make a chest out
of) is the mineral stained poplar that comes "rainbowed" in all sorts
of shades of lavender, purple, indigo, burgundy, black, and dark green.
I thought it was a weird fluke at first when I found it (nothing more
than an oddity to play with), but every time I hit the home improvement
stores, I find five to ten pieces of it in varying lengths and
thicknesses (mostly the Weyerhauser "hobby boards" that are precut at
1/4, 1/2, and 1 inch thicknesses).

I originally thought the coloring was caused by a fungus after an
insect infestation (we have a ton of blue-stain pine around here that's
being caused by a cyclic beetle infestation), but I've been scouring
all info I can find and it seems that it's caused by mineral stains.
However, I've still yet to track down any solid info other than that.
Some places say it's Liriodendron rather than poplar, others show
Liriodendron examples but it's not the same as what I'm looking at
(different grain pattern and consistency), so I'm having a hard time
separating what's actually fact from the crap.

Also, I'm wondering just how common it is. I always find some at Home
Depot, Lowe's, and any place that carries the Weyerhauser boards (never
any in the large lumber stacks there that I've found), but it takes up
to an hour to dig through everything. Considering how little I find
compared to how much is there, it makes me wonder if it's scarce. Also,
I can't find hardly any listed for sale online except as precut blocks
for turning bowls or fishing lures. Any clues? Thanks.

-k