Yellow Poplar Lumber Profile
Yellow Poplar, also called the tulip tree, tulip poplar, white poplar, and white wood is a common hardwood tree east of the Mississippi River. The tree thrives in deep, rich, well drained soils of forest coves and lower mountain slopes. The tree grows straight, tall, fast and is very attractive with tulip shaped leaves and yellow orange tulip like flowers. The tree has many contributing functions. It provides us with an excellent all around wood, bees produce honey from its abundant flowers, the foliage buds and twigs provides food for wildlife and it provides summertime shade. Undoubtedly, the Yellow Poplars physical beauty, high commercial value and popularity have helped make it the adopted state tree of Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee.
The wood of the Yellow Poplar has been increasing in commercial value over the years. Its favorable wood properties seem to make it suited for building almost anything. Being so versatile has even enabled the wood to be a fine substitute for scarce softwoods in making furniture and wood framing construction. The first thing many people tell you about Poplar is how they can stain it to look like almost any type wood. However, there is one favorable characteristic that has all but disappeared over the years. It seems the old growth trees used by the early settlers to build log homes once had a high resistance to decaying and boring insects. Unfortunately, today's increase of damaging agents like insects and fungal diseases have caused the younger trees to lose most of their ancestor's natural resistance. A problem that has plagued other species of younger growth trees as well. Nevertheless, the Yellow Poplar tree has adapted well over the years and is thriving.
We get our Yellow Poplar wood from the foothills of eastern Kentucky. The wood is graded by appearance and color. The all clear (free of knots) is graded the highest in appearance and the all yellowish green is graded the highest in color. We use the grade II which is almost all clear of any knots with white yellowish green color. The knots in the boards are the small pretty swirly ones that add beauty to the straight grain pattern.
Overall Opinion:
This is a flat out pretty wood. Without question, Yellow Poplar wood will make attractive, yet strong and durable outdoor furniture. It possesses good performance qualities across the board. It is, so to speak, the jack of all trades among woods. Many people like to paint Adirondack chairs and furniture and Poplar wood has excellent paint holding capacity. Why? because the wood has a nice smooth surface with little if any oil, or resin. This means you can expect a highly successfully paint job that will last. Do not expect Poplar furniture to last forever without paint if you locate it in places that remain moist for extended periods of time. But, you can expect many lasting years if you paint or refinish it when it needs it.
Other Wood Profiles:
 "Kentucky Yellow Poplar Wood")
