poplar

Keye

Keye
Corporate Member
I have never used poplar as a primary wood so I have never needed to apply a finish. I built a coffee table planing on staining it. Should I seal the poplar before staining and if so with what? I plan to use a wipe on poly. This is a cheap and quick project. I will use pocket screws rather than joiner.

I used the word cheap but I do not even consider poplar cheap these days.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
it depends on what you really want it to look like. I have taken Poplar and made it look almost like Walnut. You definitely couldn’t tell it was Poplar when it was finished. I used a light wash coat of Shellac, followed by a dye and then a penetrating stain of the same family. I slowly built up a Lacquer finish of around four coats. Then I rubbed out the finish with 0000 steel wool and wax. Total time invested approximately 8 hours, total time lapsed 3 days. So again it depends on what you want. I could sit here and spout off a few more formulas but let’s hear from you more detail.
 

Mike Davis

Mike
Corporate Member
We bought two chest-of-drawers that were painted, I scraped off the old paint because I can't use stripper.
When I got the paint off i found there was mixed woods used.
Some maple, some poplar. I used Minwax dark walnut stain and covered with polyurethane.
25 years later they still look great and you can't tell where the poplar is.
 

Keye

Keye
Corporate Member
This coffee table is going to be a place to sit a beer, therefore cheap and quick. I am not sure how poplar will absorb stain is the reason I asked about a seal coat.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
Staining is easy with Poplar, so you could just thin down your finish of choice say a Varnish or a sanding sealer to give a wash coat if you like and then dye or stain to your liking. This is an opportunity to experiment on some scrap if you care to. Then use a top coat of your choice, let’s say a Varnish or a lacquer. Which ever you care to use. With that said I’m about to announce an introductory to finishing workshop, this is the first of a series on the subject. So if you’re interested then please check it out.
 
Tulip Poplar can be hard to stain because of the difference in color streaks such as the green portions vs the whiter sap wood areas. Preconditioner will help with the blotchiness.

Darker stains such as walnut work better.

Poplar is is reactive to UV and will darken like cherry does. That green will turn brown. Some people hate the green look and others not so. Either way, that green is going to darken.

A shellac wash seals the wood and the. Wipe on poly stain sets on top of that. That might be the best way if you are worried about it being blotchy.

If you want to darken the wood first so it looks like poplar will when exposed to uv, it can be treated with oxalic acid but that has to be washed off.

Another way I like best is to use a Clorox mix spray to raise the grain. It will do the same thing almost instantly. Then let it dry, and use a prestain conditioner, then stain to liking.
 

Westpacx3

Jim
Corporate Member
Not to be morbid but I was just at a funeral where the casket was poplar and I would have sworn it was walnut. Nicest casket I have ever seen and I have done a lot of military funeral details. Absolutely gorgeous not to mention how they detailed the casket with panel type look
 

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