# Nice poplar slab I just surfaced and sanded for a bench



## jimdad07 (Dec 13, 2010)

I made my router surfacer the other night and tried it out on a half round slab of poplar. It worked out great, much faster than the hand plane I've been using. This slab is going to be used for a bench that a rustic furniture/craft store wants for the display floor. I'll show more pictures when it's done. This piece was from a half dead poplar that had blown down back in July or August in a wind storm, I still have a few logs left to mill out of that batch. This piece had some decent character marks and spalting.


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## lone wolf (Dec 13, 2010)

jimdad07 said:


> I made my router surfacer the other night and tried it out on a half round slab of poplar. It worked out great, much faster than the hand plane I've been using. This slab is going to be used for a bench that a rustic furniture/craft store wants for the display floor. I'll show more pictures when it's done. This piece was from a half dead poplar that had blown down back in July or August in a wind storm, I still have a few logs left to mill out of that batch. This piece had some decent character marks and spalting.



Should be a beauty.


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## mikeb1079 (Dec 13, 2010)

hey jimdad, will you post some pics of your router surfacer? i'd like to make one of those down the road.


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## deeker (Dec 13, 2010)

It looks great, a great wood to work with.

I use lots of it for trailer decking and indoor tables as well as siding for sheds.

Lots of "curly" grains you don't expect.

Not bad for a wood that gets a bad rap.

Kevin


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## Timberframed (Dec 14, 2010)

Poplar can have a warm glow to it. Easy to work and doesn't dull up the tools as much. That Milwaukee a ½"?


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## betterbuilt (Dec 14, 2010)

Nice work on that slab. 







mikeb1079 said:


> hey jimdad, will you post some pics of your router surfacer? i'd like to make one of those down the road.





Here's a thread with a bunch of pictures.
http://www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?t=144231&highlight=router+slabs


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## jimdad07 (Dec 14, 2010)

Timberframed said:


> Poplar can have a warm glow to it. Easy to work and doesn't dull up the tools as much. That Milwaukee a ½"?



That is a 11 amp Milwaukee with a 1/4" coulet, do you know if you can get a 1/2" for it. I already have a 1/2" coulet for the Porter Cable, the one from my old one fits it, but I really see what you guys meant by the bigger router doing a better job.


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## Timberframed (Dec 14, 2010)

Jim, Try the PC collet in the Milwaukee. You might be surprised. If not I'll see what I can do at a place near here that stocks these things.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 14, 2010)

Timberframed said:


> Jim, Try the PC collet in the Milwaukee. You might be surprised. If not I'll see what I can do at a place near here that stocks these things.



Thanks, I'm going out to the shop after I get the yahoos their bath and I'll try, I'll take a couple of pics of my hillbilly router setup too.


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## BobL (Dec 14, 2010)

That's some good looking stuff you have there. Around here we can get the odd poplar tree from someones garden but it is very pales and has less feature in it than plain toilet paper so I don't even bother to mill it.

I'd like to see pics of it in its final form.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 14, 2010)

BobL said:


> That's some good looking stuff you have there. Around here we can get the odd poplar tree from someones garden but it is very pales and has less feature in it than plain toilet paper so I don't even bother to mill it.
> 
> I'd like to see pics of it in its final form.



I just fired up the wood stove in the shop and will be going out to make the legs out of the same log (just flat slabs) if I can get anywhere tonight I'll put some pics up. I like the poplar because it's very common here and most people think of it as junk wood because most people around here think of fire wood. I like it for what I do with it.


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## mrbentontoyou (Dec 14, 2010)

*poplar is awesome*

That slab is looking good! Looking forward to the finished product for sure. I love that big chunky rustic/lodge look. 

Glad to hear of other poplar fans! 

People always associate spalting with maple but spalted poplar looks insane, I did these little end table tops from a 12"x12" timber that was left over construction cribbing for a crane to roll on. 

View attachment 162119


View attachment 162120


I also get a lot of poplar, maple, oak and mystery woods from the sheet metal factory next to my shop in the form of pallet skids; this table top is pallet poplar at it's finest, also free as they have to break down the pallets and pay a carting service to haul the wood away. The more I take the less they pay for disposal so it's win-win. 

View attachment 162122


It cuts easy, planes easy, sands easy and finishes easy. And it's light weight. Can't wait to come across some to mill! 
Around here the tulip poplar trees get pretty big...:chainsawguy:


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## Marine5068 (Dec 15, 2010)

Nice work Jimdad.
Poplar here is considered the same. Junk or crap wood.
I'd like to do some work like that in the near future. I live in an area where there is a lot of poplar but also a lot of wood crafters/woodworkers here too.
Most work in pine and do country looking furniture though. 
I think of myself as more of a classic contemporary design guy.
But I should start to make contacts with some farmers and landowners around here and see what is out there for wood and when the time comes do some deals with them.
Thanks for those great pics and all your posts. I like reading and seeing what you're doing in that shop of yours.
Keep it up.

Nice tables Benton.
I like.
Great straight-line designs too.
I'm a welder(day job) so I am looking at those and thinking that the two materials work well together and that the steel frames give the appearance of the slabby looking end table tops a "floating" look to them. Nice job.
Very cool "Z" designed table too. I'd like to see a bench with that same z design.

Keep it up guys.
You're inspiring me to get busy...lol.

~Stan


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## forestryworks (Dec 15, 2010)

Nice, I assume that's yellow-poplar?


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## jimdad07 (Dec 16, 2010)

forestryworks said:


> Nice, I assume that's yellow-poplar?



I'm ashamed to say that I am not sure which species of poplar this is. I will say that these trees get huge fast. Some of the biggest trees we have here are poplar.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 16, 2010)

Here is the surfacer for Mike, it's not much to look at, but it got the job done. When I build the new shop I would like to make one that is a permanent work station. There are a couple of real nice ones I have seen on this site that I would like to copy. I also got the legs on the bench tonight and a coat of spar urethane on the top of the bench. I couldn't get back to it the other night.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 19, 2010)

Here is the bench moving along. I have two coats of spar urethane on the top and the legs are on it. Just have to put wooded plugs in the kreg jig holes, finish sanding and and a couple more coats and she's done and off to the the display floor.


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## jimdad07 (Dec 19, 2010)

Fixed the pictures. Figured out it was posting the address twice.


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