Poplar for dimensional lumber?

[Moss Man]

When we built an addition to our house we trimmed the whole thing with poplar. Being selective at the lumabar yard provided good enough trim so that we stained it and left it like that. Has very good character in it, not boring like pine.

I am not sure it is strong enough to bear heavy loads as structural lumber though.

 

[Ductape]

I am not sure it is strong enough to bear heavy loads as structural lumber though.

I've not done much "structural" stuff, but poplar is considered a hardwood. So...... shouldn't that make it at least as suitable as pine for framing and such? Or am i missing something?


Thanks for the compliments gentlemen (and i use that word loosely ). I'm no carpenter, but i like to play with this stuff since it doesn't take huge money to give a room alot of character (just a ridiculous amount of time!). Best part of this old place was finding beautiful wide pine floors under that crappy old linoleum !!!

 

[danrclem]

When we built an addition to our house we trimmed the whole thing with poplar. Being selective at the lumabar yard provided good enough trim so that we stained it and left it like that. Has very good character in it, not boring like pine.

I think that the stained poplar looks good. In the future I may trim my house out again and if I do I'll use stained poplar.

 

[carvinmark]

I just cut and installed 4" X 10" X 8' pople beams as headers for the roofs of two decks on a customers house. The headers are sitting on cedar logs. Only reason we went with pople was the cost, free to me.

 

[avalancher]

I figured it would be good enough wood for the job, especially since I am cutting my own lumber, and I mill my wood to a true 2x6, not the 1 1/2X5 1/2 that you buy in the store. Only reason I started this post was someone on a different post was poking at an industry that had being milling poplar for dimensional lumber, and I wanted to know the reason.
Poplar seems to be at least as strong as pine, in my opinion.

 

[coog]

I used to deal with a one-man mill in Wisconsin.He used Cottonwood exclusively for his lumber stock.Very strong fibers and a lot of lumber in every stick.You could bring him an ad from a big box store for a garage package and he would beat it by 20%.I know a lot of inspectors won't allow this (thanks for saving us ) but this was out in the sticks.It made great lumber.

 

[Mike Van]

I think tulip poplar beats white pine for strength, when milling your own stuff, you can always size bigger - Go to 2x8's instead of 6's. Good size tulip has lots of clear wood, as the lower branch's die off fast.

 

[avalancher]

I think tulip poplar beats white pine for strength, when milling your own stuff, you can always size bigger - Go to 2x8's instead of 6's. Good size tulip has lots of clear wood, as the lower branch's die off fast.

Your right there, most of these trees dont have a branch for the first 50 feet or so. I thought it would make ideal lumber if the wood itself is strong enough.