Bad poplar board

[Rcnewcomb]

Poplar is never great for cutting, but this has to be the stringiest piece I have ever encountered.

Only the ballnose bit has cut ok.

[carbidetooth]

Looks like spaghetti squash!

[Rcnewcomb]

As its "Swan Song" as I was completing the final cutout pass the bit broke.

Well, I guess I really wanted to do this project in hard maple anyway.

[NormanAlbert]

I guess I've been lucky. I never any issues with kiln dried popular. Did a pair of café doors a while back with both side carved and came out nice.

[mtylerfl]

Poplar is not a favorite of mine for CNC carving. I also don’t like boards that have the all to common “green-ish” coloration. Your photo is by far the worst “behavior” of Poplar I’ve ever seen, though! I’ve not had Poplar carve anywhere near that badly (thank goodness). Sorry about the broken bit on top of that!

[Savannahdan]

Yep, that's a example of why not to use Popular. I agree with Michael about the "green-ish" coloration. Bad enough losing the board but it really aches when you lose a bit. Reminds me that I need to get busy and plane down some maple boards. Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

[TReischl]

That is just plain NASTY!

Years ago when I was building my workbench I bought all nice hard maple. Some of it was 8/4. The first board I put through the table saw twisted up like a pretzel. I am not kidding, it bowed at least 4 inches over an 8' length, the twist was easily 45 degrees.

I got my lumber in those days from OWL (Outstanding Wood Looks) in Des Plaines IL. Great place, I took the board back and there were no questions except for one: "Can you bring the rest of them back too, we think they are all from the same kiln?" What a great place!

[ChrisInEstes]

That's what my one try at poplar came out like. Since then, there's a poplar ban at my shop

[scottp55]

That's why I leave Poplar to the Pros that have developed a knack for it over the years
They have the chip size down pat!

[mtylerfl]

I hope they floss afterwards...

[Rcnewcomb]

I have gotten OK, never great, results in the past. I guess that explains why poplar isn't more popular.

[IslaWW]

By definition its name is a marketing scam!!!!

[laflippin]

I agree with the general tenor of this thread, but also want point out that poplar can be worthwhile to use in Zank VIP inlay projects that call for "foliage" around inlaid blossoms of some other colored wood. That is poplar's 15 minutes of fame in the CNC universe, at least IMO. There doesn't really seem to be any other tenable solution for an idea that specifically requires wood with a greenish cast.

By coincidence, I just happen to be working on some oval boxes, carved from Douglas fir and inlaid on the lid with a California poppy. The blossom is nice, bright orange padauk and, yes, the stems and leafy parts are poplar. In this case, the poplar is not nearly as green as I'd really like but it's what I have in the shop. Ocooch Hardwoods once offered to single out "especially green" samples of poplar for me but I turned them down at the time...after fruitless research into plausible alternatives, I'm thinking of going back to them to see if their offer is still good.

When the boxes are done, I'll post a .jpeg or two.

[Uzumati]

Poplar is my go to wood for photoVcarve, but the max depth is 0.08” with a ball nose bit, and I pick the whitest boards I can find and stay away from the ones with too much green in them. For vCarving and 3D work it does get a little to stringy but I have never seen one that bad.

[ezurick]

Wow! that is really bad. I have to say that after I got my machine up and running and started doing various projects, most of choices from the box store (Lowes) was either pine, yellow pine or oak. I stayed away from Poplar since I knew so little about it. Until one saturday, relaxing and watching "This Old House"... and at the end, a question for each of the folks was... what is your best wood to work with.... Nearly every one said Poplar. Huh? So I zipped off to Lowes and grab a few... So far I never had that much flurry or strings except sometimes of the cut outs. What is disappointing is like others have said.. that greenish color. I also try to pick pieces with little green. Also, one sign at the Poplar area in my Lowes states that, "Poplar is great for staining Cherry". BALONY! I get better results with pine on that stain. lol.