I had a tree come down in our forest last week in a wind storm. I have been cutting firewood in this forest for 20 years now and this is the first time I have come across a balsm poplar. It has a white sap wood and a very rich redish brown heartwood. I have roughed out one bowl so far. I did a search on this NG but came up with nothing. Has anyone turned balsam poplar. What are the characteristics of this wood is there a reason no one turns
Thanks in advance
Peter
Hi Peter
Turners that do not live in Canada will rarely if ever come across a Balsam Poplar, only in the extreme north-east part of USA is it also prevalent, and also the poplar and willow is not used much for turning because it is soft wood and just not thought of highly, some are also smelly, though it never sopped me from turning Willow, Poplar, Elm, Oak, etc. Of course it is very hard to distinguish between some Poplars species, but the Poplar I have turned was/is soft wood and easily damaged, and good tool orientation to have it cutting and not scraping is needed all the time, not everyone seems to be able to pull that off. There can be very striking figure in the stress wood at the branch/log junction and also in the crotch wood, also the drying of the wood is mostly without any splitting or checking problems. You have the tree there, and I would suggest to see if you can find some of the figured wood, and turn that for sure, then you can decide if you want to turn any more, you'll have to get it off of the ground though, the wood likes to stain quickly. Also a "let us know, about it" afterward.
Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo
big pete wrote:
Leo mentioned the odor. The "balsam" in P balsamifera doesn't refer to the heartwood, that's for sure.
Problem with the stuff comes from the same thing that gives turners of soft maple problems, lots of stress cracks in the dark heart. Has a tendency to open up as it's drying when cut heart up, so hitting anything you can see with water-thin CA and letting it wick in is a good idea. Since the extractives form such random patterns and colors, almost any repair can be concealed other than a heart check, which will run radially across the pattern. Be a bit generous about moving away from the heart just to make sure.
If you turn it heart down the stress cracks will stay closed if you dry it sitting on its bottom, where the grain will stay wet and expanded until the sides get some good compression on it. Looks nice that way with the dark bottom, and the corky bark can be used to great advantage if you cut a shallow angle.
It's a pretty common tree where the soil is damp without getting roots wet, and the beaver seem to favor it. Very narrow window of opportunity on spalted stock, as even the heart isn't particularly durable.
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