: Reading through various books and posts on strip building I am surprised not
: to see poplar listed as a stripping wood. It is light in color, straight
: grained, and usually clear. Obviously there must be a downside or it would
: be used. Can anyone tell me what that "down side" is? Northern
: cedar is hard to come by and I'm looking for a good light colored wood to
: replace it.

: Thanks

I did the whole hull of my guillemot with native Michigan poplar. (I posted on this a couple weeks ago under a discussion on aspen if you want to search for more info) My experience was pretty good. The wood is as you describe, light in color, straight grained, and clear. I like it now because it doesn’t show scratches at all. When I started working with the WRC I got from Lowes/Home Depot I found it was much faster building though. I will be using cedar for the double I’m starting shortly.

Weight was no issue. Like I said, the entire hull is ¼” poplar and there is a bit on the deck for accent and the whole thing came out to 35 pounds. Epoxy and glass make a much bigger difference than the wood.

THe biggest downside I found was that the poplar is much harder and took a lot longer to sand than the cedar.

Jim