Osage Roost
General Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: PA Boxcall on February 04, 2011, 02:56:12 PM
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Dumb question time:
What makes mineral stained poplar that color -- is it the same principle as mud cured osage?
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From my understanding, the main reason is from a mineral deficiency in the soil.. Another thing I've seen is damage to a tree will sometimes cause darker wood in poplar, but not throughout the tree.
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Poplar and Ash (Live trees) have the ability to absorb minerals from the ground, causing the dark color. This is usually associated w/ the heart wood in both species. Unlike mude cured Osage, which color, is seen in fence posts rather than the live tree.
Bill
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So, it's actually not a lack of minerals, it's the trees ability to absorb the minerals.? Pretty cool, learn something new every day. *cheers* Thanks for the explanation Bill.
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Also the closer poplar grows to wet soil with a high mineral content the heart will absorb the minerals and be variouis colors. Hard to find in specific colors. I have a batch and you really don't know till you cut the blank what the actual color is.
Mike
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Mike
.........what you say is a factor, but (in my area) we see it no matter the the location. I hade a bout 200,000 BF of Ash and Poplar cut off my place 20 years ago and all of it had dark hearts. When I ask the forester why, he explained that it has more to do w/ the types of mineras in the soil, than where it was harvested.
Bill
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some of that stuff shure can be perdy !!!!
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I like it. ;D
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some of that stuff shure can be perdy !!!!
Sure can, and that's why I asked. Thanks for the explanations. *cool*
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+1 on Bill's answer.
I have friends in the woodcutting business who I used to ask to watch for green mineralized poplar. They would bring me logs and I would pay them and then pay to have them sawed up only to find that I had maybe a foot of green near the stump and plain old yellow poplar the rest of the way. That got expensive. Now I spend my time (my wife says way too much) at a furniture plant scrap wood pile looking for odds and ends. I probably look through 20 semi loads of scrap wood each year! The good part about that is that all their wood is kiln dried and planed. Right now I have enough purple poplar for two calls and I am about halfway through building them. The color is different, for sure, but I am worried about the sound because the wood feels extra light, even for poplar. Trouble is, you never know what kind of sound you are going to get until you finish the call! Rainbow poplar is pretty, but you would have to use it in big projects in order for it to be appreciated. Every now and then I get my hands on some small pieces of black poplar, too, enough to a scratch boxes. Maybe later I can post pictures of a black/green poplar call that I made this year.
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You should see the purple/blue poplar we use as dunnage. Man is it beautiful. I send hundreds of them out the door each week strapped to a bundle just to be torn apart by lift trucks. *cry*
James
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You should see the purple/blue poplar we use as dunnage. Man is it beautiful. I send hundreds of them out the door each week strapped to a bundle just to be torn apart by lift trucks. *cry*
James
People will not use the syuff outside calls except for pallets usually!