Hello Mike in Tennessee and welcome to the forums..
Poplar is the poor man's everything species or just about anyways... and it is a hardwood... so why not..
that green will fade away after a while and turn into earth tones... w/ some help from the sun...
A little more on those green streaks.
Try tanning them. On a bright, sunny day, set your finished project outside for a hours at a time. You’ll find that the pale, creamy color turns darker and the green streaks will darken to nice, earth tones in color.
When it gets to your happiness of color apply a clear finish.
I like to use boiled linseed oil and follow that with a wipe-on varnish. You’ll find that poplar will continue to darken as time goes on. I like the look.
If you’re more into hiding the color variations in poplar use gel stains. Poplar stained with a java gel stain makes poplar look more like walnut.
You can change poplar into cherry quite handsomely... Gel stains again... or dyes for just the right color tone...
You know, there’s one more thing to mention…of all the native hardwoods, poplar is the least expensive.
Poplar is the poor man's everything species or just about anyways... and it is a hardwood... so why not..
that green will fade away after a while and turn into earth tones... w/ some help from the sun...
A little more on those green streaks.
Try tanning them. On a bright, sunny day, set your finished project outside for a hours at a time. You’ll find that the pale, creamy color turns darker and the green streaks will darken to nice, earth tones in color.
When it gets to your happiness of color apply a clear finish.
I like to use boiled linseed oil and follow that with a wipe-on varnish. You’ll find that poplar will continue to darken as time goes on. I like the look.
If you’re more into hiding the color variations in poplar use gel stains. Poplar stained with a java gel stain makes poplar look more like walnut.
You can change poplar into cherry quite handsomely... Gel stains again... or dyes for just the right color tone...
You know, there’s one more thing to mention…of all the native hardwoods, poplar is the least expensive.