# Poplar 2x Lumber



## Habitant (Jul 21, 2010)

I have a chain saw mill and some poplar trees and want to build some sheds and animal shelters. I was thiinking of turning the poplar trees into 2x4s and 2x6s. 
Any reason why I should nt? How hard is it to drive a nail into dried poplar?

Will it rot any faster than pine or spruce (which I dont have any of anyways).


Thanks.


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## kycountry (Jan 26, 2012)

It depends on the type of poplar.. 
For Tulip and yellow poplar, Cucumber, and those types, keep it off the ground and under cover or painted and it will last many years... and driving nails is about the same as pine..

Silver poplar isn't really worth building with because of the openness of the grain, it's weak and rots fairly quickly. You will also HATE sawing it with a chainsaw mill.. it fuzzes up, pinches the saw, and all sorts of bad things lol...


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

I use a lot of yellow poplar because it's what I have growing on my place. As kycountry said, keep it dry and off the ground, and it do fine. Many 100+ year old houses here have painted poplar lap siding on them.

Sawing can be a bit tricky on small logs, they tend to bow badly as you saw them, relieving the stress in the log. Also, if you saw large beams, they tend to check out quite a bit in the centers, but rarely see that in 2x lumber.


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## fishhead (Jul 19, 2006)

I have poplar (aspen) tongue and groove in my house. It was so brittle that a 6d nail would make it split on the tongue so I predrilled the holes.

I would ask around and see if anyone has a small mill that would be willing to mill your logs.


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## Hoopjohn (Mar 8, 2013)

Sawing your own 2 x 4's & 2 x 6's with a chain saw is akin to digging your basement with a #2 shovel. 
Yes, you can do it. But its an incredible waste of time given the small return.


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## Fire-Man (Apr 30, 2005)

If I wanted 2X materiel I would hire someone with a portable sawmill to cut it instead of using a chainsaw mill. A chainsaw mill is ok to square up a log, make a large beam, but cutting 2X material is more work/expence than I would want to put in cutting it. When I cut Poplar I have to flip the Cant 180 on just about every cut to keep it somewhat flat/straight. The tulip poplar I have here---when its dry I predrill most all the nail holes on the end of the boards if I am face nailing it.


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