poplar slab for a bar top??

[Chilihead]

Looking for some advice on whether a poplar slab is suitable to use as a bar top? I'll be making this for a friend. They've found a reasonable priced slab already. I have very little experience working with poplar. Is it too soft or will it hold up ok?

 

[Skymaster]

IMHO too soft.

 

[Chilihead]

IMHO too soft.

Yes, that's what I am afraid of as well......it would seem they've already bought it for such though.

 

[bowman]

You could apply a top coat of epoxy to harden and provide another layer of protection

https://www.google.com/search?q=epo...1266j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active

 

[Rwe2156]

I bought a few poplar slabs from a guy in TN several years ago. One of them was very hard and almost looked like maple. I think its called tulip poplar?

I made sawhorses out of it. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this.

 

[Mike Davis]

Poplar looks really good with lots of dark walnut stain and polyurethane

 

[Jeff]

On the East Coast we usually find lots of tulip poplar (aka poplar, local vernacular). It should make a fine bar top and it's not too soft for this use. Besides, they aren't going to be beating on the top and it'll develop a bit more character with a few dings and scratches anyway.

	Janka hardness
Tulip poplar(yellow poplar)	540
Cherry	950
Red maple (soft maple)	950
Eastern white pine	380

There are lots of bar top epoxy coatings but I don't think it's necessary and don't care for the glassy, plastic look.

 

[scsmith42]

Looking for some advice on whether a poplar slab is suitable to use as a bar top? I'll be making this for a friend. They've found a reasonable priced slab already. I have very little experience working with poplar. Is it too soft or will it hold up ok?

Should be fine. With any wide slab, make sure that it's fully dry, sterile and that you finish all sides of the slab.

 

[ehpoole]

Poplar looks really good with lots of dark walnut stain and polyurethane

Really, any stain built around reds and browns tends to go well with Poplar, whereas stains centered around yellow tend to come out looking more sickly (IMHO, others are welcome to disagree).