Yellow Poplar

Liriodendron tulipifera · Hardwood · North America

Janka 540 lbf≈26 lb/ft³ dried (est.)

Properties

Janka hardness	540 lbf (2,402 N)
Average dried weight (est.)	26 lb/ft³ (420 kg/m³)
Specific gravity	0.42
Modulus of rupture	10,100 psi (69.6 MPa)
Modulus of elasticity	1.58 million psi (10.89 GPa)
Crushing strength	5,540 psi (38.2 MPa)
Shrinkage — radial	4.6%
Shrinkage — tangential	8.2%
Shrinkage — volumetric	12.7%
Shrinkage T/R ratio	1.8

Values at 12% moisture content, clear-wood averages. Source: USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Wood Handbook FPL-GTR-282 (2021), Table 5–3b p. 5–11; shrinkage Table 4–3 p. 4–8.

Yellow-poplar lumber is used primarily for furniture, interior molding, siding, cabinets, musical instruments, and structural components, with boxes, pallets, and crates made from lower-grade stock. Its plywood goes into paneling, furniture, and piano cases.

Appearance & grain

The sapwood is white and frequently several centimeters wide; sapwood lumber is sold as white poplar or whitewood. The heartwood is yellowish brown, sometimes streaked with purple, green, black, blue, or red — colorations that do not affect the wood's physical properties — and the grain is generally straight with a comparatively uniform texture.

Workability

Slow-grown yellow-poplar is moderately light in weight, moderately low in bending strength, moderately soft, and moderately low in shock resistance. Its shrinkage when dried from green is moderately high, but the wood is not difficult to dry and is stable after drying.