Long ago, about 8 years ago, I turned a Rainbow Poplar bowl and had a heck of a time with it. Experience helped make this time a much more pleasant effort.
Rainbow Poplar is fairly soft so it does cut quickly but not incredibly cleanly. Fortunately it cleans up with some basic sanding pretty quickly. Regular Poplar is very much a utility wood with not much to recommend it to the turner, but when the rainbow effect is present the wood becomes more special due to the random colors you find.
Rainbow Poplar Interior
This piece measures 11″ x 4″ and is, I believe, the deepest vessel I have yet turned. I intend to repeat the experience with a Cherry blank in the next two days.
It took some time and some patience to hollow this one out but I think the effort was repaid. The bowl does, unfortunately, have a check in the side wall. This check was there when I started the turning process and since the bowl came by it “honestly,” that is it was present from the beginning and not the result of an error on my part, I have decided to consider that is just part of what this piece of wood happened to do and to not judge it further.
Rainbow Poplar Side View
All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool system on my Robust American Beauty lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck, while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks. Final finish is Staples Crystal Clear Paste Wax.
As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!
