Using Poplar to Turn Wood Bowls

I grabbed a poplar or cottonwood log a while back and started turning some bowls.

I was very pleased with how this wood turns, below is a picture of the log and how I laid it out. I will follow up with some videos and pictures of the finished bowls. I think I got 4 or 5 bowls out of this log.

Poplar Log Laid Out
For Turning Wood Bowls

There is an iridesence that comes off of the finished bowls. I finished all in bowls with lacquer on the outside and “salad bowl finish” on the inside.

The log was about 10″ or so deep (thick) so I ended up cutting some of those blanks in half…..so I ended up with 4 bowls about 3 inches deep each and one large bowl about 8″ deep.

I really liked working with this wood, not sure if it was poplar or cottonwood and I’m not sure if there is much of a difference between the two. Dense grain, turns nicely and finished nicely.