Check this out :P This is so cool ;D
Poplar bark is pressed and kiln dried and used like shingles. I think it looks really great.
bark siding (http://www.highlandcraftsmen.com/poplarbarksiding.htm)
That is real nice looking siding. I have never seen any thing like it on the old homesteads here in Michigan.
Now that is interesting! Never would a thought poplar would make good shingles- learning all the time ::) Must have to skin 'em in the spring, eh?
And they have a real 8)delivery truck too! Whatduya think- Diamond T? Early 40's?
Looks great, but we already have a woodpecker that thinks the metal chimney is hiding his breakfast. I could just imagine the racket he and his friends would make if we did our whole house that way :D
Neat link! Those guys aren't far from here.
There's an old building on the town square in, I think, Franklin, VA that has poplar bark siding like that.
You can roll poplar logs right out of their bark in springtime. Nice clean cutting, but slippereeee!
I guess they're little epicormal branch stubs under the bark, it's about like dragging your hand over a protruding nail if you're just sliding your hands and arms under the bark while loosening it. A long handled slick works pretty good.
We've even had logs squirt out of the bark when trying to pick them up with the JD loader. We have to let them dry out about a day or two or they're too slippery.
Pretty DanG cool! 8) 8) 8)
Thanks for the web site.
Was looking at the Bark Panels & Sheets section, but don't understand this line:
"Panels are primarily available in standard grade thickness."
There is a standard grade thickness for bark ???
Well I guess you DO learn something new every day!
I noticed that too, Furby ???
The other thing I noticed is that the bark looks different from the poplar we see here. It has closer ridges and a variety of texture. Ours has wider ridges and the branches and upper part of the bole are smooth here. Almost like white birch but not peely.
Actually, I would expect the ridges to become closer together as the bark is flatened, know what I mean?
You are taking something that had a larger outside dia and trying to flaten it. It will either split or the outside would be squashed together more. I think anyways.
Yeah... I know what you mean.
I'll try to get/find a picture.
I think most of what we call poplar up here is really aspen.
That would explain it !!!!!
Wonder what that stuff costs? I can't imagine cedar shakes being more expensive than that?
That must be Yellow-poplar or Liriodendron tulipifera. It is not of the Populus family like Aspen poplar that we have here. I see a lot of poplar logs but none like those with the very dark brown centers. Also the bark on the lower part of some aspen poplar logs may be furrowed like those, but it usually is smooth and whitish-gray or green tinted.
I don't think the Aspen poplar bark would be very durable and would turn black very quick. The general feeling here is that Aspen poplar will start to rot before it hits the ground.
Wow, thanks for the site, I really like those twig railings!
Neat site.
Yup that is tulip poplar...yellow poplar...Liriodendron tulipifera. Check out the leaves on one of the pages. The heartwood is actually green when freshly cut, turns brown with light and air. It is I believe the largest tree east of the Miss. Makes excellent framing material, considered a "secondary" wood in furniture manufacture although it takes a good finish and glues and machines very well. A good finishing man can fake you out with poplar.
We have them on land that formerly grew chestnut trees. It grows as fast as white pine and is in my opinion a far superior wood. Seed viability is about 2%, but it makes lotsa seed. I parked one old Dodge only a few years ago and it is now entombed in 20' poplars :D. I've never measured but the bark is about 3/4" thick on mature trees.
I gave some basswood, red spruce, ewp, heart pine and a piece of 1865 poplar to a woodcarver yesterday. The old poplar was the flooring in an old cabin I had restored. I took it up, replaned it and used it for the ceiling and wainscot in the cabin's bathroom. Both the leftover chunk and the bathroom are still green in color but don't get much direct sun. Poplar is not durable inground contact, a little better than popple (aspen), but 'mater stakes out of tulip usually last one season, rotting off quickly at ground level. Much of the old siding around here is poplar. I removed some german siding for a dormer addition last week that was installed in the '30's that was still in fine shape.
If you've ever stepped on a piece of inner bark on a hillside, it makes a banana peel seem positively sticky ;D. In case you can't tell it is one of my favorite woods, I was glad to see another use 8) 8).