Solved: Tulip Poplar

[Sawyerfortyish]

Better late than never I guess. ::)Im in north jersey and we got lots of big poplar I cut one a year ago two ledges farther than I could get the skidder to  dropped it towards the skidder  no problem at 96' it was still 14" on the little end and I had 75' of cable. It was all the old 230 timberjack wanted to do to move it with the winch had to cut it in 3 sections to get it out. I sawed another on the mill that made the rear wheels on my payloader come off the ground  ???an 8' log I got almost 700' of lumber out of! :)The poplar here grows big and tall :D ;)

[Mitchell]

A name I've heard given to several trees, this is ours.

Don P'Im from southwest va and wanted to know if board and batten Poplar would be good for siding for cabin off the ground and on a foundation of block with plastic on ground inside the foundation of block to keep moisture down, built houses on foundations on other houses and worked very well.Been a carpenter for 30 years and wanted your opinion about board and batten for a cabin 16x24.might have to build other sections but anybody have a preference on boars width? Thinking 8" wide or 6" wide if I can

[Don P]

Hey Mitchell, you dug up an old thread I had forgotten about . Whereabouts are you, I'm in Grayson County.
Poplar was the main clapboard siding wood here in the past, most I've measured seems to be 5/8x6" in that style. It would be fine for board and batten. I like ~10" wide with ~3" battens but the wider you go the more cupping gets to be an issue between sawing and hanging it. Board and board is another popular style, for 6 and 8", the 8" boards would be on the back layer spaced 4" apart by using small 4" x framing width and siding thickness blocks, then the 6" would go on the outer layer overlapping the 8's by an inch on each side so in the finished product it all looks like 6". I usually borate poplar, powderpost beetles like the sapwood.

This is a pic of how I like to do the bottom of B&B, this is hemlock but could be poplar, I do like being further above grade! The bottom horizontal board has a 15 degree bevel ripped on its top edge and the boards have a 15* on their bottoms then the battens extend to the bottom of that horizontal board. This blocks the critter crack and helps shed any water that tries to creep into that joint.


  

To round out more on this thread about big poplars, which with the Chestnuts gone it is now the largest tree in the eastern forest, Most of this barn is poplar logs 20-30' long, the top plate beams are 60' long 12x12's