Species data
Yellow Poplar
Liriodendron tulipifera - a hardwood . Also sold as tulip poplar, tulipwood, tulip tree.
Properties at a glance
| Janka hardness | 540 lbf |
| Stiffness (MOE) | 1,580,000 psi |
| Specific gravity | 0.46 |
| Density | 28.7 lb/ft3 (460 kg/m3) |
| Weight per board foot | 2.39 lb |
| Shrinkage, green to oven-dry | 8.2% tangential / 4.6% radial |
| Movement coefficient (CT / CR) | 0.00289 / 0.00158 |
| Indicative price | $3.50 per board foot (estimated) |
Values are at about 12% moisture content. Density is specific gravity times 62.4; a board foot is one twelfth of a cubic foot, so weight per board foot is that density divided by twelve. Anything marked estimated is our own figure, not a measured one.
How Yellow Poplar compares
Measured against the 113 solid woods in this database: it is harder than 20% of them, heavier than 20%, and stiffer than 42%. Soft enough to dent in service - worth knowing before using it for a worktop or a floor.
What that means in the shop
A 4/4 board 8 inches wide and 8 feet long is 5.33 board feet, so in Yellow Poplar it weighs about 12.8 lb. A stack of ten is 128 lb - worth knowing before you load a rack or a car.
Against red oak, the trade's usual yardstick at 1,220 lbf, Yellow Poplar is about 44% as hard and 66% as heavy.
Its shrinkage is 8.2% tangential against 4.6% radial, a ratio of 1.8 to 1. The wider that ratio, the more unevenly a flatsawn board moves across its width as humidity changes, and the more it wants to cup; anything near or above 2 to 1 is worth quartersawing or restraining for panels and wide tops. This one moves comparatively evenly.
Woods of similar hardness
Closest to Yellow Poplar on hardness in this database: Northern Catalpa (550 lbf), Red Pine (560 lbf), Bald Cypress (510 lbf), Jack Pine (570 lbf). Similar hardness does not mean similar behaviour - check density and movement before substituting one for another.
Related calculators
Sources
- The Wood Database - Yellow Poplar
- Dimensional change coefficient table (Hoadley / FPL Wood Handbook), reproduced by Popular Woodworking
MOE (1,580,000 lbf/in2), Janka (540 lbf) and shrinkage (T 8.2%, R 4.6%) from The Wood Database, which cites the USDA FPL Wood Handbook. Specific gravity 0.46 is the Wood Database value at 12% MC (it also lists basic 0.40; the FPL Wood Handbook gives 0.42). CT 0.00289 and CR 0.00158 (Poplar, yellow) from the Hoadley / FPL dimensional change coefficient table reproduced by Popular Woodworking. Price indicative.
These calculators are for planning and estimation. Engineering results (shelf sag, wood movement) use published average material properties; real boards vary by grade, grain, moisture and defects. Verify load-bearing designs with a professional.