Yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) in numbers: hardness, weight, strength, shrinkage, movement and decay resistance, taken from the tables of the USDA Forest Products Laboratory’s Wood Handbook, followed by what the wood is like to work and what it is used for. The values are averages from small, clear, straight-grained test specimens; real boards with knots, sloping grain or a different moisture content will differ.
| Property | Yellow-poplar |
|---|---|
| Janka side hardness, 12% moisture | 540 lbf (2,402 N) |
| Janka side hardness, green | 440 lbf |
| Hardness rank | harder than 39 of the 168 woods with a 12% hardness value in our database |
| Density at 12% moisture | 29.4 lb/ft³ (470 kg/m³) |
| Weight per board foot (12%) | 2.45 lb |
| Specific gravity (ovendry weight, green volume) | 0.4 |
| Specific gravity at 12% moisture | 0.42 |
| Bending strength (modulus of rupture), 12% | 10,100 psi |
| Stiffness (modulus of elasticity), 12% | 1.58 million psi |
| Crushing strength (compression parallel to grain), 12% | 5,540 psi |
| Shrinkage green to ovendry: radial / tangential / volumetric | 4.6% / 8.2% / 12.7% |
| Tangential / radial shrinkage ratio | 1.78 |
| Dimensional change per 1% moisture (radial / tangential) | 0.00158 / 0.00289 |
| Impact bending (drop height to failure), 12% | 24 in. |
| Heartwood decay resistance | slightly or nonresistant |
What it is
The “poplar” sold in North American lumberyards is yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), also called tulip-poplar or tulipwood. Botanically it is a magnolia, not a true poplar. It grows from Connecticut and New York south to Florida and west to Missouri, and most yellow-poplar lumber comes from the South and Southeast. The sapwood is white and often several inches wide (sometimes sold as whitewood); the heartwood is yellowish brown, sometimes streaked with purple, green, black, blue or red. Those colors do not affect the wood’s properties.
Working properties
Yellow-poplar is generally straight grained and fairly uniform in texture. Slow-grown wood is moderately light, moderately soft and moderately low in bending strength and shock resistance. It has moderately high shrinkage from green but is not difficult to dry and is stable once dry. It machines and paints well, which is why it is the usual choice for painted trim and furniture.
Weight and density
At 12% moisture content yellow-poplar weighs about 29.4 lb per cubic foot, so one board foot (144 cubic inches) weighs about 2.45 lb. An 8 ft board of actual size 3/4 × 5-1/2 in. (a 1×6) holds 0.229 cubic feet and weighs about 6.7 lb; an 8 ft piece 1-1/2 × 3-1/2 in. (a 2×4 size) weighs about 8.6 lb. Green wood is much heavier because of the water it holds.
Density here is ovendry weight plus 12% water, divided by volume at 12% moisture content (Wood Handbook Eq. 4-12: density = specific gravity at 12% × 62.43 lb/ft³ × 1.12).
Wood movement
The Wood Handbook gives dimensional change coefficients for each species: the fraction of its width a board gains or loses for every 1% change in moisture content, between about 6% and 14%. For yellow-poplar they are 0.00289 across a flatsawn face (tangential) and 0.00158 across a quartersawn face (radial).
Worked example: a flatsawn board 7-1/4 in. wide (a nominal 1×8) that goes from 6% moisture content in a heated winter house to 12% in a humid summer changes width by 7.25 × 0.00289 × 6 = 0.126 in. (about 1/8 in.). The same board quartersawn moves 0.069 in. (about 1/16 in.). Allow for this in panels, tabletops and floors; the wood movement calculator works it out for any size and moisture range.
How it compares
| Species | Janka (lbf) | Density (lb/ft³) | Bending (psi) | Stiffness (Mpsi) | Tangential shrink (%) | Decay resistance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow-poplar | 540 | 29.4 | 10,100 | 1.58 | 8.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Red maple | 950 | 37.8 | 13,400 | 1.64 | 8.2 | slightly or nonresistant |
| American basswood | 410 | 25.9 | 8,700 | 1.46 | 9.3 | slightly or nonresistant |
| Black cherry | 950 | 35.0 | 12,300 | 1.49 | 7.1 | moderately resistant |
| Eastern white pine | 380 | 24.5 | 8,600 | 1.24 | 6.1 | moderately resistant (old growth only); otherwise slightly or nonresistant |
| Northern red oak | 1,290 | 44.1 | 14,300 | 1.82 | 8.6 | slightly or nonresistant |
Uses
Furniture, interior moulding, siding, cabinets and musical instruments; plywood for paneling and furniture; engineered wood products; boxes, pallets and crates from lower grades.
Frequently asked questions
Is poplar a hardwood?
Yes. Yellow-poplar is a hardwood (a flowering tree), but a soft one: 540 lbf on the Janka test, softer than Douglas-fir (710 lbf).
Is poplar good for painted furniture?
Yes. It machines cleanly, is stable once dry and has little grain to show through paint. It dents more easily than maple or oak, so use it where wear is light.
Can poplar be used outdoors?
Not without protection. Its heartwood is in the slightly or nonresistant decay group.
Sources
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material. General Technical Report FPL-GTR-190, 2010. Chapter 2 (species descriptions), Chapter 4 (Tables 4-3, 4-4 shrinkage; Eq. 4-7, 4-9, 4-12 density), Chapter 5 (Tables 5-3b, 5-5b strength and hardness), Chapter 13 (Table 13-5 dimensional change coefficients), Chapter 14 (Table 14-1 decay resistance)
- USDA Forest Products Laboratory. Wood Handbook, 2021 edition (FPL-GTR-282)
Last reviewed: 22 October 2026. Numbers are generated from our parsed copy of the Handbook tables, so every page uses the same data. Values marked * are estimates computed with the Handbook’s own equations. Spotted an error? Please let us know.