Wood for face frames to be painted

[Flynnwood]

It would be a good idea to speak to your local joiners shop or cabinet makers, we supply quite a bit of tulip/maple/oak etc to locals for there own projects ready planed up.

Hi - I have a Christmas pressie project that needs planed Tulipwood:
4 x 2 1/18 wide x 1/2 thick approx x 23 inches long,
and 4 x 1 5/8 wide x 1/2 inch thick approx x 23 inches long
Any interest around £30 ish plus post?

 

[RobinBHM]

I switched from tulipwood to beech and back to tulipwood.
I found beech was way more prone to twisting after fitting.

Was that lightly steamed beech?

 

[doctor Bob]

Yes pink, steamed.

 

[peter-harrison]

What is "colour no defect beech"? Pls I’ve used beech and steamed beech but not heard of this. Ian

Hi Ian, it’s beech or maple with some areas of darker colour which makes it unattractive to the kinds of businesses which like very homogeneous materials which don’t require much skill in arranging them to get a harmonious product.
If you like a bit of wildness in your timber, or if you are painting it, it’s great stuff and somewhat cheaper than the uniform stuff.

 

[Jacob]

Don't know what the price difference would be but redwood is perfectly OK for painted stuff.
You might have to waste a small amount to avoid big knots - but they only matter if they are on the edges. Any knots within the face are easy to deal with but with careful selection can be avoided altogether.
Not sure why UK poplar has become known as "tulipwood" Wood Species Database: Tulipwood | TRADA
UK poplar is fine for painted stuff, not least because it's unattractive and easily worked.
I've been of the opinion that UK poplar has a greenish tinge but it doesn't say that here Wood Species Database | TRADA
Spruce and "whitewood" maybe a bit too soft.
Beech and sycamore would be a pointless waste, harder to work, and beech fairly unstable.

 

[Jacob]

The Americans call it Poplar, we call it Tulipwood, ....

t'other way round as far as I know Wood Species Database: Tulipwood | TRADA

PS seek and ye shall find: Tulipwood - Wikipedia
the greenish stuff I've seen maybe is the American "tulip poplar".
There are quite a few very anonymous looking timbers about which were commonly used, different species e.g. horse chestnut, and probably get re or mis named

 

[RichardG]

I agree with @Jacob I've always been able to find decent quality redwood for interior painted stuff. Our local Ridgeons (now Huws Gray) sells what they call premier quality which is normally very good with few knots and a decent straight grain, not cheap mind you...

 

[Adam W.]

Carvers call it tulipwood and I was completely confused because I've never seen a tulip tree....I guess they call it that because it's posher than calling it poplar.

A quick goolge tells me it's a magnolia, Liriodendron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron

 

[Jacob]

Carvers call it tulipwood and I was completely confused because I've never seen a tulip tree....I guess they call it that because it's posher than calling it poplar.

A quick goolge tells me it's a magnolia, Liriodendron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron

The plot thickens! Also known as 'gumwood', and 'canoewood' as it's good for dug-out canoes. Could be more demand for canoes than fitted kitchens, the way things are going.

 

[Jar944]

Carvers call it tulipwood and I was completely confused because I've never seen a tulip tree....I guess they call it that because it's posher than calling it poplar.

A quick goolge tells me it's a magnolia, Liriodendron.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron

Liriodendron tulipifera. (The leaves are shaped like the profile of a tulip flower) Commercially called yellow poplar here in the US, oddly not related to the poplar (aspen)

It grows like a weed here, and had historically been cheaper than pine or fir.

This pile is destined for a tub-grinder to be turned into mulch

Lots of poplar

That said I find soft maple to be superior for paint grade cabinetry. Maple doesn't dent as easily and paints up better.

 

[Adam W.]

It's pretty much the cheapest wood here too and probably quite good for veneering.

Saying that, I've never used it for anything as I use spruce, which is easy to get hold of and well behaved.

 

[johnnyb]

I find pine a bit tricky to lose the grain on painted interior stuff.it was better using oil based paint as it didn't raise the grain. beech is lovely painted its very hard and gives sharp detail and has some doff. tulip is more pine like minus the grain. a chap came in the workshop wanting a painted tulip pic frame making. Google funky frames. anyway he paid £70 from hymor for planed inch timber about 3 inch about 3m. he wanted half lap corners and a stopped rebate. painted in gray barn paint.

 

[TRITON]

Just a heads up.
Tulipwood is quite soft and prone to denting and cross grain scratching.

 

[johnnyb]

parana pine was the tulipwood of the seventies and eighties. also canary
pine. it was very wide boards and very stable(beloved of stairbuilders)