Purple Poplar?

[Dave Roller]

I've started turning bowls from a large tulip poplar that was at the end of my driveway. It leafed out this spring, but slowly died over the summer. Coincidently, there has been a leak in the gas main that passes my property that the gas company has been unable to repair after three trys. The ground vegetation and this tree were killed by this gas leak. I got the gas company to take the tree down and to grind out the stump. I agreed that they could leave the wood for anyone who wanted to pick it up. What was left after two weeks, they would remove. Upon seeing that the wood was puple with occasional and typical streaks of green heartwood, I quickly shoved the pieces from the bottom 25' farther up the driveway and left the rest.

That's background for my questions.

Has anyone seen or heard of poplar with purple heartwood and purple streaks? Do you think the natural gas leak which killed the tree also caused the wood to take on a purple cast?

 

[Charles Henderson]

Not so uncommon

I have used some 1" kiln dried poplar they sell at my local home depot. I can't seem to walk past that section without taking a closer look anymore.

I have found pieces that range from white to light yellow, green, black, and yes purple too. All those colors, and in ONE 1"x6". It's colorful stuff, but I wish it was a bit harder.

I can't be too sure whether it was the heartwood that was all purple, though. The colors seem to streak throughout with the exception of the green and white, which are mostly in the sapwood.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Bluestain, maybe? http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf2005/fpl_2005_ibach001.pdf

 

[Frank Drew]

As Charles said, poplar can naturally have vivid purple and/or green streaks; it's not from gas, but I'm not sure what conditions promote it.

 

[Barbara Gill]

The purple is a mineral stain. It will eventually turn brown. I see it frequently when sawing Tulip (Yellow) Poplar.

 

[john lucas]

Barbara is dead on. I've had several pieces of this stuff with a very beautiful purple color. It gradually fades to brown no matter how well you take care of it.

 

[Joe Greiner]

Can't find it now, of course, but about a year or so ago, I came across a web site offering wood from trees that had been artificially custom-colored, by injecting the surrounding ground with a variety of "magic potions." I dismissed it at the time, because I thought it was a long-term process, but it probably wasn't.

If the timing matches, my prime suspect would be the natural gas. And pressure treating unsealed logs with natural gas could be an interesting experiment.

Joe

 

[Dave Roller]

The purple is a mineral stain. It will eventually turn brown. I see it frequently when sawing Tulip (Yellow) Poplar.

Babara, I've cut several tulip poplars over the years since I've lived here, but none have had this purple coloration. Admittedly, none have been within 50 yards of this one. If it's caused by a mineral stain, the mineral is localized.

What you say makes more sense than the possiblity of natural gas causing the phenomenon.

I've roughed out one bowl that is nearly as dark purple as the Baltimore Ravens uniform. If someone can point me to the directions for posting a thumbnail, I'll try to get a picture on the forum

 

[MichaelMouse]

The mineral stain I'm familiar with is calcium oxalate, like a kidney stone. Same general way of getting there, too. For some reason, injury slowing the flow or lack of solvent, the stuff starts to crystallize where the flow is lowest. It's mostly greenish to brown in the local maple, though some soft maple hearts are sort of iridescent purple/green mix. Not as purple as the gorgeous stuff in black walnut, which stays, and would, I guess be from some other source.

I'm doubting the methane had anything to do with it, as it's a common gas of the swamps, being a byproduct of vegetable decay. Besides, one of the things the pipeline fliers look for is dead grass over a possible leak.

 

[Dave Roller]

Well, there is a couple hundred square feet of dead grass in my yard and my neighbor's. The gas, following the path of least resistance, is dead on both sides of my driveway for about fifty feet away from the road. And the meter the gas company used to trace the leak showed gas in the soil along each side. The gas company representative surmised that the gas followed the bed of crusher run underlayment for the driveway.

 

[MichaelMouse]

Well, there is a couple hundred square feet of dead grass in my yard and my neighbor's. The gas, following the path of least resistance, is dead on both sides of my driveway for about fifty feet away from the road. And the meter the gas company used to trace the leak showed gas in the soil along each side. The gas company representative surmised that the gas followed the bed of crusher run underlayment for the driveway.

Sounds very much like a NO smoking gun. Could have done for the tree as well.

 

[John Jordan]

Purple stain in poplar is usually caused by lightning, and sometimes there will be cobalt blue as well. You may be able to smell a burnt smell. The colors are, unfortunately fugitive, and don't last long at all.🙁

I have a really nice Rude Osolnik piece that was very purple, but has been brown for years now.

John

 

[Chuck Jones]

Too much information

Mother nature causes those colored streaks in Poplar.🙂 I enjoy the things that can be learned on this site, but some times there just doesn't seem to be any other answer. I've sawed Poplar logs that grew side by side in same patch; some had the color, some didn't. No pipe lines within miles.

One bit of scientific information I do know for sure. My skin is allergic to Poplar sap. Blisters me as bad as poison ivy. Only two things in the world I know of to which I'm allergic. Apparently affects my brain also, because I keep doing it over and over.