anybody have experience using poplar shafts please share. Thanks.

I got some from Twig archery several years ago.  Lots tuffer than cedar.  Heavier too.  Made a good, medium weight arrow.  Price is good too.

I got some tapered shafts, they were used, maker unknown.  I made some really heavy arrows from them, one would not stay straight no matter what I did.  And I couldn't even lose it, the others were great, they rank right behind fiberglass as my preferred hog hunting shafts.  Heavy and tough.  Bill

Poplar is good, tougher and heavier that cedar or sitka, but not as heavy as ash or birch.  I would call it the perfect wooden hunting shaft.

Tapered poplars from Twig are my bread and butter arrows always reliable, excellent service and craftsmanship. Best arrows I have thus far, but I am going to experiment with some Ramins.

If they're well manufactured, they can't be beat. Assume you mean yellow poplar.

The arrows recovered from the Mary Rose were made of poplar.  Seems it's been a "popular" shafting for a very long time.

I like it a lot. Seems to be a better wood than POC and because not a lot of people use it or know of it, it is very cheap to buy.
Thanks for your time.

I Like poplar too.  I am in the middle of making some arrows now on poplar shafts .  They take a bit more time to straighten than POC  but they usually stay pretty straight .  Certainly   heavier  and a bit denser than POC  They are   also stronger . Ones I am making right now  im  making with Self Nocks     I like poplar  for self nock arrows due to their better strength. I get mine from Lowes or HOME DEPOT AS 3/8 Dowells and I taper them my self .   YOu just have to watch for grain run off  when you pick out the dowels and    try to get  straight ones  .

I love 'em.  I, too, make them from dowels purchased at the local lumber yard.  Each time I visit I picked out all the straight grained, knot-free dowels they have.  I take them home, cut them to 30", straighten them, weigh both their spine and mass, and then bundle them in like groups.  I can make very close tolerance matched sets that way, and the price is right at $0.25 a shaft!  I agree, too, that they're a touch heavier and tougher than POC, as long as they're fairly straight grained.  I find them a touch easier to stain than POC, birch, and spruce as well.  Here's a few poplar matched sets:

I agree with above. Poplar makes a great arrow. I make parallel shafts and hardwood footed poplar shafts. I turn mine from boards bought at lumbar stores. I find them to be tougher than cedar, not as brittle as douglas fir, and easier to keep straight than birch. I am still trying to learn how to pick out the perfect board for making shafts in the spine/weight perfect for me.

Seeing Don Stokes ask about yellow poplar made me wonder if the lumbar yards sell only yellow poplar or some other variety. With a little research I found yellow is from the east coast it is the tallest of hardwoods most readily available and not a true poplar but a mangnolia. And it is what most lumbar stores offer.

All in all a really good arrow wood IMO.

What diameter dowels are you buying forest trecker? Theyre real nice looking arrows. what kind od apines do you find in poplar dowels?

Got 2 doz. from Twig Archery last year, straightest shafts I have ever seen, good price also! I like them.

Right, Jack, yellow poplar actually isn't a poplar at all, it's in the magnolia family. True poplars are in the willow family, and include cottonwood and aspen. They aren't nearly as good as yellow poplar for shafts.

Don

If cottonwood made good arrows I would be the richest arrowsmith in the west  

I hear you, Jack. Cottonwood makes high grade pulp, but not much else.