Sword Making Tutorial Make Your Own Gladius

[Titus Publius Saturninus]

Poplar is something like poor man's ho wood save much coarser grain wise . If it it still a tad green it's not fun to work like most timbers so must be fully dry. Yes you are right it is somewhere between pine and say walnut in hardness. It machines beautifully if one wishes to forego the traditional hand made bit and it still makes a nice shirasaya if there is nothing else around. nice thing about it is it's cheap and widely availble.
like all other woods there are various grades.

cheers

Rick