Poplar plywood: properties, weight and working with it
Most of our wooden cutouts are made from poplar plywood. It is pale, light and easy to paint. Here you can find out what it can do, what it weighs and how to work with it.
At a glance
| Property | Poplar plywood |
|---|---|
| Weight | approx. 410 kg per cubic metre – much lighter than birch or beech |
| Our cutouts | usually 3 mm thick, so around 1.2 kg per square metre |
| Surface | evenly pale, with only a very faint grain |
| Working with it | cut with a fretsaw, sand, drill, laser-cut |
| Gluing | wood glue or craft glue |
| Outdoors | only when protected with varnish or glaze – not very weather-resistant |
Features
Poplars have a long trunk without knots. This makes the wood easy to work with. The surface of the plywood is evenly pale, with only a very faint grain. It is stable and strong, so it is used for many things: artwork, interior fittings, furniture, packaging and model making.
Poplar plywood is one of the lightest wood-based materials. It weighs approx. 410 kg per cubic metre. That makes it much lighter than birch or beech. It is very easy to cut with a laser – this is how we make our cutouts.
For outdoor use, you should protect poplar plywood with varnish or glaze. It does not cope well with moisture, so it is not very weather-resistant.
How much does a poplar plywood cutout weigh?
Most of our poplar plywood cutouts are 3 mm thick. This gives a weight of around 1.2 kg per square metre:
| Shape and size | Weight |
|---|---|
| Square 10 × 10 cm | around 12 g |
| Square 20 × 20 cm | around 49 g |
| Square 30 × 30 cm | around 111 g |
| Square 50 × 50 cm | around 308 g |
| Disc Ø 10 cm | around 10 g |
| Disc Ø 30 cm | around 87 g |
| Disc Ø 50 cm | around 242 g |
Calculated at 410 kg per cubic metre. Wood is a natural material – the actual weight varies from board to board.
How plywood is made
Plywood is not made from a single piece. Several thin, well-dried layers are stacked on top of each other, each turned by 90°. They are glued and pressed under heat. The cross-glued layers make the board stable and keep it in shape.
Working and gluing
The wood is soft and has a fine structure, so it is easy to work with. You can shape it with a fretsaw, sand it, drill it or cut it with a laser. Wood glue or craft glue is all you need to stick it.
Painting poplar plywood
Many pens and paints work well on the pale, even surface:
- Coloured pencils
- Wax crayons
- Felt-tip pens
- Permanent markers
- Paint and acrylic markers
- Permanent spray
- Spray paints
- Calligraphy markers
- Oil paints and oil pastels
- Alkyd oil paints
- Acrylic paints
- Watercolours and poster paints
- Chalk
- Wood glazes and stains
For painting, the plywood should be untreated, clean and free of dust.
Poplar plywood cutouts
- Wooden cutouts, untreated – for painting and crafting, from animal designs to simple shapes
- Poplar plywood, coloured