Hi All:
 
I need to make another 500 deep supers and I am having some difficulty
locating spruce logs big enough at the price I am used to ($100 per cord).
Right now spruce logs big enough to saw 16 foot two by tens are fetching
$150 per cord, so I am competing with that market.
 
On my own land I do not have a lot of big spruce (that is accessible at any
rate), but I do have lots of big poplar.  Does anyone have experience using
poplar for supers?  I imagine some people in the Prairies must have tried.
 
I use rabbet jointed corners, not finger laps, and dip with a mix of linseed
oil, varsol, and copper naphthenate (one percent copper in the dip for
boxes).  The lumber I have been using has always been seven eighths
thickness (my apologies to metric bee-l members:  Canada is supposedly
metric, but lumber is one thing that never changed over).
 
My past experience with poplar boards is that they have to be fastened still
green before they warp.  I expect that they would dry straight once in a
box, but I would sure appreciate the advice of someone who has tried it
before I make 500 possibly garbage boxes.
 
Regards, Stan