![Pretty purple poplar plank [2395x3938 - 1.17MB]](https://pic8.co/sh/80MHN3.jpg){kind=link}
I can see working with it is simple but the sanding since it seems it would be like trying to sand cloth or rubber and not get that shine the hardest woods can achieve. Also being so soft it seems that marring it would be all to easy to do accidentally getting a gouge or indent in the surface. It's the same reason I avoid things like glass that is to easy to destroy without almost no effort.
Yes it's a soft wood and will have wear and surface marring issues, but that's how soft wood goes. Laser cutting hardwoods is not really practical because of the power needed to get through even thin pieces. High power cuts that are slow will lead to lots of charring and surface burns. The grain on hardwoods also leads to inconsistent cuts since the layers have hard and soft bits which will respond differently to the laser energy. Poplar, Alder, Basswood and Balsa all do much better but they are all soft woods on the Janka hardness scale.
I was going to suggest for hardwood a water cutter then realized that the wood grain would swell unevenly from the cutter if it was dry it would absorb at different rates. I doubt it exists for the home but I bet a cutter like a sandblaster but using a stream in spray would be great for hardwood since it would polish the edges also but that likely would be a 100K setup and have expensive maintenance like tip and valve replacement. They're just learning that sound is something the ancients used to cut stone and it made so much sense though I cannot figure for the life of me how or what was used. I bet is a sound stream could be figured out to cut hardwood it would cut like butter but that is just my imagination and who knows if it would even be possible.
Waterjets have one hell of a kerf compared to a focused laser beam. My laser has between a 0.1mm and 0.8mm kerf depending on the material used. A water jet would be at least 1/8 inch on the kerf. The laser can do highly detailed and accurate cuts and engraving that no other technology can get close to. It can't do many materials, but the ones it can (like acrylic) can be extremely intricate and precise where waterjets and CNC routers can't compete.
(post is archived)