American tulipwood is greenish-yellow wood produced by the Liriodendron tulipifera tree also known as the “tulip tree“, and is found on the eastern side of North America, but also in some areas of China. Not to be confused with the Brazilian tulipwood which is a deep reddish wood with yellow stripes.

American and Brazilian Tulipwood

In the United States, it is commonly known as tupil poplar or yellow poplar, even though the tree is not related to poplars. In fact, the reference to the poplar is a result of the tree’s height, which can exceed 25-30 meters.

Properties: Relatively low density, about 0,50 g/cm3, low hardness but excellent dimensional stability.

Processing: It is straight wood, it shows excellent behavior both in mechanical processing and in hand processing. Bonds are very good and painting and refinishing are seamless.

The Tulip tree is one of the largest native trees of the eastern United States. The tallest recorded tree is 58,5m tall. Its usual height is 24-46m and it tends to have a pyramidal crown. The development is quite fast. A tree only 15 years old can reach 12 meters in height, with no branches within the distance of people standing on the ground.

The leaves are broad and thin, which makes it an ideal shade tree. As a tree it loves the sun, and hates drought. Its flowers are yellow and resemble tulips, which is where it got its name from. Its original description by Carl Linnaeus, “Liriodendron tulipifera” also includes the word “lily“. However, it has nothing to do with lilies, tulips, or poplars!

American Tulipwood is a uniform and light colored wood, which makes it ideal for pyrography engraving.