How Much Will a 12 Inch Yellow Poplar Panel Move
+0.1968" (+5 mm)
- Species: Yellow Poplar (tangential shrinkage 8.2%)
- Starting width: 12"
- Moisture content: 6% -> 12% (a typical dry-to-humid seasonal swing)
MethodΔD = D x ΔMC x (shrinkage% / 30 / 100)
Your actual humidity swing may be smaller or larger than the 6-12% MC example used here — run your own numbers in the movement calculator.
A 12" wide yellow poplar panel will grow about +0.1968" (+5 mm) across its width from 6% to 12% moisture content — an unremarkable, mid-table figure among the species this site tracks, which fits how poplar actually gets used.
Why this one specifically
Poplar is the default cheap secondary wood for drawer sides, cabinet backs and interior carcass parts that never get seen once a project is assembled — and its movement number reflects that role rather than driving it. At 8.2% tangential shrinkage it moves noticeably more than mahogany or teak and somewhat more than walnut or cherry, but almost nobody chooses poplar for a project where that difference would show up as a visible gap or a jammed drawer, because it's rarely used as the wide, exposed panel material this figure describes in the first place.
What moves the number
Scale the width up or down and this number follows in direct proportion — a wider poplar panel moves that much more. Because poplar is so often painted rather than left with a clear finish, seasonal colour change (a real concern with cherry, for instance) isn't a factor worth planning around the way movement itself still is.