Turning a Christmas tree on the lathe. I used 2 inch diameter poplar dowel cut to just under 6 inches on my band saw. This gave me 8 blanks per dowel. Poplar wood is considered a hardwood by species but is typically softer than pine. It can chip or tear out easily. But there isn't any pitch to deal with. I colored these with Sharpies. But the blue turned a more purple-ish color and all of the colors changed a little or a lot. One dowel was very green and the other an off white. That also affected the final color.