I got some poplar shafts from Charlie Jefferson(Stringstretcher) that he made with a Veritas dowel maker and a compression block. They are some of the best doweled shafts I've used, a little light(about like PO cedar) but tough as nails. Charlie found out after some experiments that if he stickered his stock and let them season for 2 years he got his best shafting. Also the sapwood of the poplar was better shafting than the heartwood. The heartwood made good shafts but was more brittle than the sapwood, both weighed about the same.