Those are beautiful..never made a pot call out of mappa..it's a softer wood ? Correct ? Would you compare it to eastern red cedar in it's hardness or is it softer / harder ?
Definitly softer wood,cant give comparison with cedar that you mention I didnt work with it cant say, maybe experts on forum can compare ,sorry I cant?
Mappa is a name for the burl of black and silver poplar (in the populus genus). They both have an average janka hardness of somewhere around 350 lbf. They are the softest hardwoods growing in Europe and are both softer than American poplar (liriodendron tulipifera) they are only somewhat harder than europes softest species silver fir and are very similar in hardness to American basswood.