Well, I wuss'd out and went with Sitka on my Wright machine, but only
b/c I didn't know anyone who would murder a West Virginia silver spruce
tree for me. ...that stuff's kinda hard to find, for obvious reasons.
One of the Wright recreators did use it, but then they also had a $7
million budget.

I've been entertaining the idea of building a Chanute-Herring glider
from alternate wood like doug fir or possibly yellow poplar. Anyone
got specs on yellow poplar? Didn't see it listed in AC43-13.