Cottonwood - Gets denser with age?

[deerlakejens]

Last year I heated my 3200 sq. ft. house entirely with my old Fisher stove, using a mixture of fir, maple, and hemlock. I have always avoided cottonwood since an experience years ago, when I split and burned one that was about a foot dbh. It was "stringy" and was practically weightless when dried. Obviously, it burned like cardboard. This summer, I had to remove a few large cottonwoods, about 30" dbh. It is really solid, split nicely and seems to have some heft to it after nearly four months of drying. I haven't burned any yet, it's back in the 70's, but am wondering if anyone knows if density improves as these trees get larger? It was free, so I'm using it, and will mix it in with other wood types.

 

[ray benson]

There are some different varieties of cottonwood. Maybe you ran across one of the denser types.

 

[toqua]

It would be great if it worked out for you because they have ton's and ton's of cottonwood over there that people will not burn,because they need fir or larch, My self I have burned some in the past with good results. It's not loust but if is free it good.

TOM

 

[Wood Doctor]

Here's a full truckload of cottonwood that I cut for an old friend who split most of it last week:

It was a blow down in June. He had no trouble with stringiness. The bark was just starting to fall off when he started splitting. The larger rounds like these do tend to be harder than the smaller branches that get punky pretty fast.

One thing nice: it sure is easy on the saw to cut it. :greenchainsaw:

 

[woodbooga]

All the cottonwood I've handled gets wicked light with just a minimum of seasoning. And I cut, split, and burn a fair amount since it's a widely-available free wood source for me.

Wood Doctor-NICE joinery on the rails of your pickup. Looks worthy of a Stickley brother!

 

[Wood Doctor]

All the cottonwood I've handled gets wicked light with just a minimum of seasoning. And I cut, split, and burn a fair amount since it's a widely-available free wood source for me.

Wood Doctor-NICE joinery on the rails of your pickup. Looks worthy of a Stickley brother!

Thanks! Not only that, it's functional. The two pins are 5/16" rod threaded on the knob end. They lock the back rail in with a light press fit and are a piece of cake to remove. I made the whole rack out of ash. I got fancy and turned the big knobs on my lathe.

To save weight, I used 3/4" thick stock and only built up the ends at the joint and the posts that drop into the wells. The entire rack is actually three pieces that can be lifted off and stored in the off season or for long trips. I dado cut the posts for the side rails to slip into, but that was optional. The 1/4" carriage bolts are strong enough. I counterbored the holes for the nuts and washers to hide the ends of the bolts in the posts.

For awhile, I thought about setting up a small business to make these for pickup truck owners. Then I read somewhere that 85% of all pickup trucks are running with empty beds.

 

[STLfirewood]

I just threw this cotton wood in the pile to go through a tub grinder. I bet it would have made a lot of wood. Dad is 6t tall and so am I. I'm standing up in the picture. Log was only hollow about 10ft up.

Scott

 

[chainsawaddict]

I burn quite a bit of cottonwood. it is our state tree!

If you find live, healthy trees, it is decent firewood, comprable to pine. It is not a hardwood, but it is a quick hot fire, and those seem to come in handy a lot at my house!

 

[StihltheOne]

I am with you guys on the cottowood! I burn a lot of it!! You burn what is available and it is. I have access to all I could ever dream up putting up and then more. Not great, but man, it would be mighty cold here without it. Seems to have about the same heat per volume as pine, but with a different odor, not bad if yer used to it and more ash than I would like, but hey.... Free is one of my favorite words!!