Cottonwood trees

[Photog95]

Anyone ever try buring cottonwood in a boiler? I made the mistake years ago of trying to prepare this :censored::censored:"stuff" to burn in my indoor wood furnace. I told myself to never bother again. Now...this spring we are puting in a boiler and I have tons of these pesky seed tossing leaf dropping suckers standing all over the place. I don't want to just cut them down and let them rot but if they wont burn I won't waste my time. I don't think any of them will be too big to fit in the door as I will not even think about running this stuff trough my splitter.

 

[abohac]

I burn alot of cotonwood. Burns best if you split it and stack it off the ground. I kinda like it actually. Stuff cuts like butter and burns ok. Make no mistake, it's not oak but what the heck!

 

[Photog95]

Does it split better when it is green? A good chunk of this stuff will twist up a splitter pretty bad. I don't want to break my splitter trying to work it.

 

[flotek]

a very poor btu rating and burns up fast like carboard also stinks like pi$$ ,if your time has no value then go for it

 

[aandabooks]

If you cut it green and let it set in log form for about a year, a 16" piece will pop right open before the wedge of your splitter is even in it a couple of inches. You'll also lose almost all of the bark off it. It will just sheet off of the round. Green it is wet and heavy. Splits stringy. Somewhat similar to the splitting characteristics of poplar.

 

[hammerhead 5410]

I had a load dropped off by a tree service toward the end off the season last year. It was my first and last experience with it, for sure. It was green, split just fine, but I can't remember ever really getting it to flame, even after baking for 8 hours, just a stinking, smoldering mess!! Had about 2 1/2 cords of the stuff, after a cord in the boiler I gave up, fired up the propane for the last little bit of heat season, and burned the rest in a big bonfire at a fishfry I had last summer. Just make sure the wind is right!!!

 

[struggle]

The only issue I have had with it is it is hard to split around here even after it has shed its bark. It has always burned fine.

 

[hammerhead 5410]

At 13.5 million BTU per cord it has about the lowest heat produced per cord of all hardwoods. From what I see rated there is only one softwood with less BTU's. White cedar at 12.2 mil. White oak gives 25.7 and hickory gives 27.7, for example.

 

[Photog95]

I may have to just block them up and leave them sit for a couple years. I can't take much more of those seeds blowing all over my yard.

 

[myzamboni]

I had a load dropped off by a tree service toward the end off the season last year. It was my first and last experience with it, for sure. It was green, split just fine, but I can't remember ever really getting it to flame, even after baking for 8 hours, just a stinking, smoldering mess!! Had about 2 1/2 cords of the stuff, after a cord in the boiler I gave up, fired up the propane for the last little bit of heat season, and burned the rest in a big bonfire at a fishfry I had last summer. Just make sure the wind is right!!!

Just another classic example why you shouldn't burn green wood.

 

[deerlakejens]

I dropped several cottonwoods last summer and let them lay until the leaves dried up, ( about 60 days) and bucked them up. They split easily and I cross stacked them to season. I tried to keep them in 6" slabs. I started burning them in December and have to say they have been fine for burning in the daytime. They obviously don't have as long of burntime as fir but they are easy to light with just newspaper, no kindling and burn hot. I wouldn't go out of my way for cottonwood but when its closeby, I will certainly use it.

 

[windthrown]

I have burned a lot of different types of wood in an OWB, and cottonwood has got to be about the worst stuff I can think of. That and sycamore are my least favorite to burn. I would not waste the time and energy or space to season either of them. I burned a cord of cottonwood one year after falling 8 large ones. Low heat, burned fast, and for the same time, effort, and space, I could go after oak, madrone or doug fir when I was living there, which all have way better heat value. If it is all you have, then OK, but if there are better options, I would cut and burn them instead.

Here of late I been cutting and burning doug fir, alder, maple, cherry, and apple. I can also get all the cottonwood I want. There is a guy in Portland with like, 800 cords of cottonwood that he invites anyone to cut up and haul away. I just shake my head and say, 'nope'.

 

[WSJchester]

Beats rolled up newspapers, but only just.

I'll cut up dead limbs small enough to fit into the stove intact to use when starting a fire, but otherwise it's just not good enough wood for me to waste time on. There's better wood out there, and if there weren't, my time'd be better spent doing just about anything and simply buying better wood.

-WSJ

 

[AIM]

I've never burned the stuff in my OWB and after reading this and talking to guys around where I live I probably won't. It's to bad that it's junk because we have some monsters around here.
I wanna do some clearing down by my creek this year and there is a small one 18" or so, that I probably will just drag to the brush pile along with several 16" - 20" willows. All the trees I wanna cut would probably be half the next winter worth but I'll just brush pile em. and cut better wood for the house.

 

[olyman]

if its split and stacked--it drys faster than other trees--but ya--not a lot of heat value--i use it at the start of the season--when dont need much heat--as hardwood burns so much hotter it drives me out the house!!

 

[woodbooga]

.......you'd think seasoning wood is rocket science!

I have an advanced degree in exdendrohydrology.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I have burned a lot of different types of wood in an OWB, and cottonwood has got to be about the worst stuff I can think of. That and sycamore are my least favorite to burn. I would not waste the time and energy or space to season either of them. I burned a cord of cottonwood one year after falling 8 large ones. Low heat, burned fast, and for the same time, effort, and space, I could go after oak, madrone or doug fir when I was living there, which all have way better heat value. If it is all you have, then OK, but if there are better options, I would cut and burn them instead.

Here of late I been cutting and burning doug fir, alder, maple, cherry, and apple. I can also get all the cottonwood I want. There is a guy in Portland with like, 800 cords of cottonwood that he invites anyone to cut up and haul away. I just shake my head and say, 'nope'.

The midwestern Indians heated their teepees with it. I delivered three huge truckloads like this one to a restaurant owner in October.

He said that it's already gone up the chimney. Gasp! :bang:

 

[Photog95]

The midwestern Indians heated their teepees with it. I delivered three huge truckloads like this one to a restaurant owner in October.

He said that it's already gone up the chimney. Gasp! :bang:

Huge truck loads and Ford Ranger should not be mentioned in the same sentence.

Just mess'n with ya. My Ford Ranger is my wood hauler and it serves its purpose better than any truck I have ever used.

I burn a load like that in about 2 weeks, so 3 loads would not last me very long at all. I think he did quite well

 

[StihltheOne]

One mans trash is anothers treasure. Around here, where the most abundant tree is a power pole, cottonwood is not a bad find. We cut a lot of it and are pretty darn happy about it. Somehow I manage to heat a large shop all winter, and here it gets mighty cold. The thing is, you can not attempt to burn it in a puney little epa stove, you gotta have a stove with a real firebox, like my pre epa blaze king, king model. I get 10 hr burns all the time. Hey, it is what we have and we make the best of it.

 

[farmer]

Get somebody with a bandmill to saw it into 2x lumber. It is pretty decent for that.