Free Cottonwood

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

retoid

ArboristSite Operative
Joined
Feb 21, 2008
Messages
272
Reaction score
15
Location
Bellingham, WA
I was talking to my buddy the other day and he mentioned that he needed to get rid of a bunch of cottonwood trees that had recently been cut down.
Some of them range around 24" diameter, nothing is bucked yet.

I know cotton wood doesnt do well for firewood and I recently bought my first home thinking there has to be a good use for this wood somewhere.

Does anyone have experience with cotton wood? Know any good/prefered uses for it?

Any help is appreciated thanks.

I have an alaskan mill setup on a Husky 2100 CD so milling could be an option as well.
 
Somebody makes boxes out of it and sells them for gift type things. I see them in the grocery store with the tourist items.

I actually burn it. I have it, why not. When it is dry, it is a good firestarter.

It also gets hauled and sold to the chipping mill down the road. So there is a little niche for it.
 
one of the main uses for it is in making shipping pallets... might try googling for companies that make pallets, if the quantity is enough to justify it.
 
After furthering my quest to find more information on what can be done with cottonwood, I learned that there is not that much, as in not enough to be considered for pulp and that the way our economy is, wood has dropped in value here where I live at least and cottonwood has always been low on the value list. So I think it's destiny will become either bon fire or dump.
 
I burn cotton wood, not much of anything BTU wise, but when times get tough wood is wood. just plan on burning alot, and splitting it big. I usually split pine and cotton wood around 6"x6".
 
cottonwood use's

Why not cut some planking for a horse or cattle trailer. Bring them to a sale barn or put up some flyers and I would bet you would have some takers..
 
Cottonwood is not bad firewood. It is hard to split etc. when it is green and it burns fast, but it will heat pretty well. If you want to burn it, just put it aside and let it dry out good before trying to split it. I have never seen cottonwood boards. That may be interesting.
 
Thanks again guys, I do live in a pretty humid area up north here.
I have access to other nice woods like doug fir, western red cedar and some alder and plenty of big leaf maple.
At this point it doesn't seem worth my time to mill it up or do anything with it.
 
This may sound dumb, but I heard it makes very good lumber for pig pens.Pigs chew the heck out of boards for some reason ,but I was told they wont chew cottonwood,basswood,poplar,etc. They dont like the taste or something? Dont know if that helps,but its all I got :hmm3grin2orange:
 
Unfortunately, Cottonwood is pretty far down the list of desirable wood. 100 tears ago, when most boxes were wood, it was used widely as a material for that. I guess if when you figure how heavy all the stuff you put in the box might be, it makes sense to use a light weight wood for the box itself. Milled boards would probably be fine for interior applications though.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top