cottonwood?

[cringo]

can any body out there tell me if there is any kind of market for cottonwood,  Ive got access to about 5 or 6 miles of creek bed full of hundred year old cottonwood. Most dead. I would really appreciate the info thanx. ???

[carhartted]

This was discussed recently in the sawmill forum,  I have some property with a few large cotton woods that may have to come down so I read these posts with interest.

https://forestryforum.com/cgi-bin/board/YaBB.pl?board=sawmill;action=display;num=1042828418

[beenthere]

cringo
I would have to wonder what kind of wood properties the dead cottonwood has, if dead for very long. Some species, and I expect cottonwood is one of them, go to pot in a hurry after they die, and lose a lot of the properties they once had.

Have you sampled any of these dead trees, or know how long they have been dead?  

[Haytrader]

If it is standing dead with no bark it is excellent wood. It will be hard but no dirty bark to saw through. But it doesn't last long after it hits the ground. Goes to pot in a hurry.

[WyMan]

Cottonwood is a good non splintering wood that can be used for stock trailer floors etc.  Green it is valued for chainsaw carving.  Be aware that it likes to twist and bend - even after being dead for awhile.  

[Haytrader]

Sorry to disagree, but I think cottonwood is a poor choice for stock trailer floor because of the moisture associated with animals. If you clean it out every time you use it, that would help, but most get busy and forget.
I had some sawed one time for flooring on a flatbed gooseneck and it lasted a long time. I sawed some this past summer and rebuilt some corrals with it. We painted it too. It looks really good but the jury is out on how long it wil last. It was some of the first wood I sawed before I learned here about sawing tension   :D  and I can tell you, it will really twist. I have some stickered out in the open that was sawed last summer that lays flat......go figure.
There are some houses and sheds here that were built 80 to 100 years ago with cottonwood.

[ADfields]

Well we have 6 or 8 kinds of Cottonwood in North Americia so what it's good or bad for would depend on what kind your talking about.   The stuff we caled Cottonwood in Arizona was not a lot of use for aneything other than carveing the roots into Hopi kachina dolls, it's all "Fremont Cottonwood" down there.   Dont even make a good fire less you burn up a lot of saw gas to split it down.   I tryed to split it with my hyd spliter and found that VERY unsafe as it will go all at once and chuck a hundred pounds of wood 20 or 30 feet in a flash, I tryed it greener and got the ram stuck in it till I sawed it back out. :   I gave the stuff up, it's got no grain to it and is tuffer than a rock.

carhartted
What people in Alaska call Cottonwood is Western Balsam Poplar (aka Black Cottonwood) in the southern parts of the state like hear in Palmer or down in Juneau, it's the ones that get to be 4 foot around.   No good for frameing lumber (way to flexable) but it makes a heck of a work bench, dont know what other uses it could have.   Burns great in a stove as unlike the Fremont Cottonwood in my home state of Arizona it splits fine.   Now in the colder parts of the state like Fairbanks you have Balsam Poplar without the "western" in frount (aka Tacamahac <or> Balm) and it's not the same tree but most dont know that and just call it Cottonwood.   I have not cut one of them and dont know what thay are like but the back east guys have sayed it's no good.   I bet it's lumber would be just like the stuff we have down hear but dont know.
Andy

[Minnesota_boy]

Andy,
If  that balsam poplar in Alaska is anything like the balsam poplar in Minnesota, I wouldn't saw it.  Ours is really soft wood and weak.  You have to be careful driving a nail in it, one hit to hard and the head is halfway through the board.  It tends to warp pretty badly too.  I'll let mine die of old age and rot in the woods.