Has anyone here used cottonwood for flooring? Im still trying to determine what im going to do with a 5 foot dia monster Straight for 15 feet. Talking to another guy with a sawmill other side of town here , bout a mile from where im cutting said qtr it and he can mill it. He got me thinking. I dropped a 24 in dia today, and have a 30 something to do will get about 3 saw logs out of each one as well as the rest of the pines and red cedars still their. I have an addition to do for baby Jack.
It is rather soft for a hardwood and will dent easily. Also, does not have a very good nail holding capacity. I believe that flooring is not one of its better uses.
Member Kansas milled Cottonwood on a daily basis for pallet stock, which is about its only good use. I talked with him about drying cottonwood for other uses, like framing lumber; he suggested using it green and let it dry in place. old barns around here used a lot of cottonwood. I would not use it for any kind of flooring, even though there is probably someone out there who has, and has somehow managed to get good results. ;)
edit: I should have mentioned that I hates cottonwood almost as much as Magicman hates sweetgum.
I have used it for truck decking,lasted about 5 years. was good in terms of its resilience to chucking heavy angular stuff on it .when the deck got wet again the 'bruise 'popped out and look almost new again.Probably make a reasonable workshop floor,it doesn't splinter like some of the harder woods.
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,69545.msg1043662.html#msg1043662
This thread also covers some uses for cottonwood,
DGDrls
A large percentage of wood caskets are made from cottonwood. Although soft, when dry, and if free from collapse, it is a wood that machines and glues fairly well. Note that there are several species of cottonwood, some of which are poor. Eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides is indeed widely used.
Yes, Kansas milled a lot of cottonwood for framing lumber. A lot of barns built out of it.
I like to mill it 4/4 for utility lumber. I've used it for all kinds of shelving. When it is ran through a planer some will fuzz up. The amount varies from little to maybe at most 25% in my experience.
Quarter and rift sawn seems to help on the fuzz issue.
I was thinking of making garage cabinets as well. Ill have a lot left over, not shure what to do with it, cottonwood dosnt sell very well
shelbycharger400:
I was told by a sawmiller in IN that he sold some of it fresh sawn to an Amish fellow who claims that horses will not chew on cottonwood. He wanted it for his horse stalls. Note: I have no personal experience with cottonwood. Gerald
shelby
we are in about the same region of the country, i think cottonwood will work fairly well for flooring. after its dry the wood seems sorta hard, harder than a pine would be for sure. its a fairly stable wood in our area ,moves alittle with the seasons but, all in all i think you will be happy using it.
Fuzz, which is due to tension wood, is controlled by using sanding sealer or glue sizing and then sanding the stiffened fibers with sharp (fresh) sandpaper.
Red oaks, I'm not concerned with it moving, the thin strip
maple moves every season and its been in the house from 1960. I'm just wondering how it will hold up in a bedroom, not high traffic area
i think it should hold up real well in your bedroom
dont think I would put down cotton wood( the stuff called that around here) on a floor how ever I have cut about 12000 BF of aspen that went down on floors in the last 3 years and have an order for another 3800 SqFt to cut in the next 2 weeks. It is a very good looking floor and seems to wear very well.
The first order I got was for a home that had Aspen flooring in the living and dinning room from original 1974 build. The complete 2011 reno on the house included new Aspen flooring through out on 3200 SqFt. The couple that built and reno'ed the house are long time friends since high school.
I had a customer use soft west red cedar for flooring in a bed room. He just turned big feet for the bed and dresser. If it is a boys room it may well get dented and show some wear ;D
I have a guy who wants random length boards 4" wide for his workshop wall.He is planing it smooth and nailing it to existing wall. Very pertly when planed.I turned a few small bowls and they are nice.Makes good framing lumber when covered from elements.