Cottonwood Bark

Hi Y’All:

It’s a little late in the season (August 2008) to be collecting tree bark. Most of my bark collecting is done in the Spring and early Summer when the sap is running and the bark slips easily from its wood. However, the rustic mindset requires me to take opportunities as they occur.

This weekend, while clearing some brush in an over-grown thicket, I found a young cottonwood tree that needed to be culled. It was about 5” in diameter at chest height and it was tall and straight as an arrow. After I cut down the tree I checked to see if I could remove the bark. With a test incision in the bark, I found I could coax the bark off with a simple pry bar and my bare fingers.

I carefully stripped off the bark and cut it in to sections that should yield, after drying and trimming, about five pieces that will be approximately 12” by 18”. I flattened the five pieces and stacked them on an outdoor work bench. I used several short logs as weights to keep the bark flat during the drying process. I’ll construct a makeshift tent over the bark stack with a plastic tarp which will keep the rain off and act as a crude solar kiln. I should be able to use the bark this winter.

The bark from our young Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoids) saplings makes an excellent rustic appliqué material for my woodworking crafts. I like to harvest this bark when it is just slightly furrowed and about 3/16” thick. I glue it on to flat wood surfaces using hide glue and generally frame it with split twigs. I finish the bark with sealing shellac and varnish.

I saved the cottonwood pole. After it is dry, I’ll give some of the wood to a local wood carver.

-- Randy, Rustic Artisan, a family tradition. (No PM's - auto-deleted.) - "I am a seeker, not a follower."