# Uses for Cottonwood?



## FirehouseWoodworking

A few of us were talking at lunch about some old cottonwood trees. The conversation came around to what would you use the wood for.

It'll burn in the fireplace but leaves a big mess of ash and sparks and pops while burning.

None of us had any experience with using cottonwood nor did we remember ever seeing cottonwood lumber for sale. We hadn't heard about any commercial use or application.

Anyone out there ever use it and if so, what did you do with it and how did it the lumber work?

Thanks in advance.


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## ropedog

I have use cotton wood to turn but never to build furniture with. It is very soft and stringy, all the pieces of turned cottonwood I have seen have been painted after because there isn't much figure to cottonwood. In the woodworking world cottonwood is pretty much a junk wood as far as it's strength and beauty.


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## Viking

Best use is for outdoor firepit.


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## JJohnston

They're also just the ticket if you want to prevent your neighbors (and yourself) from having a lawn. ;o)


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## flowchart_jockey

I have seen cottonwood bark carvings that are quite nice, but I have never seen the wood used for anything other than rough-cut siding.


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## DaddyZ

I have Heard that the wood as lumber is used for Pipeline bracing & blocks for dozers & trucks


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## crank49

I have been told there is a very close cousin of cottonwood used for furniture in Japan. It's a traditional thing where a family gives a tree to a newly married couple and all their furniture is cut from that tree. I would have thought bamboo.

Supposedly it's very strong for its weight. It is also very light, especially when dry. I can see it being used for wheel chocks because if its weight. I have made a hiking pole out of a cottonwood sappling and it worked very well. Got a little crooked when it dried out, but still useable. Had to put a tip on it because its so pithy it would have busted up on the impact end.

I have several around my place and can confirm the ash and popping attribute in the firepace.


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## helluvawreck

I had one grow up beside my house one time. I really let it go too long but to tell you truth the thing was so straight that I did think once or twice about using it as a flag pole and just leave it alone.


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## Jeff28078

Sell it to a pulp mill. Used widely in the south and it makes good paper.


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## Pawky

I've seen carvings from the bark as well which were pretty nice. The guy doing them liked working with it, I ended up buying one of the ornaments


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## Gregn

This is what I found in one of my wood properties files on uses for Cottonwood.
Cottonwood is used principally for lumber, veneer, pulpwood,
excelsior, and fuel. Lumber and veneer are used
primarily for boxes, crates, baskets, and pallets.


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## Finn

A local interior shutter manufacturer uses millions of board feet of cottonwood every year. It is cut into strips about 2" wide and glued together before used in 8" wide painted pieces. I suppose this process is to make it more stable. I get cut offs from this plant and use it to make toys. It is a true poplar and machines the same as poplar does except it has an ordor when cut.


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## SwedishIron

There is a lot of confusion with Cottonwood since it seems to get lumped in with the Poplar family so aspen, poplar, cottonwood are technically all in the same genus.
I have access to some locally milled urban timber, and yes I've seen some pieces of furniture made out of true Cottonwood, but its not known to be very stable and is a bear to air dry straight. As with Murphy's law, the crotch pieces or areas with amazing figure will go crazy during the drying process.

Roper mentioned it being a boring wood, but I've seen some amazing grained pieces for sale before @ TCWoods in Lafayette, CO. Here is a picture of a cottonwood table from their website:










And here is a picture of some Silver Poplar (very close to cottonwood) that I got from a local Longmont, CO sawyer:









This sample was sanded to 120 grit, finished with BLO and Shellac to pop the grain. It smells like the dirtiest wet dog you could imagine. and two years later and my Bosch 6" ROS still stinks like a wet dog whenever I use it. Perty stuff.. but stinky.

As for practical uses.. the two sawyer I know sell their cottonwood lumber to folks with trailers, very durable and useful to keep heavy equipment from touching the metal.










The stuff does seem to carve well though, here is an article about a local town which has hired a carver named Eddie Running Wolf to transform some old Cottonwood stumps into some amazing Indian figural carvings. Look at this youtube video interviewing the sculpture and showing the two sculptures he is currently working on.


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## helluvawreck

I am good friends with Admiral Shallow Water Murphy. He was a great philosopher with a whole lot of common sense. He spent his whole life time studying life and came to the remarkable scientific conclusion that "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."  To my great consternation and aggravation I have run into his law more times than I can shake a stick at. As I most often do, as a matter of fact, I seem to run into his law almost everyday. However, I'm not sure there was ever a proper statue erected to him to comemerate his great discovery. No doubt, most everyman has bumped into his law a few times along the way of life that had grave consequences to their own lives. Many a man ran into his law at the moment of their utter destruction as they uttered "Oh crap, I forgot to take care of that." :-|


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## ropedog

Wow Scott i stand corrected that is some nicely figured wood, I guess it must just be the stuff I am finding that is boring. When you head back to your sawyers see if he has any burl caps or turning blanks if you don't mind, I am always looking for more wood. Hope all is well and if you got some time stop on by the end of semester show at red rocks on dec 11th.

Roper


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## FirehouseWoodworking

WOW!

I'm just going to sit back and let you guys educate the hell out of me. I had no idea. This is great. This is why I come to the site multiple times each day.

Thanks folks. And please continue . . .


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## garyrg

I cut some cottonwood planks for the decking on a guys lowboy. The stringy characteristic was good for a caterpillar to turn on and not break the plank. Also, I do agree with Scott, there is some beautiful lumber in cottonwood logs, especially some of the compressed wood near the butt.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

I know a guy who is posting some on ebay for bowl blanks that has some good figure and color in it. 
He told me most the trim that isn't hard wood is cottonwood.

Another friend who worked in paper pulp mills all his life told me the cottonwood we have in the NW is worthless and won't even make paper.


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## terrilynne

My husband uses it for his carvings.


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## kcrandy

The first bookshelves I made are here in the den where I sit to type this is and they were made from cottonwood, painted. Have held up just fine.


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## fussy

Actually, cottonwood IS poplar (Populus spp.), while poplar (yellow poplar) is of the magnolia family (Liriodendron tulipifera). The picture posted by Swedishiron is cottonwood. It can be pretty, but it is unstable.

Steve


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## WoodyG

I have used it for two vastly different purposes. I helped with the first project when I was a little boy…dad hired a sawyer to cut up about 10,000 b/f of the cottonweed that grew in abundance on our farm and he built farrowing houses for his sows. The trick was to treat it with something to keep the weather from warping it. He built a corral without treating the lumber and the boards littirally walked off the posts. He then built the farrowing houses and poured on and brushed on motor oil and that seemed to work as the farrowing units were still there when I left home about 10yrs later. My second experience came 2 yrs ago…I made a clock (wood only) with it and mohogany and mirror. I believe it is a great accent wood and will sand, polish and finish to excellent finishes but to use it for the primary construction of furniture, well, someone is gonna hav to show me….


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## griff

Dave, here is a small project I dd with some cottonwood . 
It is light , stringy and it does stink when working.


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## FirehouseWoodworking

Thank you all for sharing your experiences.

I am building a kitchen full of cabinet doors and drawer fronts for a lady with whom I work. They will be painted. I'm doing the job for free and she's buying the materials. Cottonwood is $.32 PBF cheaper than poplar, so it looks like I can save her some money.

Thanks again to you all!

Cheers!


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## LONGHAIR

It is availabe to me at a local supplier. The stock that they have is straight-grained and very bland. It's a fairly consistant creamy color. I have used it in place of Poplar as a secondary wood. It makes good drawer parts.


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## GFYS

Both of these boxes are Cottonwood


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## StoneandCottonwood

I have been milling, curing, and working with cottonwood here in Colorado for a few years now. In that time I have completed about 100 projects featuring cottonwood, ranging from sewing boxes to conference tables. To answer the question of "what can it be used for?", you need to know first what kind of cottonwood you are talking about. It seems to vary greatly from region to region in the US. Here in Colorado, the old time "plains cottonwood" is usually strong, lightweight, and pale/yellow in color. Heartwood tends to be a bit darker. We also have a lot of cottonwood hybrid "yard trees", which can have dramatic color and figure as seen in earlier postings.









This project was an experiment with kitchen canisters. I was pleased with the result, and they make great wedding gifts. I used beeswax and walnut oil as the finish, and the grain popped out very nicely. We have also found that it makes great barn/fence/stall building lumber, as horses really HATE the taste of it, and will not chew on it. It doesn't smell or taste funny once dried and cured, so I am not sure what the horses don't like. So, the bottom line is cottonwood from Colorado is good for many different things. However, much of the cottonwood working lore has been forgotten, and will need to be rediscovered.


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## TheWoodsman

My uncle who has been a brick mason for 50 years says cottonwood makes the best walking boards for scaffolding. However, it does need to be through-bolted at the ends to keep the boards from splitting apart.


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## mark88

its just like fishing…cottonwood is just the 'sheephead/bottomfeeder' of the woods. Great catch but absolutely useless to take home to eat.


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## buroak

I love the look and workability of cottonwood lumber. I went for many years telling my wife that I don't paint wood I finish it. She always wanted me to do some rustic painted pieces. I came across a cottonwood log and decided to mill and dry it and use it for painted projects. As I was sanding one of the projects I noticed the grain starting to show and thought with a little stain this might look nice. Well it did and now I'm back to the " I don't paint wood I finish it " attitude with cottonwood. My advice is to saw it 6" to 10" wide, let it air dry for 3 to 6 months then finish it of in a kiln for a few days. It really is a nice looking and easy to work light weight lumber that when stained and finished will fit in anywhere.


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## Sawkerf

Helluvawreck -

Have you heard the first corollary to Murphy's Law?

"Murphy Was An Optimist"


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## bobasaurus

Scott, I live close to TC Woods (they're my main wood supplier) and have seen that photo on their website before. It's always impressive what you can find in random local trees. I'm using a piece of their cottonwood on my current project, in fact. It's light, smelly, and flakes a bit, but it does look pretty nice. I also picked up a few cottonwood log slices from a tree pruning nearby, which I'm saving for turning.

StoneandCottonwood, I've seen your craigslist listings for wood slabs. Since TC Woods is moving soon, I may start coming to you for lumber. Do you ever saw 4/4 boards of the local hardwood species (maple, walnut, etc)?


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## StoneandCottonwood

Bobasaurus, I have 4/4 and 8/4 by 8" widths in elm, cottonwood, maple, and black walnut at this point. Main inventory is up on Isabelle Rd, about 2 miles north of Dan's (TC woods) operation. We are working on having an inventory of kiln dried slabs and dimensional lumber of as many local species as possible.


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## bobasaurus

Sounds great. I like using local, sustainable wood sources. There's plenty of locust, ash, and russian olive around too that would make good stock for you. I'm surprised how nice russian olive looks and works, despite being considered a weed tree. I have a plank of golden locust from TC Woods with some amazing figure and coloring, just waiting for the right project to come around.


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## StoneandCottonwood

I like the olive as well, Bob. I have one trunk 24" by about 4.5' sliced up for desk tops, and lots of 2" x 8" short chunks I use for gluing up into butcher blocks and cutting boards in combo with black walnut. Something delicious sounding about a cutting board made of olive and walnut.


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## BillWhite

Makin ' sweaters.
I just couldn't resist.
Any wood is good wood. It is just what you do with it.
Bill


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## BTKS

I've got a sawyer buddy who built his entire house of cottonwood. The stringy property lets you put a nail right in the end and not split. 
Currently I'm using it in my shop for turned file handles, sacrificial fences, etc. 
I've cut and had a few logs milled into lumber. I'm going to use it for rub rails and feed bunks in the barn. Maybe even some loft framing and flooring if I run out of OSB.
In my grandpa's day, all the barns were sided with cottonwood while it was green. When it dried, the battens were added on to cover the gaps. Lots of barns and corn cribs around here were built from cottonwood. It's great if it's painted or kept dry. Once it gets a couple years of rain on unpainted wood it rots pretty fast.
Overall, I think it's a good lumber grade wood. It wouldn't be my first choice for furniture or finished projects.
Later, BTKS


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## StoneandCottonwood

BTKS, where are you, and what variety(s) of cottonwood do you work with? We are finding that horses won't chew on it. Any old lore from your Grandpa talk about that? 
Kevin


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## BTKS

SandC:
I'm in the midwest around Kansas City. I assume our variety is the generic Cottonwood. Large diameter tree with a cone shaped crown and deep grooved gray / brown bark and a large almost circular leaf.
As far as horses cribbing on the wood, I don't have any idea. I didn't know there was anything but electricity to keep the critters from chewing!!!!
I'm going to harvest a huge tree that finished dying this year. I hope to get a semi-large one that's starting to lean from the neighbor. I have no idea how many board feet they will yield but I'll be searching for drying space. I need to find someone with a grain bin sitting unused for about one or two years.
I consider the lumber I have to work with now superior to the #2 pine at the local yards. I don't think it beats high quality doug fir but it sure gives it a run for the money. Like I mentioned before, it just doesn't split unless you abuse it. Like the tapered file handle I drove into a blank the other day!!!! Not a big enough pilot hole and too hard a whack seating the handle. A little glue salvaged the turning.
Hope this helps, BTKS
OBTW, Welcome to Lumberjocks!


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## TopamaxSurvivor

My dad would have loved some of that anti-horse cottonwood. He finally made the corral out of concrete , cable and steel to keep the mules in. I suppose mules would leave it alone too


> ?


???


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## StoneandCottonwood

Did not test mules, only horses. Lots and lots of different horses. Feel free to test it on mules though. Please let me know how they like it.


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## TopamaxSurvivor

Sorry, no muiles to test it on ;-))


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## Porchfish

I have two large cottonwood trees in bad locations. they are approx 24" in diameter and have several rather large shoots coming out of the base of the trunk. I had heard it was a member of the poplar family, but that doesn't mean it isn't the black sheep of the clan ! as soon as they begin to interfere with TV satellite transmission, down they come then I'll try to figure out what to do with them…not too excited about hand carving and handling wood that smells like a big wet dog ! anybody care for some free cottonwood ?


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## TopamaxSurvivor

Be Careful! My Bro in law was a logger. He says it is totally unpredictable when falling.


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## bondogaposis

I've heard of black cottonwood being desirable for barn floors due to it's scuff resistance.


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## Finn

cottonwood is used by a local interior shutter manufacturer. I have toured their plant and they have over an acre of stacked cottonwood on their back lot. The shutters they make are painted. I have used some of their scraps to make toys. Cottonwood is a type of Poplar and machines well , like poplar does.


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## brm

I see this is a Really old stream of online posts,But i am new to this forum and am interested in learning more. The easiest wood that i have access to is Cottonwood and am basically learning about it in order to build with it.
The most interesting post i found is from BTKS post number 36 where his friend built a house from cottonwood. I have wanted to build my own house for a few years now and always wondered about cottonwood lumber. I would like more input first . Thanks


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## Grandpa

When I was a kid we could get apple crates and such that were supposedly made from cotton wood. I saw a porch on an old house once that was made from cottonwood. Were bushel baskets made from cotton wood. They were maybe too hard for cottonwood but fruit crates were cottonwood back then. Today they are all cardboard. They put people to work by converting the wood into paper to make the crates…..ha


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## brm

Thanks for your post Grandpa. I know that there is alot more things out there made of cottonwood than the average person may be aware of.I am guessing it was used more in times past than it has in the most recent decades.I want to try using it structurally such as the porch that you refered to.About the only thing i know about it is MUST KEEP IT DRY.Eventually i'd like to get more of an idea of its overall strength capabilities such as what size of a board must it be to make it equivalent to the strength of a regular 2×6.


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## bobasaurus

Here's a project I recently made using cottonwood:










http://lumberjocks.com/projects/94027

It was crazy soft and knotty, but finished well after some 1# cut shellac sealed the softer parts. I like the way it looks quite a bit, but the smell and softness are not fun. I received some for free though, so I try to incorporate it into a few projects.


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## StoneandCottonwood

I mill and use cottonwood quite a lot. When well cured, it is quite strong, and light. I find that it works well for many things where light weight and high strength are needed. However, smaller dimensions (1") bend and wiggle in response to water quite a bit. If used outside, keep it painted or otherwise well sealed.


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## JJohnston

I'll add one more use to this old thread: it's shredded and made into evaporative cooler pads.


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## mramseyISU

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth here. My grandpa had(has) a sawmill and uses cottonwood all over it from framing lumber. He also builds HUD houses for his retirement fund and those are all framed with cottonwood. I've been working with it in that respect for 20 years now and I like it a lot better than any 2X lumber you can buy.


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## StoneandCottonwood

I would have to agree. I like it very much as general use lumber.


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## Grandpa

I ordered some bee hive frames. Those can be built if you have a pattern but I can buy them $11 for 10 frames so I am thinking I will probably order them when I need them. I ordered 20 frames and they look like cottonwood. They are stringy, white and no character. I don't know what this wood is but it is cheap and has the cotton wood appearance.


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## brm

Thank you all for the repies.I am sure learning alot.

When framing with cottonwood, and in places where you would normally use a 2×6, would you say that you would need to use a 2×8 in order to achieve the same amount of strength? I'm also milling my own lumber and so far the plan is to use rough lumber. Is there any thoughts on rough lumber framing?


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## mramseyISU

When we milled it up for framing we left it rough sawn to size so a 2×4 was a 2×4. For whatever reason Grandpa always built 2×6 exterior walls back before stuffing a ton of insulation in the walls was popular. So far none of them have fallen down like that.


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## NDakota

Coming from ND cottonwood is about the only native tree that is usable,they call it the Great Plains for a reason!Both sides of my family homsteaded here and used cottonwood from the river bottoms for everything.I can tell you that cottonwood fence posts last forever and get harder than a rock when left outside. Im speaking from experiance from fixing a lot of fence line!


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## changeoffocus

Cottonwood is one of the best sources of the white fuzzy stuff that plugs up condenser coils on AC units. It has been instrumental in feeding our family for 35 years.


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## ArlinEastman

Dave

I love turning the Crotch wood. It should be about 6" above the crotch and 16" below to get the best figure.

Other then that business use it for pellet wood heat and pallets.

Also the Bark is good for carving and carvers love the red part inside the best. The thicker the better between 2" to 8" thick and as long as possible

Arlin


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## knotscott

Cottonwood is excellent for planting upwind and pissing off your neighbors every May. Other than that, I really have little use for it.


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## Grandpa

Only the male trees give off the white cotton in the spring. I was in the shop a bit this afternoon. I picked up a stir stick I got to stir paint. Looks like some of it could be. Others looked like doug fir. What about the old yard stick they gave away and sell these days. Look like cotton wood??


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## gfadvm

William just posted a workbench made from cottonwood. It has been the #1 project all day today and is pretty impressive. And I just cut up most of a stack for stickers!


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## FirehouseWoodworking

Good discussion and information! Thanks to all and keep the info coming!

Cheers!


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## kdc68

I have no personal experience using it, but I seen this fairly resent project ….a workbench made on cottonwood

http://lumberjocks.com/projects/99988

Edit: I seen post #62…gfadvm beat me to it


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## brm

Ive been milling cottonwood for a short while now and when I get ready to build I'll post some pictures.


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## Vigilantewoodworker

About 12 years ago I had some experience with it. My boss would travel around Montana for work and found an old standing dead cottonwood tree. He chopped it down and then he had me build some chairs out of it. From what I remember it moved around a lot after being cut and was very stringy to work with. The cottonwood was also pretty easy to carve but pretty gummy when sanding. It takes stain beautifully and even though it's pretty soft, it holds up well.


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## shawnmasterson

What my sawyer has told me, is that it is similar to aspen. He said it has a tendency to go wonky, and the bugs like it. When he drys it, once it's low enough he moves it inside to keep the bugs out. I have used it for about 40% of the trim in my house. I did paint it. it machines very much like poplar.


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## 49er

When I had about 5000 feet of hardwood sawed I had one big cottonwood. We cut it into strips to go between the boards. That is the only use I have for it. I would not cut one down and pay 14 cents to have it sawed. I have two very big cottonwoods I was looking at the other day. I think I am going to girdle them. If I cut them they may damage decent trees when they fall.


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