Has anyone used Cottonwood for Lumber, projects?

[MrAudio815]

Hello,

My neighbor has/had a 100 plus year old cottonwood tree over a 100' tall cut down to about 15' height still in the ground. It's about 5' in diameter at the base.

I was wondering if the wood is good for anything or if it will just warp, twist, or crack. The grain in some of the dead branches that I have resawn into boards is light colored & has very nice curly figure and some darker streaks. The greener branches that I cut are much darker and some have curled already and I don't much care for the look as much.

I also made a couple of bowl blanks out of it and have a lot more of the dead/almost totally dry branches, but didn't want to waste my time if it's not that good of wood.


Any advice would be appreciated,


Matthew

 

[Jeff]

Good question. It sounds like it's pretty useful and durable when properly dried. I think that most of our sawyers advise against using branches for lumber because of the inherent stresses that can cause warping, etc.

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Uses_for_Cottonwood.html

Are you sure that it's cottonwood and not misidentification? There is confusion in the nomenclature and classification.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/index.htm#letterC

http://www.carolinanature.com/trees/pode.html

It could be firewood, but it's pretty mediocre on the BTU/cord scale.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wood-combustion-heat-d_372.html

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

I turned a pen out of cottonwood burl it is in my gallery here.... if not good for lumber might be good for bowl or pen blanks

 

[MrAudio815]

I need to post a picture of the few boards I have already.

Some of the larger branches 2.5' tall have cracked significantly all around the pith so that may be firewood. The smaller branches about 12-13" look like they will provide some good boards.


Thanks to you both~!