Fascinating!

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 5:15 pm

sawmill wrote:To me that does not look like cotton wood because of the colored center section. But they don't get that big up this way usually the wind takes them down before

They definitely get that big up this way and the bark looked consistent with black cottonwood IMO. I've never seen one cut up to kno what they'd look like inside...

sawmill · Post by **sawmill** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:05 pm

I don't know about the black cotton wood but what we have up here when I sawed it the grain would pop out and stand on end. I sawed some for one of my regular customers once as he wanted to try it. The wood was pure white. He dried it and planed it sanded it and thought it was smooth. He built a box out of it and put a finish on it. When it dried all the fibers popped up on it before the finish dried. The popular that I use the outer edges is white and if the tree is a smaller one it will be white all the way thru. The larger ones have a tan heartwood and this goes almost the width of the tree. I like working with this wood and when it dries it gets hard and light. It takes a finish real good. It sees to be a stable wood as long as it has bee dried flat. I told my wife I was going to have to buy another sawmill because I had a big white pine come down in my woods. It is 42 inches across the trunk

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 6:29 pm

sawmill wrote:I don't know about the black cotton wood but what we have up here when I sawed it the grain would pop out and stand on end. I sawed some for one of my regular customers once as he wanted to try it. The wood was pure white. He dried it and planed it sanded it and thought it was smooth. He built a box out of it and put a finish on it. When it dried all the fibers popped up on it before the finish dried. The popular that I use the outer edges is white and if the tree is a smaller one it will be white all the way thru. The larger ones have a tan heartwood and this goes almost the width of the tree. I like working with this wood and when it dries it gets hard and light. It takes a finish real good. It sees to be a stable wood as long as it has bee dried flat. I told my wife I was going to have to buy another sawmill because I had a big white pine come down in my woods. It is 42 inches across the trunk

Sawmills get in your blood...

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sawmill · Post by **sawmill** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:00 pm

robinson46176 wrote:Sawmills get in your blood...

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Sure do. When I saw that vid I could smell the wood he was sawing and I heard the belt squelling. I knew right away the blade was dull.

gr8mesquite · Post by **gr8mesquite** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:38 pm

sawmill wrote:Sure do. When I saw that vid I could smell the wood he was sawing and I heard the belt squelling. I knew right away the blade was dull.

The blade must have been dull to start, because I can't imagine cottonwood dulling it. I read that Cottonwood is the softest of the "hardwoods."

Am I wrong?

sawmill · Post by **sawmill** » Mon Jan 06, 2014 11:55 pm

gr8mesquite wrote:The blade must have been dull to start, because I can't imagine cottonwood dulling it. I read that Cottonwood is the softest of the "hardwoods."

Am I wrong?

You are correct. The cotton wood we have here will split if you show it a nail

dgale · Post by **dgale** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:37 am

They did mention in the video that the frozen bark was full of dirt and rocks and this played a part in dulling the blade…other than that I'd think cottonwood would cut just this side of balsa wood.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:30 pm

dgale wrote:They did mention in the video that the frozen bark was full of dirt and rocks and this played a part in dulling the blade…other than that I'd think cottonwood would cut just this side of balsa wood.

It is a lot tougher than that. I once cut two 24' long runners out of it to move a historic smallish (about 20' x 24') former post office about a quarter mile down the road ( I used to take on all manner of odd stuff

) and it was plastered on the inside (made it heavy). I pulled it with a 100 HP class tractor down dry blacktop and it was all the tractor wanted to pull. The wear on the runners was very minimal.

[ATTACH]23689[/ATTACH]

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robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:30 pm

dgale wrote:They did mention in the video that the frozen bark was full of dirt and rocks and this played a part in dulling the blade…other than that I'd think cottonwood would cut just this side of balsa wood.

It is a lot tougher than that. I once cut two 24' long runners out of it to move a historic smallish (about 20' x 24') former post office about a quarter mile down the road ( I used to take on all manner of odd stuff

) and it was plastered on the inside (made it heavy). I pulled it with a 100 HP class tractor down dry blacktop and it was all the tractor wanted to pull. The wear on the runners was very minimal.

[ATTACH]23689[/ATTACH]

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robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Jan 07, 2014 12:30 pm

dgale wrote:They did mention in the video that the frozen bark was full of dirt and rocks and this played a part in dulling the blade…other than that I'd think cottonwood would cut just this side of balsa wood.

It is a lot tougher than that. I once cut two 24' long runners out of it to move a historic smallish (about 20' x 24') former post office about a quarter mile down the road ( I used to take on all manner of odd stuff

) and it was plastered on the inside (made it heavy). I pulled it with a 100 HP class tractor down dry blacktop and it was all the tractor wanted to pull. The wear on the runners was very minimal.

[ATTACH]23689[/ATTACH]

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