Your Thoughts on Cottonwood for Projects?

[toolcollector]

In September, I had a portable miller at my home to mill two Cedar trees that died, plus a Ponderosa that the power copy removed. In the middle of this, a large Cottonwood fell at a friends house, destroyed a toy trailer and hit her horse barn. We went over to clean up the mess and since the mill was already set up, the miller gave me a good price to mill the Cottonwood.

Now, I've done a lot of remodeling with my Shopsmith, but am relatively new to having some time to do woodworking - finish projects.

At any rate, I turned a couple pieces of the Cottonwood and it looked nice, and amazingly dry. So I planned some - thought it would be too wet, but appears Very dry, so I'm building some end tables out of it.

I find it to be hard to plan without some tear out, due to the fiberous nature, but once sanded down, very pretty and easy to work.

On the web, many call it junk wood, good for pulp only, etc, others say they see hundred year old buildings, casket users use it extensively, and that it is good for finish work.

I look at it as cheap wood to learn with, but think it will probably hold up long tern and it looks like it will finish out nicely.

Any thoughts, experiences, recommendations????

As long as I'm soliciting thoughts, what would you build if you had a stack of 1" by 8" to 10" Cedar?

(In the photo, the Cedar is on the left, Cottonwood in the middle and Ponderosa (will be a storage shed) on the right.)

[Gene Howe]

My father framed his workshop with cottonwood. As long as it remains above grade and relatively moisture free, it's OK.
I took some and made a "Loon box" from it. When sanding it, it stunk like nothing I'd ever encountered. I'm told that Cottonwood absorbs the ground water chemicals and retains them and, that was the reason it stunk. It had grown in a pig/cattle feed lot.
That was 10 years ago, and the box is still in service today. I only stained it with a walnut stain and sprayed it with poly. No paint. It's really not a very pretty wood....even when finished well.

[fjimp]

I remember burning cottonwood in a firplace. The stench was nearly impossible to get rid of. fjimp

[charlese]

I've made a few things out of poplar. Shutters come to mind first. Why is this said? Because I really don't know the species of that poplar. It could have been cottonwood!

Here is a link that lists the variety of species fitting into the genus Populus - you can pass by the scientific part - go down to about the middle of the page to find the list of species - both scientific and common names. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poplar

Cottonwood es used a lot in the West to make fine things like cabinets. Some of us still turn up our noses about cottonwood boards. Why? Because it is an old prejudice - a lot like lodgepole pine, Western red cedar, and many species of spruce. In the last few decades, we've discovered these species are satisfactory for lumber and dimensional stock. Maybe it was a matter of necessity. Scarcity of proffered species led to trials and use of others.

Don't know why cottonwood would stink in a fireplace - As Gene said, the tree can pick up smells - my guess would be the tree was raised in a swampy location and absorbed some of the putrid smells of decaying matter. Anyway here is a copied sentence from a wikipedia page about cottonwood: "Cottonwood is one of the poorest woods to use as Wood fuel. It does not dry well, and rots quickly. It splits poorly, because it is very fibrous. It produces the lowest BTUs per cord of wood."

[nuhobby]

Hi,
I made one Adirondack Chair out of recycled Cedar (western). It is a natural wood to use outside without worrying about rot.

You've got a great "problem" -- too much wood looking for a use!

Have fun,

[Gene Howe]

Thanks Chuck, for the info. I did not know that Cottonwood was in the same family as poplar.

[fjimp]

Don't know why cottonwood would stink in a fireplace - As Gene said, the tree can pick up smells - my guess would be the tree was raised in a swampy location and absorbed some of the putrid smells of decaying matter. Anyway here is a copied sentence from a wikipedia page about cottonwood: "Cottonwood is one of the poorest woods to use as Wood fuel. It does not dry well, and rots quickly. It splits poorly, because it is very fibrous. It produces the lowest BTUs per cord of wood."[/quote]

At the point in time we discovered the cottonwood ordor, dollars were tight and the winter in Denver was cold. We bought a cord of wood. The guarantee being there would be no Cottonwood included. When we called the fellow about the odor he was very defensive. At first refusing to discuss it. A couple of neighbors had ordered wood from him and cancelled their orders. We came home one day and disovered a rather ample cord of wood dumped in the driveway and the prior order gone. I called and offered to pay for the extra wood. He refused and ask me to tell my neighbors he had made the order good. He delivered wood to us for two or three winters after that and always made a joke about the Cottonwood. Cottonwood seems to soak up whatever moisture it encounters. We always wondered if that particular tree had been in a feed lot or had fallen near the Platte River. Some year later we felled a Cottonwood Tree. A neighbor wanted the wood for his fireplace. I tried to warn him. Later he shared the wood had a slight odor but burned hot and fast yet offered little heat. He did like it for a fire starter. fjimp

[iclark]

As long as I'm soliciting thoughts, what would you build if you had a stack of 1" by 8" to 10" Cedar?

some friends who used to live next to the Great Dismal Swamp lined one of the 2 closets in the master bedroom with aromatic cedar. it was both beautiful and practical.

other than the Adirondack furniture someone else already mentioned, there is other outdoor furniture such as gliders, those wondrous bench/table convertible things (haven't found plans, just websites that want to sell them), tables, or trellises.

for indoors, cedar makes nice blanket chests and hope chests (although I have seen comments that you want a drawer or other area isolated from the cedar aroma for storing things that yellow or discolor in the cedar fumes. that is what the sales person convinced me of when I gave one as a gift about 40 years ago).

for cutoffs, I see that some of the local stores sell small cedar planks for use in BBQ grills. people put the cooking food on the planks rather than directly on the grates.

I would defer to the turners around here, but it seems like I have seen cedar turnings mixed in with the cypress turnings and knick-knacks in the touristy stops along the Carolina-Florida corridor.

Ivan

[toolcollector]

Already a lot of great suggestions and info, Thanks.

As far as Cottonwood smelling, when I cut it, or especially when sanding it, the odor is unpleasant, but not too bad. The wood does not have an odor otherwise. I can image it would stink if burned.

Some good ideas for the Cedar too. I had planned to make a dry sauna (I have a heater) but I can't figure out (yet) were to put it if I do, but I thought the cedar might be good for the interior paneling. If not, I might end up with a lot of Adirondack Chairs and Cedar chests.

[sawmill]

Several years ago I sawed alot of cedar and took some of the lumber for payment. I air dried it and used some of it to line the walls of a large walk in colset that we had. I did the walls and the ceiling and today it still smells like fresh cut cedar. This cedar was white cedar. I use a lot of popular for wood working. I like to make toys out of it because it works so easy. As stated if it get wet it rots very easy. I am guessing that what you have may be popular and if so it gets harder after drying. Here we have a wood that is called cottin wood and when you saw it the board gets all fuzzy and the longer you dry it the worse it gets. If you leave it dry for a couple of months it get really light.