Downed Cottonwood

Most won't be able to help much because it is a wood we seldom ever burn. I figure that cottonwood is a good tree to leave in the woods to decompose and become soil.

Fine for an Oct. evening, just not overnight. Should be ok for this fall.

I burn some in the fall. Puts out enough heat to take the chill off or if your around on weekends and can keep the stove fed. It makes the good btu wood go farther. Or if its dry it mixes well with sub-par hardwoods to equal out the overall moisture content in the fire box.

I cut one up in October, I will split a split and test it and post pics. Im curious myself where the water level stands for this wood.
My first cottonwood.

It burns pretty fast. I burn a fair amount but use it to get a fire going under a better hardwood. Should have no issue getting it dry by fall if cut to length and split. Family has used it since I can remember for fueling a cook stove.

BradleyW said:

Thanks, looking forward to the results.

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Okay...I got it. Between 29.9 and 23.0%
Which is surprising. 6 months almost exactly.
Eastern cottonwood, cut middle of Oct
27 growth rings. A baby.

Bark pic

Are you sure it is Cottonwood? I don't want to start another guess the type of tree games, but the pics you posted don't really look like what we got over here on the west coast.

I look at Cottonwood as if they are giant Dandelions. They are everywhere in these parts.
Nothing wrong with burning it as long as its dry.

BradleyW said:

A cottonwood fell down on my property in the fall of 2013. I know it isn't the highest btu wood, but I figured it's there, so I finally cut some of it up and split it yesterday and today. Figured it would be ok for a chilly October evening. Any chance it will be ready by the fall, or will I have to wait until 2016?

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Since its on your property I would burn it if I were you especially if you have the time to process it and have room to stack it.

I agree the pics don't look like cottonwood. The trees are young enough that the bark doesn't have those characteristic furrows.
I'll see if I can find some leaves.

Eastern cottonwood
Populus deltoides M
Cool and unusual shaped leaves.

I photocopy and GPS document the location of each different type.
Would I burn this?
When it gets down to 13% I'll see whats left. Im guessing not much.
They arent common in NY, Im on a water corridor that runs all the way up to the Canadian border and these trees line the waterway all the way to Montreal.
Its an odd occurrence, I think.

That sure looks like Cottonwood from here.
The thick bark and stringy looking pieces hanging from the 5-6 o'clock trunk position are give aways.
Also the poorly defined rings in the split and the trunk make me think it's CW.
If it stunk when fresh cut, it's Cottonwood.

I became very familiar with that stuff after paying for a grapple load of Hardwood (Technically Cottonwood is a hardwood) and half the load consisted
of a 4 1/2 foot diameter Cottonwood tree. I had no idea until he dumped the load and I started cutting/splitting. Major ripoff if you are paying for good hardwood, but not bad if it's free. I'm sure the driver from tree service that dumped it on me had a good laugh after he left

I cut some black cottonwood (whatever variety grows out east might be different) two years ago that seemed ready to burn by winter. I do not have a moisture meter so I can't guarantee for certain it was all below 20% moisture concent, but it went from quite heavy to unbelievably light.

It appears to me that cottonwood holds a lot of water (so much that sometimes if I didn't hit it right, I could see water visibly squeeze out of it as the wood compressed under my maul), but the water wicks along its fibers really well, so it actually dries surprisingly rapidly if given sufficient circulation.

Much of my property is cottonwood. Lots of it everywhere.

If I load my cat stove full with it dry I can eek out 6 hours burn time in a 2.3cu ft stove.

Free wood. On my property. But I wouldn't haul it for nothing.

rwilly said:

Are you sure it is Cottonwood? I don't want to start another guess the type of tree games, but the pics you posted don't really look like what we got over here on the west coast.

I look at Cottonwood as if they are giant Dandelions. They are everywhere in these parts.
Nothing wrong with burning it as long as its dry.

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There are a couple of species known as "cottonwood" across the nation. Same thing with cedar. Our cottonwood and cedar is not the same as their cottonwood and cedar. There are also parts of the country where the only wood that they have is cottonwood so it certainly is a wood that burns and makes heat. Burning cottonwood is like burning pine. It's one of those taboos that people have this preconceived notion about but have never actually tried it. Their grand daddy told them that is burns too fast but they never tried it.

I burned cottonwood exclusively one year in a modern stove and it burns just fine. Doesn't stink. Not too much ash, burn times were pretty normal.