Splitting woes

I'd just leave it in the bush to rot. Not worth the effort. There's not many BTUs in Cottonwood.

I don't have experience with cottonwood but it's a low BTU wood. If you don't want to waste it, try reducing the height / length of the log you're trying to split with your chainsaw. I'd also cover it from the weather so it's not so waterlogged.

Even using a splitter I find I need a small ax or hatchet to cut the fibers on the stringy cottonwood. It does seem to split better when green and you can actually see the sap pouring out as it splits. Heavy when green and very light when seasoned. Burns well and works great for the early and late burn season.

BigV said:

Even using a splitter I find I need a small ax or hatchet to cut the fibers on the stringy cottonwood. It does seem to split better when green and you can actually see the sap pouring out as it splits. Heavy when green and very light when seasoned. Burns well and works great for the early and late burn season.

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+1

LLigetfa said:

I'd just leave it in the bush to rot. Not worth the effort. There's not many BTUs in Cottonwood.

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+1 & it also makes good compost

I hate that stringy thick barked stinky wood.

I'll second the split it right after its cut. I grabbed close to a cord summer before last
and split most within the first week. Didn't split easily but was definitely not a hard
splitting wood.

ckarotka said:

I have a bunch of cottonwood that I aquired in fall and can't seem to split it with my maul at all. It's very stringy. I thought I would let it dry some and maybe freeze to make it easier, no good. Now with the recent thaw, it's all soaked again. The pile was under two-three feet of snow and when it melted the cottonwood just sucked up all that moisture even though it was atleast staked in round form.

The rounds are about 20" in diameter and the maul(8lbs)/fiskars(4.4) just gets stuck about 2-3" in or bounces right off. This tree was a fresh cut in Oct. I tried wedges and they just get burried in the wood. Any suggestions I could try before borrowing a splitter??

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Cottonwood is not so bad for splitting.....as long as you wait a year before you try to split it. The reason is because there is so darned much sap in the wood. So cut it to length, stack it up and leave it for a year and it will split much easier then. It will still need to dry a good while before burning, but it will burn ok. It will burn hot and fast, so don't stuff the firebox full with all cottonwood.

Also, I highly doubt that cottonwood soaked up all that moisture from the snow. I doubt it soaked up any of that moisture. As bad as cottonwood is, it still is not a sponge unless it is punky. Snow moisture and rain will run right off and the wind will dry the surface.

Of course, you can get a hydraulic splitter and get it split now, or you can wait.

hareball said:

I hate that stringy thick barked stinky wood.

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IMO.. good for outdoor burn pit only.

LLigetfa said:

I'd just leave it in the bush to rot. Not worth the effort. There's not many BTUs in Cottonwood.

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I'm sorta on board with this idea.

You must have a different type of cotton wood. The shizle we got in WA (God's Country) splits pretty easy.

Bigg_Redd said:

LLigetfa said:

I'd just leave it in the bush to rot. Not worth the effort. There's not many BTUs in Cottonwood.

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I'm sorta on board with this idea.

You must have a different type of cotton wood. The shizle we got in WA (God's Country) splits pretty easy.

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No Cottonwood around here. From what I've read Cottonwood is the worst of the Poplars and I would not expend that much energy on junk wood. The Black Poplar we have here is worse than the Aspen and neither are hard to split.

If I can drop a Poplar back into the bush where it's out of sight, I just cut it up so it can lay flat and rot. If I have to drop it into a clearing and have to clean it up, I might take it for firewood, only becuase it's more work to take it to the bush. I often use Poplar for the first course of wood against the ground as sacrifice wood and stack my good wood on top of it. I sometimes use it for the end cribs if I plan to keep the cribs and refill the stacks.

My brother in law loves cottonwood for smoking fish so I'll haul it to him for that but I won't bother loading it for myself.

Cottonwood was made the state tree of Kansas in 1937.............. :blank: .............. Yeeaaahhhh, that really impresses me to. Wouldn't take it if it was free.

Bigg_Redd said:

My brother in law loves cottonwood for smoking fish so I'll haul it to him for that but I won't bother loading it for myself.

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Try really punky Birch for smoking fish.