[Woodcarver] Harvesting cottonwood

[Alex Bisso]

Hi Steve.  Since I have collected and sold literally tons of cottonwood bark 
I think I have enough experience to provide some input to your question.
If the trees are green it is unlikely that you will be able to remove any of 
the bark for at least 6 months - probably a year.  Hopefully the trees are 
at least partially dead and that is why they are being removed - if so, 
there might be some parts where the bark is removable.  Also, whether or not 
the bark is large/thick enough is another consideration.  If it is not at 
least 2" thick I expect that it would not be worth messing with the bark.
About the cottonwood itself.  I have found that it is a decent carving wood. 
I have not worked with it green but I did find a well-weathered (no bark, 
white like bone) dead/down tree that I cut a few log sections from to carve. 
The tree was probably down and dead for at least 10 years, maybe more, and 
the sections I cut were nice and almost dry when I cut them.  I did paint 
the ends on a couple with white primer (Kilz).  I carved a bear head it one 
and it came out nice.  The other two log sections still look good (3-4 years 
later) with only very small check cracks in the ends.
In another instance someone had cut a huge cottonwood (down for years and 
bark removed by me) into big sections, some of which were split in big 
chunks for firewood.  I took a couple of the chunks thinking I might carve 
something in one.  Although this tree was dead for many years, it was so 
large it was still green/wet in the inside.  I did not coat the ends of 
these pieces and they checked quite a bit.  I do think that coating the ends 
would be helpful.  That being said, I do not think that I would try to save 
much from a green-cut cottonwood tree for carving.  My choice would be to 
use cut it in sections with firewood in mind, although I would probably try 
to let a few pieces dry for carving.
ALEX
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <woodcarver-request at six.pairlist.net>
To: <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:03 AM
Subject: Woodcarver Digest, Vol 984, Issue 2



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>   1. Harvesting Cottonwood (Steve Ensley)

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> Message: 1

> Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:57:40 -0600

> From: "Steve Ensley" <steve.ensley at gmail.com>

> Subject: [Woodcarver] Harvesting Cottonwood

> To: woodcarver at six.pairlist.net

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> I just learned that someone I know will be cutting down a couple of

> Cottonwood trees on his property.  Is there any particular procedure or

> hints and tips that I should be aware of if I'm going to collect some of 

> the

> the bark for carving?  Is some of the wood also somthing I should take for

> carving or turning?  Do I want to paint the ends or anything if I am going

> to take precut sections of the wood?  Please forgive if these are dumb

> questions, I am still fairly new to the hobby.

>

> -- 

> Steve

>

> A fine is a tax for doing wrong.

> A tax is a fine for doing well.

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