When it was green and huge (36" rounds) it was very stringy and wouldn't split apart. Even 16 months later some of the larger rounds would string out while I split them. Just a pain but I'll still burn it, it was free! Here's a picture of some of the rounds before I split them, and some already split in the background.
I’m a little surprised it wouldn’t split easier even with that diameter. Hand splitting? Did you try picking it off the edges parallel to the growth rings? The lengths look a little longer than I am used to (ideally 16”) could you halve them length wise and try splitting again? noodling is an option too.. I think it is past due to get that split and stacked so you can appreciate the btu’s. I wish I was a little closer so I could take a whack at them.. looks like a fun weekend project.
Those are all split except the very big one which I turned into a splitting block for the lodgepole I got. I halved most of the rounds to make them each 11" long and was able to split them much easier. Once they were split in half and dried out they split pretty easy.
The cottonwood I have split was stringy and cross-grained. It made for a hard stack. Burned fine when it eventually dried. It makes a bright fire when well seasoned,
Cottonwood is given away here by the metric megaton, no sense in fighting it so just get it and split it. Good thing my pickup was free and cut to size so I didn’t work too hard on it. Kept the splits large( at least I believe they are) and mostly square. Since it dries out really well, I don’t mind picking it up as it makes really good pit wood. Keeps the area bright. Since I count on seeing your face, this is needed on dark nights out at the circle.
The cottonwood rounds you guys are posting seem like different wood than what I deal with in Nevada. Our cottonwood is always large stringy wood with thick bark. Are those rounds from larger branches? Here's a cottonwood my neighbor has. It's a good size tree and the trunk would be consistent with most rounds we get from cottonwood around here.
Oh I was just poking a little fun at bogydave in regards to the cottonwood. If there were better woods around here that is what I would use. I have split my share of cottonwood and when green it does not split very easy. Not as bad as elm but it can be stringy.
Oh yeah! I’m concurring with everyone else. I would probably go pretty far to make sure the saw cuts were deep making sure it were super dried out. Shoot I don’t have any rounds anymore but makes me wanna try it out next time I see cottonwood, have plenty of other woods though but they’d be tougher to start.
I would think that trees grown in those windy areas are more prone for splitting hard when green. At least mine weren’t too bad once split in the middle then the tension was off. Still soaking wet. The shrinkage was a lot since I split them large about a dinner plate wide or so then they’re probably about 2/3 that, after about 4 months. Pretty mild summer this year. Muggy more than hot.
Those rounds were more from trunk sections. If you’re talking about the rounds to the left those aren’t cottonwood (sorry I meant the split and stacked stuff) the stuff to the left is doug fir. The trees are pretty similar to yours. They get tall and wide here since the rains get Heavy, they are major water collectors, Seems like 60% of the tree is mostly water when cut so the rounds are quite big and usually they are very young here. Bark is often “smooth” not flaky or jagged.
I have thousands of them in the garden, They’re great weeds The July cottonwood snow storm seeds it well. Plugs the screen on the greenhouse fan. Not a fan of cottonwood
Yep during certain times of the year the city of Cheyenne has cotton floating all over the place from the trees.
The only things I can remember about cottonwood from my teen years on the farm was that it was stringy to split and should only be burnt with houses with a metal roof as it produces large flying embers that can set dry shingle or shake roof on fire in the summer months.
