Been a minute since posting, hope everyone is doing well and hoarding on. Today I received a text from my supervisor about some tree damage at Granite Creek Park. The damage occurred at around 10:30 am and things could've been much worse with people and vehicles in the park. Lucky day, no real damage, injury or worse. Thought I'd post some pics, the Fremont Cottonwoods in the park provide wonderful shade in the summer but at around 80 feet tall they also pose serious risk if they go. Maybe more pics tomorrow, all we did was buck it into manageable pieces to be hauled out. Being Sunday everyone was off.
What did you take the pictures with ? At least for me the quality is amazing when you expand them. Cottonwood trees sure get big and do a lot of damage.
Cottonwood is some spooky stuff in high wind. I was putting in a big custom sliding door two weeks ago, when the sheriff went flying by the customers house. Come to find out a Californian got smashed while trying to fly fish in a windstorm on the creek. A friend hand to help the coroner roll him into the body bag. Nothing but jello. Bad deal. Sure feel for his wife.
I don't like it one bit. It smells, it's a pain to split and for a hard wood it's far softer than some evergreens we have in the area. Having said that, it does seem to please people as a shoulder season wood that doesn't roast you out in November when you need a little heat.
I never have either and dont bother with it. Old saying on here is that it burns better than snowballs. Seems to be more popular with burners out West where hardwoods are scarcer.
Well that depends on what you consider good burning. I've burned many tons of the stuff. It's a good shoulder wood and it burns clean but it is a gofer wood. Splits better if you let it dry a while first. If you burn it before it's dry it can smell a bit but if dry there's no smell.
Its good shoulder season wood or kindling. Definitely splits easier if its allowed to dry. Little ash no coals.
Try some sometime. You may just end up asking yourself: "where's the heat "? If you've ever bought mixed hardwood and in that mix was some rather lightweight wood that didn't seem to contribute much to the concept of a wood stove - that was probably cottonwood or some form of poplar. I think I'd rather have pine, at least for the short duration of burn, it gets hot.
I burn a good amount of cotton wood for shoulder season. Starts easy, burns hot and fast. During cold burning season I’ll use it to get the fire going first thing in the morning, by the time I leave for work it’s burned down and I can get a full load of better wood in the insert. Works good for me for its intended use. I’ve never had a hard time splitting it.
Cottonwood smells like cat pizz. Terrible smell and extremely soft and mushy wood. Yuck. I scrounged some on the side of the road and realized why nobody else had taken it.
