I've got access to a very large black cottonwood that's already down. It's massive, about 5' across at the butt and doesn't start tapering until it get's about 40' up and starts branching. My large saw is an 038 Mag II and it pulls a 28" bar without too much trouble. I think I can get this bucked with that saw, but I'm curious how folks would tackle splitting it....
Man that's a monster. I would probably noodle a bunch of it to make splitting easier but I really do hate noodling...
In the very few instances where I have c/s split wood that big, I cut them 10" long so I could flip/flop the large cookies to the splitter ( nearby) to break up vertically as God intended.
When I have large rounds I use a maul and a couple of wedges to half or quarter them before I try to move them. KaptJaq
That big, if they flop into the ground flat then you’re stuck. Don’t let them fall on you and only tip them onto the splitter. If that doesn’t work then you have to noodle them into quarters for lifting.
Really depends how far is it from home? What type of splitter do you have? Is it easy to access? When I did my large ash trees, that were easily that size I would start at the top and then cut the middle of the tree so I'd only have half moons in shapes. I got an FEL put an eye bolt in them. To lift onto splitter as it is old and horizontal only..
Yea, that's our only hesitation. We can drive all the equipment right up to the tree, and we do a lot of burning when it's cool and rainy. Don't need loads of BTU's.... If there is time.
It's not too far, about a 20min drive. We can pull right up to the tree with the trucks. We don't have a splitter.... Yet. Father's day is coming.
From my driveway, I can throw a rock and have it land on a stanwood address. The distance that rock would travel is further than I'd go for cottonwood.
I'd try splitting with axe or splitting maul. That seems to work better than sledge and wedge in cottonwood. Not sure I'd even tackle that one being cottonwood though. If it were ash or oak, etc, go for it!
If it was an option, I’d pass as well. But if I had to deal with it, I’d be looking to hire someone with a portable sawmill.
If it is like the very few poplars and bigtooth aspen (white poplar ) here it splits fairly easy. I'd try my red oak wedges and maul on the big ones. I've only had to clean the huge darned catkins out of the gutter and off the roof and deck from the ones that grow around Seattle.
Cottonwood burns fine in a modern stove. Like pine, it has gotten a bad reputation from old stories. Try it, you might like it. Be sure it’s dry. It loses a lot of weight as it dries and just about any other wood is better but cottonwood keeps many stoves burning and houses warm.
