Gathering dead dogwood trees

I have a tract that has, literally, hundreds of dogwoods. Beautiful come spring. Seems to me that dogwoods are not very hardy, they die off often. Granted, we did have the drought from hell a few years back and I even lost a lot of oaks. But I have tried planting dogwood saplings, even two that were six feet tall, and none have survived even with careful nurturing and watering. I digress. The dead dogwoods lying on the forest floor... they do NOT rot near as fast as other woods. It's a given that dogwoods are dense wood. I can go around and gather quite a bit of dogwood just nabbing those on the forest floor. Most are not big; there are a lot of them that are 3 to 6 inches diameter at the base. I have been bucking some but figured I better ask... will these burn good? I have even thought they could be made/cut/carved into good somethings. Walking sticks? Posts?

I also cut dogwoods that died recently or are just about dead. They are still green. Will be interesting to see how long it takes them to dry. But I have a LOT of dead ones on the forest floor.

 

Dogwood makes great firewood.

 

In our area, the wild dogwoods got hit with a disease and a lot of them disappeared. The domesticated ones planted in home yards seemed to survive.

 

Years back it was an annual tradition for dad and i to go into his land and harvest all the standing/fallen dead dogwoods. Seems they would lose the thin bark right away and didnt rot if down. Id fell em, we would drag them out and he would feed the logs as i bucked on the sawhorse. Sometimes we'd take my uncles tractor and load it up. Fond memories!

Rock hard when dead and burns real hot. We would use them right away. None required splitting....4" and under.

Not sure how good it is for carvers/hobbyists though Yawner

 

I love burning dogwood! Pic of the bark, if anyone's interested.

 

I've got a bunch of them in the woods but rarely come across any that meet my criteria to burn...dead, damaged, or fallen. Ours are healthy and thriving. I have burned it once before and can't remember for the life of me how I got it, but it burned GREAT.

 

Yes, they are hard, burns great. Makes very pretty items carved or turned on a lathe. It will take a very high polish.