In your area, I suspect cottonwood is used for firewood quite often. If you lay down some sacrificial logs cross ways and stack the remaining logs on those, it should last a good many years.
[QUOTE What about brush cleanup[/QUOTE] All the trees are growing along a steep bank. The dirt project is to dispose of 1,000s of cubic yards of dirt into this hole, but all trees need cleared. Original plan was to cut/push over all trees and cover with the dirt, so clean up is a non-issue
Better wood takes a bit of vigilance, spotting it, then being first to get permission to get it. I got more lined up to get than I’ll probably get to this winter
I understand that situationally, it is not the primo wood that is always worth it, but correct me if I am wrong but my understanding is that cottonwood is a lot like tulip poplar, and has it’s place in my stacks. Disadvantages: heavy when wet, doesn’t smell great, low density when dry, reload stove often. Advantages: splits super easy, great kindling, seasons quickly when split and stacked (6-12 mo). You can get a stove/room hot quickly. Can keep a fire going by adding another thick split without roasting the house in the shoulder season. I just split half a trunk load of tulip poplar on the right here, next to the evergreens, next to the cherry:
Here's the link to those numbers - I should have provided it, especially because they are hard to concieve and they aren't mine to begin with. Wood Species - Moisture Content and Weight
Thanks. They are hard to conceive but also just don't jive with the way I'm used to doing things. Looks like they're using a green cubic foot compared to a dry cubic foot which is a little apples to oranges, again at least the way I work. The cubic foot of green wood would shrink by roughly 12% to the dry state and no longer be a cubic foot. I guess it depends on the purpose for which you're doing the comparison. The other problem is, I can never imagine a five gallon spackle bucket as being less than a single cubic foot. Doesn't want to work in my head but math doesn't lie.
If the bark is off I’d say the rounds that are not in ground contact will take awhile to rot. The stuff on the ground probably get pretty punky with in year.
