Seasoning Cottonwood for Lumber

[tkoppel]

Can I cut cottonwood logs now, get them off the ground, and let them season a year before milling them for lumber? If they will keep, will I need to season the lumber further once it has been cut? Thanks all.

 

[john taliaferro]

Think i would mill it now paint the ends then dry it

 

[twochains]

I sawed some big cottonwood logs last year that we had been putting off for over a year prior. Believe it or not...the logs started trying to sucker after being cut for over a year! :msp_confused: When I finally broke down and sawed them for the guy it was winter time and the logs had retained so much moisture that they were froze solid! With that being said, I would do as suggested and saw them now and dry stack the lumber.

Have you already cut the trees? There is an old trick of dropping the trees and leaving the limbs on them for a few months...like over the summer. The theory behind this is the limbs will pull the moisture out of the logs. Friends of mine used to do this for ERC that was being hand scaled, the lighter logs would allow for bigger container truck loads headed over seas.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I would cut the tree's down, cut the logs out and "anchorseal" the logs right then. Then mill them into lumber ASAP! Properly ticker the lumber with lots of weight on the pile...

SR

 

[qbilder]

There is an old trick of dropping the trees and leaving the limbs on them for a few months...like over the summer. The theory behind this is the limbs will pull the moisture out of the logs.

That's actually really clever, might actually work.

 

[KiwiBro]

There is an old trick of dropping the trees and leaving the limbs on them for a few months...like over the summer. The theory behind this is the limbs will pull the moisture out of the logs. Friends of mine used to do this for ERC that was being hand scaled, the lighter logs would allow for bigger container truck loads headed over seas.

Depending on species, time and locations, I like to do just that when clearing blocks and making firewood. Drop, leave for a month or two (max) and then get stuck into them. The transpiration of moisture through the log/branches and out through foliage really does help suck the moisture out of the wood, but it has limits. Beyond about 2 months, it seems to be useless and might as well start breaking out and landing the logs/limbs. Not much fun crawling all over dry slash though but the end result is a faster seasoning of the wood. To my mind, it's overall a faster drying than a continually repeating cycle of drop/land/buck/split. It's less wear on my tractor winch hauling/skidding lighter loads too. Your mileage may vary though.

Having threatened to mill (still in the process of building enough stocks of timber stands to keep a mill busy, and also scratching for the $), I thought it best to mill as green as possible before drying introduces or exacerbates tension in the logs?