cottonwood?

Very very hard to split, and makes a huge amount of ash. Not a lot of heat in it. I used it for one year cheap ($40 a cord) never again.

No. Not worth it. The good thing is, it'll rot away pretty quick.

I've used it. Mine split easy and burned nice, just not long. If you have the room take it.

How bad do you need wood? It has to be good to mix in with other stuff in shoulder season, no?....

Unless you're really hard up for wood, it's not worth it. Everyone's situation is different though..

I have some at my dad's house I cut up last year. I am going to pick it up tomorrow because it has been really warm lately and I don't like burning my good stuff. It will not last long but it produces heat.

I know the last 2 years I was burning in May, so having some extra dry wood can't hurt....

I would normally say no, it isn't worth it. however, this stud is already cut. Assuming you don't have to carry it far to load it, I'd go for it.

Many folks burn nothing but cottonwood. It's wood like all wood. Less btu per cord than most others but not much less. So you need more.

I've cut and split many cords of it. No harder or easier than anything else.

Really is a situational decision. Personally I would take it if the labor to load it was not too much. Burns fast and hot so makes great shoulder wood or for wonderful times like we are having right now in Mid-Michigan with mild temps. Sometimes it is nice to have light trash wood to eat up during these spells to save on the high octane stuff.

Factors for me: 1. quality of wood 2. labor to obtain said wood 3. space to store said wood.

All of the above are factored in to my future planning. I do not seek out cotton wood/aspen but if I have it for easy free access or if I have to cut it to get to other primo stuff on the property I burn it. If my saw touches it - it gets burned!!

ohiojoe13 said:

I can pull my truck right up to it to load I'd and I have room to store it. I just didn't know if it was worth the time to split it since I split it by hand.

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This is really a decision only you can make. I never take it, and never will. There are too many quality hardwoods available around to be bothered with it.

All the cottonwood I've had splits super easy by hand, so it didn't take too much work.

Trouthead said:

Very very hard to split, and makes a huge amount of ash. Not a lot of heat in it. I used it for one year cheap ($40 a cord) never again.

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X2

Is cottonwood better than oak or maple? Nope

Is cottonwood better than paying for oil? Yep

Your call

1970roadrunner said:

Is cottonwood better than oak or maple? Nope
Is cottonwood better than paying for oil? Yep

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I hear what you are saying. But, there is a lot of wood out there. It's not hard to find something better than Cottonwood here in the Midwest. I feel bad for the softwood burner in other parts of the world, but we are spoiled for choice around here.

I'll burn about anything but Cottonwood, Poplar, and Pine. I wouldn't expend much effort for Sycamore or Aspen. I'm fine with some of the other woods that are considered junk. I burn a lot of soft Maple and Hackberry.

I don't burn cottonwood because I think it smells bad. If not for the smell it's ok for quick burning firewood.

It's good for first thing in the morning to get a quick log burning on hot coals and then add logs of harder wood once the first one is burning real good. I'll burn most anything, all wood is good for certain situations.