Cottonwood

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Exabian

Exabian

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Joined
Oct 26, 2012
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Location
South Korea (Camp Humphrey)
My mom's neighbor cottonwood tree was split in half during the last wind storm here in chicago. Sooooo he has this pile of cottonwood in his yard. I grab me a few pieces and wondered if any one else would like some of this wood. If there is an interest I will grab some more pieces and cut them in to blanks. So would any be interested in some cottonwood?
 
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Exabien,

A Cottonwood Pen I had fun at the time making a Cotton Reel as part of the design, This is an American Blank. Has an interesting grain structure.

Kind regards Peter.
 

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The cottonwood I have turned was soft, stringy and I hated the smell. It made a very nice bowl. I had several 14 inch bowl blanks; turned two and threw the others away. The wood I turned was green. Maybe dry cottonwood would have a better aroma. Have fun.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
 
Saw some cotton wood on craigs list last week, north side if I recall. Lots of wood around Chicago area all the time. If I only had my old truck I'd be loaded ;) I saw one guy giving away two black walnut trees about a month ago.
 
Dan Masshardt said:
What does it look like?
Click to expand...

Cottonwood can be pretty varied. Most of the time wood is light colored with a pretty plain grain. Every now and then though you come across some with some color in it. You can also sometimes find some interesting grain in the crotchwood sections and roots. It turns very easy. Here are a couple pens I turned from a crotchwood sections of cottonwood. The chatoyance in these peices isn't common in cottonwood though (at least it wasn't in some of the other cottonwood I've turned).



http://www.penturners.org/forum/attachments/f13/83481d1351185533-couple-mesas-picture-077.jpg

http://www.penturners.org/forum/att...guardian-jr.-cottonwood-crotchwood-chrome.jpg

http://www.penturners.org/forum/attachments/f13/58612d1314299568-second-offering-week-pen-027.jpg
 
I going to go through all the available wood and see what might turn good blanks.The blanks I have right now are pretty light with not much grain.
 
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I saw a big chunk (1.8 BF) of cottonwood burl at my local Woodcraft last week. looked like it would be very interesting to turn with all the eyes in it.

I would have bought it, but instead I picked up a piece of elm burl
 
Figured Cottonwood also goes by another name.
Mormon Poplar.
Or so I was told.
When cut thin, it is absolutely stunning with an oil finish.
Wonderful chatoyance and color appear.

The grain can be very stringy, but with sharp tools and good tool control, there should be little issue. UNTIL DRY. then exceptional tool control is needed, as it tears out easily.
 
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