Leaf ID #1

[Doug Herzberg]

I traveled back to SW Iowa to help my mom with some things around the house. Although I took my saws and trailer, I ended up filling the trailer with junk from her garage, so I wasn't able to bring back any wood. I did go out to the farm to try to make an inventory of what is there. The neighbor who has been farming the land for Mom has been cutting and piling wood in the ditch. It kills me to see it rot, but I just can't haul it all back.

I'm pretty sure this one is some kind of cottonwood, but it isn't like the kind we have here. Ours have shiny leaves like a poplar.

If you know this wood, I'd like to know for sure what it is and whether it's any good for turning. I'm guessing it's the boring cottonwood you guys back east talk about.

263005263006263007263008

Thanks in advance.

[Rick McQuay]

Have you tried

http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/index.cfm

[Bill Rogers]

I agree with your assessment of Cotton Wood. It is " soft, not strong and close grained; warps as it dries and is extremely difficult to season." Doesn't sound like a good candidate for turning!!

[Nate Davey]

Second cotton wood, have one in the back yard

[Jim Burr]

Cotton wood is ok to turn. On the softer side, but it stinks!!!!! Oh does it stink!! Kinda boring too. I have some curly CW and it takes color, sands and finishes well due to the figure.

[Doug Herzberg]

Have you tried

http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/index.cfm

I thought I went one step further, or perhaps in a different direction. The day before walking the ditch to look at trees, I visited Arbor Lodge in Nebraska City, the home of J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor day, and did the tree walk I remembered from my last visit 45 year ago. The path is old and decrepit and some of the signs are missing from the specimen trees. Some of the specimen trees are dead. The only trees I saw both there and at our farm 50 miles away were Black Walnuts and Osage Orange. I heard later there is a new Arbor Day facility in Nebraska City with an informational tour and a free tree at the end (too small for turning), but did not have the time to go back.

I did visit the website and was able to positively identify the tree in this thread as Eastern Cottonwood. http://www.arborday.org/trees/whattree/WhatTree.cfm?ItemID=E47b. It is not commonly used for woodworking and is generally regarded as "junk" wood. http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/eastern-cottonwood/. This is not the tree I have been turning in my shop.

Thanks for the link, Rick.

[Curt Fuller]

Doug, I'm no tree expert but both the leaves and the pods look like Fremont Cottonwood that grows here in Utah. The pods will open up and send the cotton flying like a snowstorm when they mature. But I thought the Fremont Cottonwood was a western variety so that might be something different but similar if it was in Iowa.

[Doug Herzberg]

Curt, I'm obviously no tree expert. With my Coke bottle glasses, it's hard for me to see the trees, let alone the leaves. I do usually notice the forests. Do you turn Fremont Cottonwood?

[Curt Fuller]

Curt, I'm obviously no tree expert. With my Coke bottle glasses, it's hard for me to see the trees, let alone the leaves. I do usually notice the forests. Do you turn Fremont Cottonwood?
I have turned quite a bit of fremont cottonwood. But from my experience it's one of those woods that isn't always very pretty. For starters, it's miserable to turn green so I usually find a dead tree that has fallen and been dead long enough for the bark to fall off. And then the straight parts of the tree are pretty bland. But the crotches have nice figure and the areas near the ground that have supported the tree for years will have some nice curl. Weather and time do a lot for adding color to the dead wood too.
Here are a couple pieces of Fremont Cottonwood..
263072263073263074

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I don't know what it but it is not Box Elder. Here we refer to Box Elder as Ash Leaf Maple because the leaves look like they belong to an ash tree.
faust

[Doug Herzberg]

Thanks for sharing, Curt. It looks a lot like the cottonwood around here. I guess if one of them comes down, I'll at least make a crosscut and look for color, but I don't think I'll take a whole tree.

I don't think I'd try a hollow form in cottonwood at my present skill level. Nice work.

[Thom Sturgill]

My android app for American trees lists two cottonwoods - Eastern Cottonwood (Populus deltoides also known as Plains Cottonwood) and Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa also known as Balsam Cottonwood and Western Balsam Popular) From the pictures, I agree this is Eastern Cottonwood. These two are also closely related to Quaking Aspen (Populus tremuloides aka Trembling Aspen and Golden Aspen)