I have my work cut out for me.

[Tom Brouillette]

A coworker was clearing out some land, and he gave me a couple of big pieces of red cedar. Over Easter weekend I cut down the last 12' of an 18" diameter red maple that had fallen over in the woods behind my house. So this weekend I cut up and sealed all of it. It makes a nice addition to all of the magnolia, cottonwood, ash, pecan, hackberry and sycamore I've rescued from the curbside over the winter.

I don't think my wife will let be bring anything else home until I clear some of this out. In the meantime, I'm a happy camper. 335196335197

[Brice Rogers]

Tom, after you have cut the pieces into "D's", what additional processing do you do? Waxing, rough turning, etc.?

[Tom Brouillette]

In the short term I am Anchor-sealing the ends. In the coming months I will rough turn and bag them to dry out. It has worked well for me in the past. I will also turn several to finish thickness and let them warp as they dry. I just got hit hard with a lot of wood this time. Some of the cedars look shorter than they really are. All of the splits are about as long as they are wide.

[Tom Albrecht]

Cottonwood in your collection? That's one wood I never had luck with-- very stringy stuff around here. I've a huge one down on the ground in Wisconsin and you can have it all.

[Tom Brouillette]

The grain patterns in the cottonwood are incredible. It is very stringy when green, and harder than Chinese arithmetic when dry.335209

[Tom Albrecht]

Okay, I'll give it a whirl, thanks. That's a pretty bowl.
TA

[Pat Scott]

Nice score Tom, and I know exactly what you mean about having to clear out wood to make room. My drying shelves are overflowing, and my floor space is overflowing with rough outs. I need to finish turn some pieces to make room for more wood! My drying room looks like those hoarder shows you see on TV where there is a winding path through the piles of wood.

Not to get off topic, but you're right, the grain in Cottonwood can be unbelievable. It's not at the top of my list of favorite woods (we have a ton of it around here), but a real old big Cottonwood tree is hard to pass up. You can get some incredible figure and incredible fiddleback from it. Cottonwood is what Mike Mahoney calls Mormon Poplar.
335316 335317

[John K Jordan]

...and harder than Chinese arithmetic when dry

Ok, that's funny!

JKJ

[Tom Brouillette]

Those are beauties. I really like the nested set. I haven't made the leap into a coring system yet. It's on the list.