[ElWoodTroll]

I'm head'n for the northwest In a couple of weeks. Those that have recently expressed an interest in getting some bark should have their order in the mail buy the 25th. otherwise it will be August before I ship any more.

[Thomp]

elwood,

on the 4th a neibor had some big limbs cut out of his neibors cottonwood tree
i got down there after it was all loaded except one log.
the log was 12 through or so, and as i was picking on the bark, a feller using a coor-bobcat was loading up brush he waved me off and backed up the bobcat and bumped the log on the end, the tree was live, but the bob cat peeled off the bark up and split it full leingth of the 6 foot log,
i had to get a hatchet and cut around one big knott and split a "Y" forked at the top, in the bark but i retrieved about 40 pounds of bark which would have covered a house door in mostly one sheet..

i brought it home and streached it between 2x4's flat to dryout.

anything more i should do to keep it from splitting or anything disturbing...
its in the barn loft presently covered with newspaper sprayed with bug spray
thomas

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

better talk to Art about that..he is the bark expert! I am guessing, but would think force flattening the bark, would cause it to split when it dried? I have an image of a 1/2 round piece being forced flat and splitting?

[Thomp]

this bark was wet inside and plyable, i thought it being wet only on one side it would curl up like a cinnimom stick then bust as i tried to straighten it later,
the boards have bowed as they were slack and the pieces have some curling dispite my efforts,
i do know if you cut raw timber and expect to mill it to lumber all saw cuts need to be painted with at least laytex paint to keep the drying process through the bark only, longer slower druing process is better for air drying.. dont think this matters too much if your stickling and kiln drying
i didnt know if there was a proven method for the bark.
it really supprised me how easy it was to come off. in big sheets... on a living tree..
wish cypress knees was that easy to peel without boiling.
ha

thanks for commenting

[artolver]

I think you might make it work.... I would put the stickers about a foot apart. under and on top all the way down the slab. something heavy and evenly placed. it sure curls so does boards or planks from the cottonwood wood...............
I thought about gluing some down on a piece of 5/4 plywood, then gluing the bark pieces back when they fell off haha
art

[Tom H]

Hey Thomas, Try letting the bark curl up and dry. A 16 inch dismeter bark tube would make an awsome carving. Tom H

[Thomp]

tomH, it didnt all come off like birch bark (sheets) this cottonwood bark it wants to split lengthwise as you peel it, but it just nearly falls off the tree-log once you get a pannel/section going...
i think i remember something from childhood reading that natives use to use peeled bark sheets to build huts or something, along the platt river in the colorado plains, on hunting partys or migration or something.

but that 16 inch bark tube would have to be some very small/light details becuse this southern grown cottonwood was over 80 years old, and thin barked it isent 1-1/2 inch thick at the thickest and 1/2th at its thinnest... now thats full of sap so those dementions will probobally srink drasticly.. its not as beefy as the colorado cottonwood bark elwood sent me at all. but i got a lifetime supply of it if i dont get an infestation of some kind.