Those are very nice looking paddles.

. Thanks for all the info everyone. Always an amazing amount of information And knowledge. Here.

And I thought cottonwood was a useless trash wood all these years.

lots of useless trash has usefulness as long as you don't pay too much for it

some things aren't even a bargain when free , free dogs come to mind

there is an old saying of the three similarities in life;
one is Old Milwakie beer ( altered as not to offend some beer drinkers)
two is green unseasoned popular
and three is; a blond in a canoe on Saturday night

they are all ----near water

Exactly: burns fast and leaves lots of ash. Pass on it if you can most anything else. Balsom fir not much better.

How is the ash for making lye.
Wood ashes are great attraction for snaring rabbits in winter.

Do you cold smoke any meat or fish? It is the favored wood for smoking in Alaska. Works in a hot smoker too.

AKA sex by the seashore........

Actually if you leave it in the round you will get more of it. It's a little counter intuitive. Here's an example; fill a beaver drowning sack with sand (sand is just little rocks packed together seemingly as tight as you can get it). Then fill a sack with fist size or larger rocks. Then see which one weighs more; I'll bet you already know.