Right here in Alabama, our sawmill guy found a cottonwood tree. Cottonwood is not indigenous to this area, so we know that someone must have planted the tree many years ago. It came to Travis (our sawmill guy) because lightening struck the tree. WE DID NOT CUT DOWN A NEW TREE. Travis consulted with several experts to identify the wood and learned it was Cottonwood. We bought the whole tree to build sacred drums.
Northern Tribes, starting with the Lakota Nation, consider Cottonwood to be sacred. Sun dancers use this tree to make their sacrificial prayers for the People tethered to the Cottonwood tree.
Cottonwood is extremely lightweight, and has beautiful dark graining throughout the nearly white wood. Little Badger has built 15" round hand drum hulls. Why 15"? He started with 16" hulls, but Cottonwood is so stringy (like cotton, hence its name), that nearly an inch had to be sanded from every single stave.
