# Hardest Wood to Split by Hand???



## iod0816 (Apr 3, 2011)

My vote: Black Birch by far. Split a cord of Hickory, no problem. My mystery wood comes in second. Splitting with the X27 kept razor sharp too BTW.

What's everyone's two cents?


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## Whitepine2 (Apr 3, 2011)

Try splitting some hornbeam some call it snag around here. It don't split it shreds, grows twisted some are impossible to split even with hydrolic splitter


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 3, 2011)

When you are through with that, get some elm.


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## TreePointer (Apr 3, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> When you are through with that, get some elm.



+1 on twisted American elm trunks.

I understand that the only one who has ever split this by hand (literally) is Chuck Norris, but he didn't like it.


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## woodchip (Apr 3, 2011)

English Elm is not only difficult to split, it burns just like a mouldy old gravestone. 

Probably best left to rot quietly in the woods.....


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## golfandwoodnut (Apr 3, 2011)

Elm.  Should be on the list.


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## k9brain (Apr 3, 2011)

Black gum should also be on the do not scrounge list.


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## DBoon (Apr 3, 2011)

Elm is pretty tough, and I can't say that 6 month seasoned fir/spruce/pine much better if it has all of those branches coming out the sides on every piece...


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## Adabiviak (Apr 4, 2011)

Poplar, but only after the round has been seasoned. I've never split elm, but seasoned poplar will pull fibers instead of cracking apart (which requires hacking each split apart). Splits like a champ when it's green though.


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## TreePointer (Apr 4, 2011)

DBoon said:
			
		

> Elm is pretty tough, and I can't say that 6 month seasoned fir/spruce/pine much better if it has all of those branches coming out the sides on every piece...



I'll attest to that.  Last year I took down a large, dead standing Austrian pine that was in a windbreak.  It had all sorts of branches and a good twist going up the trunk.  Nasty.


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## Duetech (Apr 4, 2011)

For me elm is usually the roughest. Just tears and balls up in the hyd splitter if not seasoned.  When seasoned it bounces the splitting maul right back at you ro tears in the hyd splitter. Had a hard time with some twisted apple once that almost made me wish for elm.


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## Thistle (Apr 4, 2011)

American Elm without question. Maybe 5% of the time I'll luck out &  get some that dont have that interlocked grain.Not many left around here that are over 10"-12" diameter.


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## BrotherBart (Apr 4, 2011)

Sweet Gum. Hands down. I think it is called gum for a reason. It is like trying to split a truck tire.


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## remkel (Apr 4, 2011)

I never enjoyed splitting apple wood that much.....remember it being a bit of a pain.


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## bioman (Apr 4, 2011)

twisted hedge


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## Hurricane (Apr 4, 2011)

I vote for sweet gum also.


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## Vic99 (Apr 4, 2011)

You must not have experience with elm to nit have it on your list.


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## Adios Pantalones (Apr 4, 2011)

Lignum Vitae.  That's just a guess though.


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## ramonbow (Apr 4, 2011)

elm and cottonwood.  I usually like to leave elm until the bark falls off before i cut it.  Cottonwood i usually like to leave until it rots and is reincorporated into a better tree.


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## 10range (Apr 4, 2011)

+1 on Elm


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## certified106 (Apr 4, 2011)

Definitely Elm for me


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## CTYank (Apr 4, 2011)

Remkel said:
			
		

> I never enjoyed splitting apple wood that much.....remember it being a bit of a pain.



Yes. How about long-dead apple that has air-dried thoroughly where it fell? But, well worth the brutality required.

Worst ever I've split: swamp chestnut oak. For a friend. Could not be split by hand, with the counter-spiraling grain on the outside. Hydraulic splitter worked its little pump off with the stuff. It more like cut it, than split it.


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## firefighterjake (Apr 4, 2011)

Other -- elm.


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 4, 2011)

I'm betting that about now iodonnell has realized he goofed on the list of hard to split.  :lol:


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## iod0816 (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow ELM across the board! I figured ELM but I don't really have access or touch the stuff so I've not had the hurt. I just had the thought after I split a whole lot of black birch. I have a sharp Fiskars and it'd take a lot of whacks on both ends to split, compared to the Shagbark. Pignut was just as hard but I guess now I'm thinking about the science of wood fibers now. I was splitting 36" rounds of shagbark hickory as fast  as I could find them. Switched to some 12" rounds of Pignut, horrible. Switched to 24" black birch and where's my gloves! All 18" length.

Had some poplar too and that wet was like slicing a cake.

Now I'm thinking what actually influences the "splittability" of wood in the wood itself? Obviosuly grain, knots, branch formations but comparing apples to apples here.

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I'll find some elm just for a brusing!


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## firefighterjake (Apr 4, 2011)

iodonnell said:
			
		

> Wow ELM across the board! I figured ELM but I don't really have access or touch the stuff so I've not had the hurt. I just had the thought after I split a whole lot of black birch. I have a sharp Fiskars and it'd take a lot of whacks on both ends to split, compared to the Shagbark. Pignut was just as hard but I guess now I'm thinking about the science of wood fibers now. I was splitting 36" rounds of shagbark hickory as fast  as I could find them. Switched to some 12" rounds of Pignut, horrible. Switched to 24" black birch and where's my gloves! All 18" length.
> 
> Had some poplar too and that wet was like slicing a cake.
> 
> ...



Just get the elm after it's been standing dead for a few years . . . with the bark falling off . . . then it's a whole different critter while splitting it vs. splitting a fresh cut elm. One way will be a bitter and frustrating experience . . . the other way will make you scratching your head wondering what the big fuss about splitting elm is all about.


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## homebrewz (Apr 4, 2011)

Another one for elm. Haven't worked with gum, so can't comment.


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## richg (Apr 4, 2011)

cherry. Around here the stuff grows in bizzare curves and it's impossible to split by hand.


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## Flatbedford (Apr 4, 2011)

Elm, the wood of the beast!

I did have a heck of a time with some Crab Apple a few years ago.


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## woodsmaster (Apr 5, 2011)

Elm , never tried gum.


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## sixminus1 (Apr 5, 2011)

Sweet Gum, definitely.  Even after they're split, the pieces have to be peeled apart.  I'll still take it, but I have to use the hatchet to separate every last split.  2-3x times the work.


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## hemlock (Apr 5, 2011)

Yellow birch with a twisty grain.  I've had wedges disappear into rounds that did not even flinch.


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## lukem (Apr 5, 2011)

Elm isn't THAT bad...but yes it does suck.

Gum is literally the devil.


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## dave11 (Apr 5, 2011)

It's not a common tree, but a dogwood tree is the worst I've seen. I've split elm, and its bad, but not like dogwood. Dogwood is hard as stone, and twisted, and full of knots. I'd split a cord of elm over a quarter cord of dogwood, any day. 

But any wood can be bad, if its a big piece full of big knots and twisted grain.


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## coolidge (Apr 5, 2011)

The wood thats not bucked, Elm, yellow Birch   Although i do have a piece of GNARLY ash that the splitter wont take apart.


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## Bspring (Apr 5, 2011)

homebrewz said:
			
		

> Another one for elm. Haven't worked with gum, so can't comment.



I say another one for Gum. Haven't worked with Elm, so can't comment.


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## myzamboni (Apr 6, 2011)

petrified :coolsmile:


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## trailrated (Apr 7, 2011)

k9brain said:
			
		

> Black gum should also be on the do not scrounge list.



I'll second that. I split some black gum today with the 26 Ton splitter. The rounds were only 8-10 inch rounds and the splitter was working its arse off to get through it.


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## cptoneleg (Apr 7, 2011)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> Sweet Gum. Hands down. I think it is called gum for a reason. It is like trying to split a truck tire.





Make that 2 for the Gum


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## wood-fan-atic (Apr 7, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> When you are through with that, get some elm.




 Elm sux the big one.....Elm is why hydraulics were invented.


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## Splitter77 (Apr 7, 2011)

Hickory and HardMaple are really tough


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## ChillyGator (Apr 7, 2011)

No elm, any Gum stays in the woods, live oak not tried.
Water oak splits like butter - green or dry.
Other:  partially dried White Oak, took 12 whacks with the 8 lb mail to split a 12" round, made the hydraulic splitter groan.


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## uggabugga (Apr 8, 2011)

siberian elm, and some mystery wood that I haven't figured out yet..


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## Puffins (Nov 25, 2012)

I gave up on whatever this is, using my Fiskars x25. It just wouldn't. Temps were in the 30s this morning when i tried. Tree company must have taken it down when they felled four white oaks for me back in April.  Any ideas as to what it is?


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## Boom Stick (Nov 25, 2012)

I had what someone told me was slippery elm and it tore apart on the splitter.  very stringy stuff.


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## Gasifier (Nov 25, 2012)

Other. Elm. Nastiest stuff up here to split.


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## Boog (Nov 25, 2012)

I'm blessed in that I don't have all these really tough suckers you all are identifying on my acreage ........ notty twisted pignut and ironwood/hophornbeam are my toughest foes.  They all eventually fall pey to the monster maul, or get noodled up with my saw.  As for that wood above, bark looks like a couple things, but nothing your Fiskers shouldn't have handled.


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## adrpga498 (Nov 25, 2012)

Puffins said:


> I gave up on whatever this is, using my Fiskars x25. It just wouldn't. Temps were in the 30s this morning when i tried. Tree company must have taken it down when they felled four white oaks for me back in April. Any ideas as to what it is?
> View attachment 82546


  My guess is gum. Good luck 2 you.


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## JOHN BOY (Nov 25, 2012)

BrotherBart said:


> Sweet Gum. Hands down. I think it is called gum for a reason. It is like trying to split a truck tire.


 
Gotta ..agree here BB . Gum is thee toughest wood ive ever tried to split by hand, an it just devours the wedges you pound them down inside the rounds
it just laughs at every axe as it bounces off over and over again. And a splitter just shreads it with strings everywhere

Oak should not even be on here,it splits very easy


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## Puffins (Nov 25, 2012)

JOHN BOY said:


> Oak should not even be on here,it splits very easy



I agree with that. 'Long as it's green or in cold weather, oak is a nice wood to split. I love that *pop*!


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## cptoneleg (Nov 25, 2012)

Some Blavk Gum It will not split  this is with a hyd splitter


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## Maple man (Nov 25, 2012)

i say elm


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## Beardog (Nov 25, 2012)

Elm


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## JOHN BOY (Nov 25, 2012)

SWEET GUM


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## jdinspector (Nov 25, 2012)

+1 elm. All of those mentioned above that I've ever seen have had a few difficult rounds, but elm is consistently crap. I don't even like the smell. Try to avoid it, whe possible.


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## Plow Boy (Nov 25, 2012)

Gum by far, i split some today and i didnt even know what i had.  I had to post a tread to help identify it.  Think I will stay away from that stuff from now on


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## cptoneleg (Nov 25, 2012)

I never messed with Gum because of the way it does't split, but I cleared some land for a garden  and cut them in cookies and let them dry for a yr. and they made great firewood.


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## AbeAinPa (Nov 26, 2012)

Don't think I saw anyone mention Sycamore.  I tried to split up a piece bucked from a large Sycamore limb, and despite giving it my best with my X27, nothing but a few dents, NOTHING!


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## RORY12553 (Nov 26, 2012)

Backwoods Savage said:


> When you are through with that, get some elm.


 +1


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## Dieselhead (Nov 27, 2012)

sycamore worst I dealt with forget it without a splitter. easy to ID with its "camouflage" bark.


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## Jack Straw (Nov 27, 2012)

old dead ellum


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## Leadfoot (Nov 27, 2012)

I gave away 2 elm trees out of my yard cut and limbed because I didn't want to mess with it. I have one rick split now but hope I don't expect to do it again.


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## Jags (Nov 27, 2012)

Started on April 3 2011 and we are still arguing about it????

Elm...split this by hand, I dare you....


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## Boog (Nov 27, 2012)

Jags said:


> Started on April 3 2011 and we are still arguing about it????
> 
> Elm...split this by hand, I dare you....


 
Holy cow, glad I've never run into any of that stuff on my property, my Sotz is shaking in its handle!


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## Jags (Nov 27, 2012)

Boog Powell said:


> Holy cow, glad I've never run into any of that stuff on my property, my Sotz is shaking in its handle!


 
I found 6 Sotz heads in that tree.  Evidently it ate them for breakfast.


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## Wood Duck (Nov 27, 2012)

Puffin, your wood looks like Elm.  I haven't tried Sweet Gum and Elm is bad, but what about spruce with lots of branches? Each branch seems to  extend into the center of the heartwood so each split has to be hacked apart from the round. Without branches spruce is great but the part with the braches is miserable.


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## brian89gp (Nov 27, 2012)

Elm. 

You can split sweet gum fairly easily by hand, just have to go about it differently.  You whittle around the outside edge with an x27 working inward, you get a bunch of small splits from the outside and then one or two large ones from the middle.  I was splitting 30" rounds around 20" in length without too much trouble.  Trying the typical method of splitting in halves will get you nowhere.


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## cptoneleg (Nov 27, 2012)

Jags said:


> Started on April 3 2011 and we are still arguing about it????
> 
> Elm...split this by hand, I dare you....


 


Never had Elm looks awful just like the Black Gum we have,  don't have any sweet gum that I know of,


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## Jags (Nov 27, 2012)

I have to admit that the tree that this split came from is the worst of any elm I have ever seen. Most is not nearly as nasty as that pic (but some are).

It was the loan tree on the corner of a fence row on a hill. No other protection. It HAD to grow up tough.


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## Thistle (Nov 27, 2012)

My 31 yr old Sotz 20 lb'er has never gotten stuck,in anything. 24" + American Elm crotches or knotty ones,Apple/Honey Locust/Mulberry stumps,doesnt matter.It would bounce off some of that stuff at first,if it didnt bust it in 10-15 swings (this was when I was several years younger) I wouldnt kill myself on the damn stuff. 1-2 minutes tops,depending on size log & if I had clear access -the big saw would make short work of it.No wood that wont go through.


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## Shane N (Nov 27, 2012)

I have only split red & white oak, poplar, and box elder. Box elder was my least favorite by far


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## Stax (Nov 27, 2012)

Sycamore.  Never split elm.


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## ailanthus (Nov 27, 2012)

Worst I've ever seen was pin oak - I've never split elm or gum, but the pin oak shredded in the splitter a lot like some of the pics people have posted.


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## mattjm1017 (Nov 27, 2012)

Gum is the worst Ive ever split absolutaly horrible!


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## OhioBurner© (Nov 28, 2012)

I thought I scored on a huge yard tree from my inlaws... went up there (its a bit of a ways away) spent a good half day atleast cutting it all up and loading up the truck and taking it home the next day. Come to find out its harder than heck to split. WTF I couldnt split most rounds much bigger than 8-12". Tried to look it up to ID it... had those spikey - ball thingies... guess its sweet gum. 

That was back in summer. I've got a pile of rounds I can't split still and debating what to do. Some of the more knarly ones are only 12" thick and I still can't split! I'd noodle em but I've got like two dozen rounds... thats a lot of noodling.


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## Realstone (Nov 28, 2012)

Any yardbird.  I'd like to know why trees out in the open grow so _knarly._


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## Realstone (Nov 28, 2012)

OhioBurner© said:


> That was back in summer. I've got a pile of rounds I can't split still and debating what to do. Some of the more knarly ones are only 12" thick and I still can't split! I'd noodle em but I've got like two dozen rounds... thats a lot of noodling.


Have you noodled one in half and tried splitting that?


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## scroungerjeff (Nov 28, 2012)

Not much experience with elm, but sweet gum is evil. I have learned to let the ants and termites have it right where it falls.


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## Plow Boy (Nov 28, 2012)

yeah, if its got the spikey balls its definetly sweet gum.  and it is no fun to split, u pretty much need a splitter and u are going to have a mess after your through.


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## OhioBurner© (Nov 28, 2012)

Realstone said:


> Have you noodled one in half and tried splitting that?


 
I have a few of the larger pieces at the base that I bucked to only 12" that I managed to get some good chuncks split off, not quite 'in half' but close. And I still struggle to get anything more than kindling chips off it lol.

I might try to noodle some of the more straight-grained rounds to see if I can atleast get those with the fiskars after noodling. But anything I have left over now that will fit through the stove door of my old stove I am just going to try burning whole.


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## formula_pilot (Nov 29, 2012)

Elm is the worst- the Fiskars axe and my heaviest maul just bounce off many of the rounds. It burys a wedge, then a 2nd wedge, now how to you noodle without killing the chain?  Just not worth trying to split that kind of stuff by hand, at least not the elm around my area.  Because of a load of elm we scrounged, I finally broke down and rented a splitter,  using hydraulics just once spoiled me....


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## tymbee (Nov 29, 2012)

62% as I read this say "Beech". Really?! Must be a different species than the American Beech we have around here that's not difficult at all to split. But as others have noted, the hardest by far IMO is not on the list-- ELM. Sweetgum can indeed be nasty stuff, but you can work your way through it.

Elm on the other hand is pure evil. When you to to pick up your splitting maul near a fresh cut piece of elm, if it's realy quiet out and you listen carefully, you can hear it smirking. If it knows somehow this is your first experience with elm (don't ask me how it knows) the smirk becomes a giggle. That's just it's sadistic nature.



iod0816 said:


> Wow ELM across the board!


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## NWfuel (Nov 29, 2012)

I have to vote for dry Madrone. We do not get much harwood around here to compare with.
Thomas


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## onetracker (Nov 30, 2012)

the ash tree that we dropped near my wife's studio 

seriously. that sucker was full of knots and pins and simply did not want to split. i've also had some cherry and plenty of gnarled oak and maple that demoralized me. i'm talking sledges and wedges and lots of profanity. 

my point here is that i've had individual trees of most species that were a bear to split. i never assume that a given species is going to easy. i'm just hopeful...

officially tho my vote is green american elm.


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## albert1029 (Nov 30, 2012)

by my experience elm is the toughest to split in comparison to black locust, cherry and maple that I process...even working around the edges...


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## Realstone (Nov 30, 2012)

onetracker said:


> my point here is that i've had individual trees of most species that were a bear to split.


Any old yardbird is going to be tough to split.  Sugar maple usually will pop open with a hard swing, but I've got near a full cord of uglies from one branch of a maple.


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## tymbee (Nov 30, 2012)

onetracker said:


> .
> my point here is that i've had individual trees of most species that were a bear to split. i never assume that a given species is going to easy. i'm just hopeful...


 
A very good point. You sometimes encounter a tree that just refuses to play by the "rules" for that species. It just doesn't know it's _supposed_ to be easy to split...


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## kd460 (Nov 30, 2012)

personal experience has been elm and locust. Bought a hyd. splitter for those two reasons


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## Insomnivore (Dec 12, 2012)

Apple.

I regularly get some some very old trees blown down in the orchard next door that I offer to take. It's really pretty wood but...

Hate it and love it. The hate: Almost unsplittable by hand and even fights with my hydraulic unit. Never more than 18" of straight wood: it's always twisting and turning. The love: Once it seasons and I'm feeding it into the stove in Dec/Jan I forget about how much it resisted me. As good as oak as far as heat goes plus I understand it smells good although that would be something for my downwind neighbors to comment on. I couldn't care less about smell. I should save some scraps for smoking meats on the grill in the summer sometime.


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## lctatlp (Dec 12, 2012)

Elm.  By far the most difficult to split.

I've split locust as well but elm is a killer.


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## Hickorynut (Dec 12, 2012)

American elm is the worst I have split. Sweet gum is second.  I have split several up to 24" elms green back in my younger days by hand.  Kerf with saw and up to three wedges used.  Not any more.


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## blujacket (Dec 12, 2012)

American Elm


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## MnDave (Dec 12, 2012)

We don't have beech around here but I have heard that it is "stringy".

We do have red elm and that is very stringy and tough. Stringy is when the pieces are basically split but a whole gang of fibers still connect the pieces.

Takes three times as many whacks too.

MnDave


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