# Worst wood to split



## bunfoolio (Apr 25, 2015)

Thus far the worst wood that I have split has been Yellow Birch.  Its just so stringy and does not matter if I use a splitter or an axe.  I am at a point where I just might leave decent size logs and cut white pine instead.  Anyone have any advice?  I know its decent BTU's but it is making me go crazy.

As a reference I  have cut in the past without much issue

Red Oak
White Birch
Cedar
Black Lucust
Cherry
White pine
Poplar
Hemlock
Ash
Maple

What is the most difficult wood that you have had to split?


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## claydogg84 (Apr 25, 2015)

American Elm.


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## johneh (Apr 25, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> American Elm.


X2!


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## Applesister (Apr 25, 2015)

A Rock Elm, some Black locust that had been sitting in log form for 10+ years. A huge black birch that had a spiral twist all the way up the tree, that SOB did not want to come apart. A very old Sugar maple( it was very crotchy) 
All these trees had knots and crotches that would not budge. A woodturners dream.


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## jaoneill (Apr 25, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> American Elm.


X3


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## ole (Apr 25, 2015)

Elm fights you all the way to the bitter end when splitting.
Burns good though.


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## Ncountry (Apr 25, 2015)

jaoneill said:


> X3



X4


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## DougA (Apr 25, 2015)

I find everything depends upon whether you are getting wood from a forest or residential lots. Forest wood, (except on the edge of the woods) tends to grow straight with not much branching until the top. Branches eventually fall off because they don't get enough light to survive.  It's the crotches that cause all the problem with cutting & splitting.  My property is half & half and I see a huge difference. I can get some trees that have a 40' straight trunk and split very nicely and then some that are a nightmare.  Personally, I find black locust very stringy and tougher than elm.
I'm cutting & splitting elm today so I may change my mind.


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## STIHLY DAN (Apr 25, 2015)

Elm is tough all the time, but ash has been the worst twice now. Had to noodle an entire cord of splits. Here areaction a few pics. I guess not, keeps saying file is to big. Anyone no how to make the file smaller from the phone?


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## STIHLY DAN (Apr 25, 2015)

DougA said:


> I find everything depends upon whether you are getting wood from a forest or residential lots. Forest wood, (except on the edge of the woods) tends to grow straight with not much branching until the top. Branches eventually fall off because they don't get enough light to survive.  It's the crotches that cause all the problem with cutting & splitting.  My property is half & half and I see a huge difference. I can get some trees that have a 40' straight trunk and split very nicely and then some that are a nightmare.  Personally, I find black locust very stringy and tougher than elm.
> I'm cutting & splitting elm today so I may change my mind.



Roadside trees that spent a lifetime being trimmed and healing over are pretty bad also.


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## STIHLY DAN (Apr 25, 2015)

bunfoolio said:


> Thus far the worst wood that I have split has been Yellow Birch.  Its just so stringy and does not matter if I use a splitter or an axe.  I am at a point where I just might leave decent size logs and cut white pine instead.  Anyone have any advice?  I know its decent BTU's but it is making me go crazy.
> 
> As a reference I  have cut in the past without much issue
> 
> ...



Just put it aside and i'll be over to help get rid of it. Don't want you to get over worked buddy.


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## Rebelduckman (Apr 25, 2015)

Another vote for elm. Sweet gum sucks too.


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## EatenByLimestone (Apr 25, 2015)

Any tree can be bad if the grain is screwed up enough.


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## CountryBoy19 (Apr 25, 2015)

I've never split elm but I say Hickory should be on the list of hard to split.

I've split by-hand: white oak, red oak, white ash, soft-maple, black locust, Osage Orange (hedge).

The thing I've never been able to split by-hand: hickory, it's VERY tough stuff and often is quite stringy

That being said, yard-trees are VERY different from forest/woods trees. I generally find soft maple easy to split by hand. I picked up a large soft-maple yard tree recently and I gave up and borrowed a log splitter.


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## BamaScroungr (Apr 26, 2015)

The worst for me so far is Shagbark.  But I did learn on these forums that it's much easier to split when the wood is frozen.  So I tried mauling the stuff on the coldest day of the year, and it worked!  But I'm wondering if freezing temperatures would even help with this twisted and knotty dogwood I just acquired.  Heard it's great firewood, but so far I've only managed to knock chunks and chips out of it.


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## bunfoolio (Apr 26, 2015)

Thanks for the responses.  Looks like I should be happy to have not experienced American elm.


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## Ashful (Apr 26, 2015)

If it won't split straight, then just noodle it.  I've taken to doing that with all rounds over 1000 lb, and all crotches.


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## aansorge (Apr 26, 2015)

I cut a lot of American Elm.  It is probably my my most common wood that I process.  However the wood is dead-standing or recent blow-overs that were dead-standing.  Dead-standing elm is a completely different animal than fresh elm.  It is easy stuff to split (I do use hydraulics) whereas fresh american elm is a stringy mess to split when fresh.  Standing dead just pops open.


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## claydogg84 (Apr 26, 2015)

aansorge said:


> I cut a lot of American Elm.  It is probably my my most common wood that I process.  However the wood is dead-standing or recent blow-overs that were dead-standing.  Dead-standing elm is a completely different animal than fresh elm.  It is easy stuff to split (I do use hydraulics) whereas fresh american elm is a stringy mess to split when fresh.  Standing dead just pops open.



That's not always true.


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## aansorge (Apr 26, 2015)

If the bark is off it has always proven true to me.  If you don't wait long enough, then it can still be stringy but not as bad as fresh.


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## Bigsby (Apr 26, 2015)

Split Elm for the first time a few weeks ago and it had me cussing like a sailor. Killed the motor on my 22 ton splitter several times which I had yet to do with any other specie. Had to use a hand axe on just about every split because of stringiness. After a while I learned anything with a bend, twist or crotch just isn't worth trying. The straight grained rounds split fairly decent.


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## EatenByLimestone (Apr 26, 2015)

My favorite elm is the 4-8" branches and trunks.  Buck and stack...


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## Bigsby (Apr 26, 2015)

EatenByLimestone said:


> My favorite elm is the 4-8" branches and trunks.  Buck and stack...


I concur.


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## jeff_t (Apr 26, 2015)

Sycamore sucks. About as bad as green American elm.

Never tried dead sycamore, as I don't think I've ever seen one, but I'll concur on the standing dead elm. Always splits easy for me.


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## Scooter422 (Apr 26, 2015)

American Elm and Sycamore have been the worst so far for me. Never touched Gum yet.


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## stephiedoll (Apr 26, 2015)

I know elm can be a pain, but it's funny how easy some of the Siberian elm split, just like maple. Just got done with an ash that was a pain in the ___. I've been able to get and split 4 + cords of elm and will take all I can get.


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## Ashful (Apr 26, 2015)

jeff_t said:


> Sycamore sucks. About as bad as green American elm.
> 
> Never tried dead sycamore, as I don't think I've ever seen one, but I'll concur on the standing dead elm. Always splits easy for me.


I've only split one sycamore, dead by more than a year (Irene blow down).  It split fairly easy on the Huskee 22-ton.


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## Fred Wright (Apr 26, 2015)

Tussled with some gnarly red maple today, healed over crotch wood like I've never seen before. Those blocks fought all the way through.

Sweetgum is the worst I've had for splitting, if it splits at all. Gum has a high resin content with twisty, interlocking grain.

I remember my BIL years ago, buried two wedges in a gum round and it still wouldn't part. He had to burn the round in the fire pit to get his wedges back. Dad was laughing at him, ticked him off even more.


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## Ambient (Apr 26, 2015)

This property had too many of something I can't imagine anyone bothering with, the Box Elder aka California Maple.  It is soaking wet seemingly forever, after a few years it might be dry enough to burn or still smolder. There's no real choleric value to it. It is a bear to split. It grows like a weed,  even if uprooted or a broken branch will reroot and grow. 

Splitting wood in the winter is a great activity, and the wood seems to split nicer, just not this cursed thing.


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## jeff_t (Apr 26, 2015)

stephiedoll said:


> I know elm can be a pain, but it's funny how easy some of the Siberian elm split, just like maple. Just got done with an ash that was a pain in the ___. I've been able to get and split 4 + cords of elm and will take all I can get.



Siberian elm has always been pretty easy to split for me. While it is really wet, it dries fairly fast and might be ready to burn in a year, though better after two. My problem with it is the tremendous amount of light, fluffy ash it leaves. That actually makes it sort of okay for shoulder seasons, as it really insulates the coals.



Ashful said:


> I've only split one sycamore, dead by more than a year (Irene blow down).  It split fairly easy on the Huskee 22-ton.



I haven't split any sycamore in a long time, but it was always a hairy mess. Good to know it can get better.


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## Boardroom (Apr 26, 2015)

I will throw in my vote for elm.  We always differentiate between swamp elm and fence line elm.  The fence line stuff is impossible.


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## dougstove (Apr 26, 2015)

Yellow Birch can have almost a corrugated grain, zig-zagging.  But it is the best, hottest wood I can routinely get.


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## firefighterjake (Apr 26, 2015)

Elm


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## Babaganoosh (Apr 26, 2015)

Haven't had the chance to split elm yet but sweet gum isn't very sweet to split. Royal pain in the as$


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## Jon_E (Apr 26, 2015)

Have not split much elm and never a gum, so I can't comment on those.  The worst woods I have had to split in the past few years, have been white pine and aspen.  Small, telephone-pole pines are fine and pop easily.  It's when you get a gnarly old yard tree with a hundred branches that the stuff basically tears apart.  The splitter wedge just cuts through the knots and branches like a knife and I'm left with stuff I can't even stack.  The aspen was an anomaly.  24" diameter tree that looked like someone had taken hold of the top of the tree and twisted it a full rotation.  It really had almost 360 degrees of twist from the bottom to the top.  Every single piece fought my Timberwolf splitter right to the point I had to hack them apart with a hatchet or recut them with a chainsaw.

And neither tree was worth the time and effort to fight it.


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## Jags (Apr 27, 2015)

American Elm.  Sometimes the word "split" is not properly applied...


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## David.Ervin (Apr 27, 2015)

Elm with any sort of knot or twist to it.  If it weren't for hydraulics, I wouldn't even bother.  With the x27, it'll split open just enough to swallow the head of the axe and not give it back.


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## melloyello (Apr 27, 2015)

Sweet Gum and Dogwood. Gum is just stringy and I don't even attempt without the splitter. Dogwood appears to grow in a spiral and I won't attempt it with an axe either.


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## Pennsyltucky Chris (Apr 28, 2015)

Elm. Hands down. Although I've had some problems with gnarly walnut, Elm always causes major problems.


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## Longstreet (Apr 28, 2015)

The correct answer cannot be sweet gum because you don't split it.  You tear it into burnable sizes.


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## johneh (Apr 28, 2015)

Elm the one and only reason I bought a splitter


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## Rebelduckman (Apr 28, 2015)

claydogg84 said:


> That's not always true.


I concur


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## sen166 (Apr 28, 2015)

Elm is the most labor intensive wood I've ever split.  Just found this out recently after getting some from fence rows/edges of the wood lot; really stringy, twisted up stuff.  Can't knock it when it's free though!


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## Mag Craft (Apr 29, 2015)

Elm and spruce.   Spruce always has a thousand branches on the trunk.   I usually will noodle spruce but will try and split elm.


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## HItz (Apr 29, 2015)

Yard grown Norway Maples.  I get these all the time and the grain is wavy all the way through the rounds, especially the big rounds at the bottom of the tree. You can split little pieces off with a Fiskars, but forget opening up a big round without power tools.


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## leonardo (Apr 30, 2015)

sourgum is the worst i have come up against.


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## Oakwood5 (May 3, 2015)

Picked up some sweet gum about a month ago. Had to run an 8" piece threw the splitter 6-7 times just the split/rip it in half.  This was a test piece to see what I was dealing with. By far the biggest pain in the a$$ wood I've ever come across.


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## Ashful (May 3, 2015)

Was splitting more white oak yesterday, and decided that has to be high on this list.  It's the heaviest wood I've ever handled, exacerbated by the fact that they're usually pretty big rounds.  Not a single round popped open without some hatchet work after the splitter had run full course, so not as stringy as elm, but a major, very heavy, PITA.

It does pay back for its trouble in BTUs and burn times, but that's a few years out.


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## chazcarr (May 4, 2015)

Yeah, sometimes I have to bring out the really big splitter.


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## lindnova (May 4, 2015)

Elm - fresh is very tough - the toughest wood I run into. I agree a year after the bark falls off elm is nearly standing dry and will split fairly easy with a hydraulic splitter.

I cut a lot of box elder and it cuts ok, dries fast, and splits ok.  Not sure why so many people have trouble with it.  No more difficult than silver maple.  Only problem I have had is letting it sit in rounds too long - it will mold under the bark and smell.  I cut field edge trees and use the better stuff for firewood.  The crotches are hard to split, but that is true with any tree.  Hollow spots dull chains, but that is true with any tree.

Boxelder is a nuisance and grows like a weed.  I hate it and wouldn't burn it if I wasn't cutting down anyway.  It does burn ok, just fast.


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## turn_n_burn (Aug 19, 2015)

Elm is a sonofaB. Silver and norway maple are also tough when green I have found, aside from smelling like a "bucket of bluegill", as I heard someone say a whilst back. Madrone doesn't look fun either, but I'm told it burns like hell and smells like heaven. I do love beating the piss out of big locust rounds. For some reason, I like the look, the weight, and yes, the smell. I love to burn it when I'm mad at the neighbors. I had a hell of a time with an Ailanthus once, but when I lit it on fire I learned why people don't often burn it. Smelled like a set of unseasoned BF Goodrich.


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## aansorge (Aug 20, 2015)

I am in the process of cutting up a large, 30 some inch American elm.  And yes it was alive.  It is going to totally suck splitting it, but my uncle wanted it down due to a new hoop-house going up.  How long to dry elm in the round?


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## turn_n_burn (Aug 20, 2015)

Depending on the size of the round, 3-5 decades. I have seen water squish out around my maul blade after a 24" Am.elm round sat for almost 2 years, off the ground. Has to be split, elm bark will hold water in the heartwood for years, even the sapwood. Otherwise you'll send smoke signals they can see from the space station. I have approx 6-8" diameter splits that have seasoned for a minimum of 3 years (I have some 10+ yr old I came across at a friend's ranch that was standing dead since 'Dubya was in office), and they burn like crazy, beautiful ocher yellow flames, little smoke. Patience, and you will be richly rewarded. It's one of my all-time favorites when bone dry, stays coaled forever in the Fisher.


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## David.Ervin (Aug 21, 2015)

Dry elm is a thing of beauty to burn.  Tons of heat, some pretty but non threatening sparks, coals for days.  Splitting it is a nightmare without hydraulics, though.  Even with hydraulics, it'll try to slide around the splitter rather than breaking apart.  Bring a sharp hatchet for the strings that hold your pieces together.


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## Syd'sDad (Aug 21, 2015)

Whatever elm this is has been the hardest for me.


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## crowescabin (Aug 21, 2015)

Sweet gum or elm has to be worst I've ever split.


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## mwhitnee (Aug 21, 2015)

BamaScroungr said:


> The worst for me so far is Shagbark.  But I did learn on these forums that it's much easier to split when the wood is frozen.  So I tried mauling the stuff on the coldest day of the year, and it worked!  But I'm wondering if freezing temperatures would even help with this twisted and knotty dogwood I just acquired.  Heard it's great firewood, but so far I've only managed to knock chunks and chips out of it.




I haven't split many types of wood but man Shagbark Hickory was nasty even with a splitter.  It was stringy and some pieces just came out so mottled they couldn't even be stacked.


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## mwhitnee (Aug 21, 2015)

Jags said:


> American Elm.  Sometimes the word "split" is not properly applied...
> 
> View attachment 157519
> View attachment 157521



That looks like the Shagbark hickory i just split


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## English BoB (Aug 21, 2015)

bunfoolio said:


> Thus far the worst wood that I have split has been Yellow Birch.  Its just so stringy and does not matter if I use a splitter or an axe.  I am at a point where I just might leave decent size logs and cut white pine instead.  Anyone have any advice?  I know its decent BTU's but it is making me go crazy.
> 
> As a reference I  have cut in the past without much issue
> 
> ...


ELM.


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## johneh (Aug 21, 2015)

Elm The reason I bought a splitter


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## Prichan (Aug 22, 2015)

bunfoolio said:


> Thus far the worst wood that I have split has been Yellow Birch.  Its just so stringy and does not matter if I use a splitter or an axe.  I am at a point where I just might leave decent size logs and cut white pine instead.  Anyone have any advice?  I know its decent BTU's but it is making me go crazy.
> 
> As a reference I  have cut in the past without much issue
> 
> ...


Elm, agreed.


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## mikes67 (Aug 22, 2015)

I have never messed with elm, shagbark is no picnic but burns great. However i had a 36" sycamore given to me last year freshly cut in log form ..what a pita even the straight grain part was super stringy. Had to noodle everything over 24" or it would stop my tw2hd splitter. On a positive note it dried really fast once split and stacked in the sun. Maybe like six months


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## barmstrong2 (Sep 13, 2015)

Jags said:


> American Elm.  Sometimes the word "split" is not properly applied...
> 
> View attachment 157519
> View attachment 157521


Thanks for this pic! I've been browsing through the threads trying to identify this amazingly stringy wood I have. I have a piece that looks exactly like this. So, now I know. 
I work with a public works department in Maine and I get all my firewood from our roadside cutting activities here. I know where I got this and I have a lot of it. At the time, I assumed it was ash, but, after whacking a few of the logs with my maul, I knew I had something else. Splitting the remainder of the logs with a hydraulic now and this stuff is just awful. Even this 27 Ton splitter has a time with some of it.


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## tsquini (Sep 13, 2015)

dry locust rounds


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## Shane Collins (Sep 13, 2015)

Elm, by far.  I had a dead standing elm that was about 20 inches in diameter which split easily by hand.  A few weeks back I got about a cord of fresh cut elm for free already cut to size.  That was a nightmare.  All of it went through the splitter.  Even the small 6 inch rounds that usually take one hit were almost impossible to split by hand.  The splitter struggled with it but the majority of it is split now.


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## begreen (Sep 13, 2015)

We have a very large eucalyptus that needs major branches cut back every 4-5 years. Otherwise they extend out too far and become pendulous. You can not split that wood. The power splitter literally mushes its way through the wood. Now I just cut anything smaller than 6" round into stove lengths and let it season for a few years before burning.



tsquini said:


> dry locust rounds


Same for madrona. Green madrona is a joy to split with a Fiskars. Fully seasoned rounds however are strictly power splitter territory.


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## Newwave (Sep 13, 2015)

Biggest pita I ever had was sweet gum.  Takes forever to split by hand, like its woven together.  Avoid it unless you have  hydraulics.


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## Omaha419 (Sep 13, 2015)

Gum. 

Also, some forms of pine are just as stringy as gum.


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## Omaha419 (Sep 13, 2015)

Jags said:


> American Elm.  Sometimes the word "split" is not properly applied...
> 
> View attachment 157519
> View attachment 157521




This has to be one of the funniest things I've seen on here. 

Someone gave me a couple of these logs. I just rolled them into the fire pit. Didn't even bother.


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## cuttingedge (Sep 13, 2015)

My vote goes to Yellow Birch. I hate it Back in NY where I used to live, we did not have any Yellow Birch so I would say Shag bark Hickory! After splitting about three cords of Yellow Birch over the last few days I can honestly say that I hate it! My favorite hands down to split has always been Ash. I have always enjoyed the smell of wild cherry more than anything else while splitting.


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## HisTreeNut (Sep 13, 2015)

The worst wood to split is the second to last round in the pile you have been working on all day in the summer heat...


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## VAfarmer38 (Sep 15, 2015)

HisTreeNut said:


> The worst wood to split is the second to last round in the pile you have been working on all day in the summer heat...


Man it's funny you say that. Finished up today splitting some rounds of sugar maple and there was one piece left about 30" in diameter. It had a wicked crotch and I battled it for a good ten minutes. Just so happened to be the last piece and it was the toughest one to split, even using hydraulics.


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## Isaac Carlson (Sep 16, 2015)

I have had some tough poplar and ash.  Not what I expected, but the hardest so far.  I have a sharp wedge on my 15 ton splitter, similar to an axe head.
I can cut most rounds in half, including oak, but some rounds are just plain tough.  I have been able to split everything I put on the splitter.
Elm can be very stringy.  I had a piece a while ago that turned into a poof ball of wood fibers as soon as the wedge touched it.  It made a very good fire starter.
My dad has a blunt wedge on his splitter and has trouble with quite a few rounds compared to mine.  This makes me think wedge shape has a lot to do with how well a splitter does.


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## Woody Stover (Sep 16, 2015)

BamaScroungr said:


> knotty dogwood I just acquired.  Heard it's great firewood, but so far I've only managed to knock chunks and chips out of it.


Dogwood is pretty tough to split by hand, even straight pieces. Smaller rounds, like 4", I've left un-split and let 'em sit for several years to dry.


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## owingsia (Sep 16, 2015)

Just my two cents... leave it in the round for a summer and then split it.... I find that helps with stringy wood but I really dont have to much exp with those woods.... 

My "hell to split" wood is Gum... I leave that in rounds on pallets for about 4-6 months then hit it with the maul. 

Around here I get pine by the truck load, tulip poplar, cherry, pine, beach, pine, pin oak (Tuff to find though), once in a blue moon red oak, pine, gum gum and more gum...... pine.... this year I did score about 1 cord of standing dead persimmon... that according to my MM just might..... I hope be ready for January..... but just barely..... (Crossing fingers because I heard that stuff burns hot!)


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## crater22 (Sep 16, 2015)

Did not have to split it, but my guy deliverd some Hedge to me, and to me that looks tough.


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## Jags (Sep 17, 2015)

crater22 said:


> Did not have to split it, but my guy deliverd some Hedge to me, and to me that looks tough.



Hedge really isn't too bad to split.


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## Oldman47 (Sep 17, 2015)

Hedge is tough as nails to cut when green. I have no idea how it splits.


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## planner steve (Sep 18, 2015)

Sweet Gum is bad.  Usually takes two wedges, very stringy.  I'll be burning my first sweet gum this winter.  If it isn't a long lasting burn, I'll avoid it in the future.


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## Wisneaky (Sep 18, 2015)

Elm for sure. I had a dead Elm in my yard and this guy was looking for wood. I told him he could cut the tree and take it because I wasn't going to even try. I would have cut it myself and split it only if I owned a wood splitter, but no way in hell was I doing it by hand.


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## Little Digger (Sep 18, 2015)

The worst I've had was recently, the Residential Ash was murder second to the Elm I also had. I split it all by hand other than a few partial rounds that just wouldn't succumb to the  axes or wedges and sledge. I'm not complaining though. It was an awesome workout!


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## MaintenanceMan (Sep 18, 2015)

Rebelduckman said:


> Another vote for elm. Sweet gum sucks too.



I've split several cords worth of both Sweet and Black Gum. Actually I'm looking at having another very large Gum taken down soon. Not sure I even want to mess with it to be honest, Might have them haul it off as I already have close to three winters worth in the stacks. Doesn't really split, more or less shreds Royal pain in the ass Rots fast if you don't keep it covered. LOTS of fluffy ash.... I've split about 2 cords worth of hickory too. Not quite as bad as Gum, but definitely sucks. 

I hear Elm is a lot like Gum. Not much of that left around here.


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## peakbagger (Sep 18, 2015)

Hop Hornbeam


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## johneh (Sep 18, 2015)

peakbagger said:


> Hop Hornbeam


And that why its called IRON WOOD


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## CincyBurner (Sep 19, 2015)

Oldman47 said:


> Hedge is tough as nails to cut when green. I have no idea how it splits.



Very easy to split.  It's a double bonus - easy splitting and great burning.


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## MaintenanceMan (Sep 20, 2015)

planner steve said:


> Sweet Gum is bad.  Usually takes two wedges, very stringy.  I'll be burning my first sweet gum this winter.  If it isn't a long lasting burn, I'll avoid it in the future.



I didn't find it to last quite as long as Oak, Hickory etc. The Black Gum was definitely better than the sweet. It split a little better and burned a tad better too. 

Gum is a medium btu burner for sure, But the plus side to gum, other than the built in stringy kindling, was that the fluffy ash insulated the coals quite well. I would have good glowing embers burning LONG after the fire was gone. In my small stove it was pretty handy. I could almost always rake through the ashes and get enough coals to restart a fire if need be. Nothing like the oak and maple I've been burning since. 

Keep that Gum dry, It does rot quite fast and all that hard work splitting will go down the drain...


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