# Toughest wood I've ever split (worse than gum)  ID please so I can avoid it.



## WoodpileOCD (Feb 24, 2012)

This was from a drive by neighborhood scrounge and some of what I split up yesterday. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/91466/

I had tried one piece when I dropped it off just to see how it would do and it wouldn't budge even with a wedge.   Hyd splitter got through it but not without some serious fights breaking out.  

I'd really like to know what it is so I can be sure to pass on it next time if I'm not desperate.   Thanks


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## mywaynow (Feb 24, 2012)

Twisty, gnarly Maple, IMO.  Had something similar last fall and refused to return for more of the wood.  Will burn well, but is it worth the struggle?  Better be easy to get to in order to justify the extra split time.  Won't stack worth a darn either.


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## basod (Feb 24, 2012)

kinda looks like hickory may be pecan, it's pretty knarly stuff either way.


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## WoodpileOCD (Feb 24, 2012)

BASOD said:
			
		

> kinda looks like hickory may be pecan, it's pretty knarly stuff either way.



I've cut and split hickory before and that's not what this was.  Never worked with pecan before but I've seen a lot of them and this bark was totally different.  When I got it, I thought it might be some kind of oak but the looks of the rounds but it's not any oak I've ever worked before.  Thanks


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## basod (Feb 24, 2012)

It does look more like pecan.
It stalls(full length in HP stroke) my splitter even on moderate rounds.
Limbs/crotches you might as well forget about splitting


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## ScotO (Feb 24, 2012)

I'm gonna say pecan, too.  That looks similar to maple bark but the heartwood is really dark on that stuff.  Either way, I wouldn't pass it up if it is pecan, that is some fantastic outdoor cooking/smoker wood!!  Suffer through and get all you can!!


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## DanCorcoran (Feb 24, 2012)

Makes great pie, too!


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## Village Idiot (Feb 24, 2012)

Ugh. That gnarly maple is a killer. I took a large silver maple tree down in my yard that turned out to be a beast to split. I borrowed a 35-ton splitter and mostly crushed the wood apart rather than split. It seems like I have been burning uglies all winter. The wood did seem to be more dense than other normal silver maples that I have split and think it burned longer.

I would not knowingly scrounge that kind of wood though. It took a lot of time and effort. No matter what, it helped keep my family warm.


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## Locust Post (Feb 24, 2012)

Not sure but could that be some kind of elm ?


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## Gark (Feb 25, 2012)

Some of it looks like elm to me. When you say it's a horror to split, I think elm.


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## Hickorynut (Feb 25, 2012)

I bet that is sweetgum.  Looks like it to me :<)).


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## nrford (Feb 25, 2012)

Hickorynut said:
			
		

> I bet that is sweetgum.  Looks like it to me :<)).



+1


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## buddylee (Feb 25, 2012)

Definately not sweetgum. The inside dark center looks like hickory or pecan. Did you happen to see the tree standing or is there another tree like it still standing ? Shape of the tree helps. Maybe ask the person you got it from.


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## moody (Feb 25, 2012)

looks like red maple and it is a big time SOB to split when green even with a hydo splitter it tears more then it splits, its easer to split when it drys a little.


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## RORY12553 (Feb 25, 2012)

Damnit said:
			
		

> looks like red maple and it is a big time SOB to split when green even with a hydo splitter it tears more then it splits, its easer to split when it drys a little.



I think i have some of the red maple and have been trying to figure out what it is for a while..really stringy..dark maroon when split..should be some good firewood i hope...have about a cord of it to split and not looking forward to it


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## TreePointer (Feb 25, 2012)

???  The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split.  I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length.  It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.


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## Locust Post (Feb 25, 2012)

That sure does not like like any red maple I have ever seen or split.


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## nrford (Feb 25, 2012)

TreePointer said:
			
		

> ???  The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split.  I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length.  It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.


 +1


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## Loco Gringo (Feb 25, 2012)

Im goin with pecan. Same bark.


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## NH_Wood (Feb 25, 2012)

nrford said:
			
		

> TreePointer said:
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+2


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## Woody Stover (Feb 25, 2012)

RORY12553 said:
			
		

> I think i have some of the red maple and have been trying to figure out what it is for a while..really stringy..dark maroon when split..


Red Maple I've split is light in color, not maroon, so I think you have something else there.



			
				TreePointer said:
			
		

> ???  The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split.  I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length.  It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.


I got a Red last Summer that was a yard tree; That thing was an SOB to split. A woods tree I got was like you say, not stringy and split very easily by hand. The Red I got appears to have dried faster than anything else I got including White Ash and Black Cherry...


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## RORY12553 (Feb 25, 2012)

Woody Stover said:
			
		

> RORY12553 said:
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## WoodpileOCD (Feb 25, 2012)

Thanks for all the replies.  I'm 100% positive it isn't gum as I have lots of experience with that.   Pecan seems to be the favorite here but it was a yard tree and the lady said the tree cutters thought it was an oak.  Defininitely not an oak but she certainly would have know if it was  a pecan tree because they drop nuts which are VERY good eating.   I've seen lots of pecan trees growing in groves here but are there other kinds that don't get the nuts that grow wild.  The yard and house were cut out of the woods so it wasn't a planted tree.  Haven't cut a lot of maple that I know of so I guess it could be that but my thoughts ran to elm because of how much I have read on here of what a SOB it is to split/tear. 
  Whatever it is it is split now and soon to be stacked so it will keep me and mine warm next year.  Hope it dries well in a year.


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## rwhite (Feb 25, 2012)

The stringy splits and red core  look to me like a maple. Possibly big leaf. Here is a pic of some big leaf that I got a few months ago. It is a PIA to split. The bark on mine was a bit different as it was from the newer growth of the branches but the inner wood looks like it. If the reddish color may turn golden after splitting and sitting in the sun a few weeks.\


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## RORY12553 (Feb 25, 2012)

rwhite said:
			
		

> The stringy splits and red core  look to me like a maple. Possibly big leaf. Here is a pic of some big leaf that I got a few months ago. It is a PIA to split. The bark on mine was a bit different as it was from the newer growth of the branches but the inner wood looks like it. If the reddish color may turn golden after splitting and sitting in the sun a few weeks.\



That looks like what I have and man is it tough to split.


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## Woody Stover (Feb 25, 2012)

I was over at SIL's today moving up some dry wood. Just out of curiosity I split a couple of pieces of some stuff a friend gave her. He said it was Pecan, and what dried leaves I saw at the time seemed to support that claim. The bark wasn't quite the same as the wood in question here and it split easy. I didn't see any dark center either FWIW.


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## rwhite (Feb 26, 2012)

RORY12553 said:
			
		

> That looks like what I have and man is it tough to split.



The pic I posted was definately Big Leaf maple. Yes it is miserable when green anyway. Pretty much anything over 10" with any kind of knot I had trouble splitting. It is getting better though as it dries. This is the 1st time I've had big leaf maple so I left a few rounds for summer to see how it splits then. I'm glad I only took the limbs becuase there is no way I could have handled the main trunk. I think the misery may pay off though as it feels like iron and should burn good.


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## Normande (Feb 26, 2012)

It looks like what dad used to call Russian elm or quaking elm, doesn't live long, rots fast when left standing a big tree is 18" acrossed. Once cut and dryer makes heat like pig hickory, but it is nasty stuff to spit except in short<16" and green, burned a lot in the field cause we couldn't split it as a kid.


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## tuco1963 (Feb 26, 2012)

i believe elm


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## chvymn99 (Feb 26, 2012)

I'm not sure what that stuff is, but the bark and wood looks like a maple.  But I bet it will provide some decent heat, should be more dense than a  tree of the similar straight grain. Good Luck...


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## benjamin (Feb 26, 2012)

Looks like what I call Chinese elm, a common weed tree that is much more resistant to Dutch elm disease. The shape looks vaguely like American elm but drops limbs like a willow, or maybe it just seems that bad.


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## ChillyGator (Feb 28, 2012)

I've split about 3 cords of Pecan last couple years and none of it split stringy/narley like that.  Could be different variation but doubt it.


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## maplewood (Feb 28, 2012)

Wow - nasty stuff to split.  
I had some Beech that was tough to split, too.  Stringy, and some of it twisted 90 degrees in 18" lengths!
(I was told twisted wood is due to strong prevailing winds, twisting the trunk as it grows.)
Dad and I beat on it with mauls and wedges, sometimes 20 or 30 hits.
We gave up and rented a splitter for the day.  Did 12 cord, with some help.
But it burns great!


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## Jags (Feb 28, 2012)

I believe dat der is maple.


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## seeyal8r (Feb 28, 2012)

I am 98% sure its elm.


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## shoot-straight (Feb 29, 2012)

here are the trees on the current "do not cut" list

#1. sweet gum - ugh, where do i begin... just painful

#2. sycamore- first and last exerience splitting it was last summer. lots of water in it and it reminded me of gum. will see how it burns next winter.

i cut and am now splitting a hickory. what a PITA it is. cutting it was absolutely brutal. splitting it is quite a chore as well. cant wait to burn it though.

i did encounted a knarly maple like some have, the grain was pretty twisted. boy does it burn hot and quick when dry.


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## WOODBUTCHER (Mar 2, 2012)

I'm having a hard time ID'ing that wood. 
I've never run stuff like that through my splitter.

I have a Sweet Gum Tree in my yard and the bark and sapwood look different from your sample. (I've split many a Sweet Gum and stepped on those friggin spiny balls.)
I know that what you have there is'nt Red Maple.

I'm a wood ID buff and I'm curious if anyone will chime in on the specific species. 

My Pictures...... red maple, sweetgum limb bucks and one large sweetgum limb that almost hit my house.

WoodButcher


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