is free wood worth it?

[marreque]

i had a guy give me a full pick up truck of wood yesterday. i thought it was white oak, boy was i wrong. i cant even split this stuff, was bout 16-18". so i decided to cut the piece in half, and as i did, when i got close to the middle red chips started coming out the saw. well tried to split the 8" thick, 30" round piece. this wasn't happening either! has anyone ever seen or heard of this before? looks like i'm stuck with this load unless i give the rest away to a guy at work who i told i would give him some of it.

 

[KeepItNatural]

dont give up-
you can split that. Believe!

 

[SolarAndWood]

Sounds like you need a big hydraulic cylinder to take advantage of it. Most of what I get is stuff others couldn't either cut or split or deal with.

 

[spencer186]

If you don't have access to a log splitter and you're splitting it by hand, try letting it season for a while, maybe a year and split it then. When wood is dry it splits much easier. Let it sit and then give it a try. Or get your hands on a log splitter.

 

[gzecc]

There is no such thing as free wood.

 

[hareball]

Only thing I could think of is red cedar (red chips). The one I've been splitting is really hard to split, it just seems to absorb the hits. But white oak and red cedar are 2 completely different animals lol

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Free wood certainly can be worth it even if you have to rent a splitter. If you have some wedges and a sledge hammer, try splitting with that. If you don't think you have enough wood to pay for renting a splitter then perhaps you can just stack the wood until you have more and then rent. Another possibility is to find someone who has a splitter and maybe borrow it or take the wood there to split it.

It sounds like you have some nasty elm but the red chips throw me. It is probably a tree we don't have in this area.

 

[wsorg]

It sounds like it could be cedar. I would definitely let it season and dry out

 

[Flatbedford]

I have gotten myself a year plus ahead now, so, if I can't split it by hand, it goes in the woods to rot. Buying or even renting a splitter takes away from the "free" part of free wood.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

Are you going through the middle. If so, you may want to try taking slabs off the side with a maul, working towards the middle.

 

[bogydave]

When in high school (many years ago) I helped cut down a dying tree in a neighborhood yard.
Tree was eating chains, we finally found that,
Over the years, the owner had filled the hollow of the tree with concrete.
Not very free firewood.

 

[savageactor7]

If you can't do it the way CarbonNeutral recommends I would just noodle cut 'em into quarters and save 'em for overnight bankers.

 

[CarbonNeutral]

If you can't do it the way CarbonNeutral recommends I would just noodle cut 'em into quarters and save 'em for overnight bankers.

I've always dreamed (sad) of having a slab of wood the exact dimensions of the side door on my Oslo...

 

[SmokinPiney]

Sounds like you got some Gum.. Definately no fun to split but it'll burn just fine. Matter of fact i just bounced the maul off a few small pieces mixed in with my white oak.. Aint no fun watchin that maul head come bouncin back atcha!

 

[geoxman]

Sounds like you got some Gum.. Definately no fun to split but it'll burn just fine. Matter of fact i just bounced the maul off a few small pieces mixed in with my white oak.. Aint no fun watchin that maul head come bouncin back atcha!

I agree with the gum but the red is confusing? My father, when I was 16, and ready for a hot date wanted me to clean up some storm damage and split a sweet gum before I could go out for the night....chores!! I never made the date and I never was able to bust up the gum either. Good lessoned learned...I guess??? She was pregnant by my junior year 1986

 

[SmokinPiney]

I've seen some sweet gum with a small reddish colored heartwood. I've never had a hard time splittin cedar which makes me think it's gum. Plus he though it was white oak. I aint ever seen a cedar that looked anything close to white oak.

 

[spencer186]

You can always try ripping it into quarters with a chain saw. Just try to cut at a 45 degree angle to the lengths of the log. If you cut straight down from the top across the rings you'll cut dust. If you cut parellel with the trunk you'll cut long ribbons but possibly jam the saw up. Good luck!

 

[marreque]

its def not cedar. im leaning torwards elm or gum. im from mass and either of these trees are not to common around here. heres another thing, the red is only in the middle of the tree, and the red part smells like a slaughter house. from what ive read on this site i think its elm.

 

[Tony H]

I took down a cedar in my side yard a few years ago and while it was very reddish in some areas it was easy splitting stuff I think I used a butter knife.