Norway maple trunk rounds

[Flame On]

I just had two Norway Maples cut down. I am trying to split the large rounds from the trunk but not having much luck. I've tried quartering with wedges and taking off the edges. They are also extremely wet.
Do you think it is worth it to let them season for a while and try again in the spring? I'm not in a rush to get this wood split.
BTW, I'm hand splitting. I'd like to avoid a splitter. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Ctwoodtick]

I’ve found that the drier the wood, the more difficult to split. Are the rounds twisted?

 

[orlkc]

I like to wait until winter for hand splitting. Preferably below freezing. I'm not sure that makes it any easier, but sure feels that way. Much more pleasant to be outside at least.

 

[peakbagger]

If you have a chainsaw just slit down into the trunk a few times around the perimeter and let then dry for few weeks, the logs will usually start to crack in those spots and take a lot of tension out of the round. With the bark intact there is lot of "hoop" tension in the log, once you can get that relieved they split easier.

 

[gggvan]

How big around are they?

 

[gzecc]

I've had a good amount of Norway over the yrs. The trunks are usually twisted and gnarly. Not easily split. Noodling is probably your best bet.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

For me, waiting a year is easier, if something is tough to split right away -- fresh-cut beech, for instance. Or red oak. I also find winter easier, for whatever reason. Plus, you don't sweat much.

I'm small, old, and weak, so I may be a good measure of what's easier.

 

[kennyp2339]

I normally do a mixture of making a purchase point with the saw about 4-5" deep then sliding a wedge or 2 and finishing them off with a sledge hammer, on a rare occasion I just flip the log on its side (bark up) and cut the whole thing in half with the chainsaw, but generally a deep cut then a wedge works well. Always remember maple tends to be a brittle wood, it will remain stout but once you hit its tipping point it will pop. After quartering up large rounds on the ground I'll run them through the splitter and I tend to get a lot of pop action, occasionally one will pop back at you, so be careful and watch the family jewels.

 

[johneh]

Do yourself a favour and buy or rent a splitter

 

[Ctwoodtick]

Buying one is well worth it. 1000 bucks is lot of money, but if you do wood a lot it well worth it. You can get reallly precise with size and shape of wood. If you are strapped for time in any way, a splitter probably speeds up splitting by 5x.
I can get through a 6ft truck bed of wood in about 45 minutes or so.

 

[Simonkenton]

I burn a lot of wood. Sometimes, I buy a dump truck load, cut and split. But mostly I saw it and split it by hand. Oak, cherry, black walnut, locust, ash, you name it. I have a Fiskars and, for old time's sake, a Monster Maul. And I have wedges and a ten pound hammer.
I love to split by hand.
One time we had a maple taken down at the girlfriend's rental house and I sawed up a truck load and brought it home. That stuff was very difficult to split! I just stay away from maple, just the same as I stay away from hickory.

So I don't have any good advice for you except, rent a splitter.

 

[johnny_pierogi]

Norway Maple-junk tree and a nightmare to split. You're right, the larger you get with the rounds from the trunk the worse it is. Definitely let it dry it out first and then consider renting a splitter. I've had 3 taken down on my property (one year 1 and two year three) and there are still a few rounds left from the first year that are going to require a splitter, i.e time hasn't really helped much. You can try to work around the edges but you get left with these crappy thin, wide splits because the grain is so uneven, and once you get to a certain point towards the center it's almost impossible.

Sucks because it is a pretty decent firewood.

 

[Country Living in VA]

I don't think I have Norway maple around my parts, but definitely have lots of Maple and it can be difficult to split. I had some 34" rounds that I tried driving wedges into and it would drive in a little, then spit it back out when I hit it with any force. Noodling it is the only way to get it small enough to do much with it. Once I did get it down to a workable size, when I would put it into my splitter, it would have a tough time going through it initially, then all of the sudden pop open. It didn't really make a difference if it set out for a while after cutting it.

 

[Flame On]

Thanks for the advice everyone! The trunk pieces from the older tree are pretty twisted. I think I'll try Peakbagger's idea of scoring the edges with a chainsaw and then let them sit.
I haven't done a whole lot of 'frozen' splitting, but my BIL swears by it. I'll try again in January.
For me, the whole point of hand splitting is that it is good for both my physical and mental health.
I'll pile up the 'unsplittables' and borrow my neighbor's hydraulic to finish them off.
I'm actually looking forward to burning maple again. I scrounge everything I burn and the past few years have been nothing but ash, ash, ash and more ash.

 

[johnny_pierogi]

I scrounge everything I burn and the past few years have been nothing but ash, ash, ash and more ash.

I was up at my buddy's property on SGL 57 (Wyoming County northwest of Scranton) this past weekend for the first time in the summer since 2018. I've been in the fall and winter but it's been a few years since I've seen the mountains with foliage on the trees. My God, what the EAB did to the Ash up there, worse than I've seen it any place. You can look out and see dead trees for miles. The State has started dropping them on Gameland to increase WT Deer habitat... or so I'm told.