When to split wood after cutting?

[firefighterjake]

I think it may depend on the type of wood. I know a lot of people find that splitting old, dead standing elm is a lot easier than splitting fresh Elm (and Elm is among the most difficult woods to split). Another example is that splitting White Pine is easier, or at least neater, when the wood has dried out because fresh White Pine is very sappy. On the other hand, I was splitting some 1 year old White Oak that sat around in log form until I sawed it up yesterday, and it seemed harder to split than when it was fresh - it seemed to be stringer so the splits hung together and I had to pull them apart. Most of the White Oak didn't do that when fresh, although of course I don't know how the particular pieces I was spliting yesterday would have been when they were fresh. so, I think the answer might depend on the type of wood you're splitting. I usually split right after I cut the wood, but not because I am sure it is easier to split, just because I want to get it stacked and seasoning asap.

+1 to all of Wood Duck's comments . . . but especially the part about splitting sooner rather than later to start the seasoning process.