Why is this pine so hard to split? Why why why?..

[northernontario]

I do notice that once I get it split in half, the rest splits fine. It just takes about 10 freaking swings to get it in half.

Sounds like the perfect opportunity to noodle them partway through; go 1/2 way through each round, then use hand-power to split the other half. I've been noodling some big yellow birch because the rounds are too heavy to lift onto the splitter. Noodle 2/3 of the way through, then start noodling the quarter sections... 3 hits gets four quarters.

 

[Skier76]

I scrounged some pine last summer. Splitting it after I picked it up was a bear. I had a number of rounds that were too long for my stove. So, I left them in round form until I bought a saw this past summer. I cut them down to sise and used the Fiskars. Some that had a lot of internal knots were still tough, but everything split much much easier.

If you have the space and time, leave them in rounds and let them sit for awhile. I'm thinking if you feel up to some mid winter splitting, they'll pop apart. Or just wait until next summer.

 

[billb3]

with the white pine here, I save a couple of the branches and when the bark has changed from green to red the trunk rounds will be a bit easier to split.
I also use the straighter branches to use as rails to keep the rounds off the ground .

And split in January / February when it is frozen/cold.
Doesn't help with the darned knots, but the wood doesn't grab the splitting maul/axe like when it is green.

 

[Corriewf]

See I just cant stand letting work sit there. I already been waiting all summer cause it was too hot. Now im ready for business. Thr bark is falling off thsi pine and by the time its cold enough, I hope to be working on tree number 3 or 4 after this... Im going all deep for 2013 baby!

Damn pine devil wood....

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Use a wedge for that first split. They have a mess of knots all at one level- PITA

 

[quercus_kelloggii]

I do notice that once I get it split in half, the rest splits fine. It just takes about 10 freaking swings to get it in half.

That was not my experience w/ the pipo i was splitting. I would have to wack them 10 times no matter how much it was split. Was some twisted wood for sure. No fun. I'll burn it and it will warm the house... the black oak was easier to split!

 

[Corriewf]

I do notice that once I get it split in half, the rest splits fine. It just takes about 10 freaking swings to get it in half.

That was not my experience w/ the pipo i was splitting. I would have to wack them 10 times no matter how much it was split. Was some twisted wood for sure. No fun. I'll burn it and it will warm the house... the black oak was easier to split!

Welllll I have to put a decent amount of force into it where as I normally have to let the eight pound maul do tge work.

You think pine is worth all this.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

Better question . . .why are you splitting it? Put it in the fire and grab a beer in one hand an' yer ole lady in the other ;-)

 

[quercus_kelloggii]

I think of it as sweat equity. It was 'free' just my labor getting it and processing. Of course the wood permit i bought for the national forest was only 30 bucks for two cords, so free pine isn't really all that amazing. I like burning it for shoulder seasons. However, this is the first year I got a firewood permit for the forest. And I have brought home and processed 1.5 cords of black oak (preferred) and some doug-fir (burns really really well and WAY easy to split and seasons really fast) and some incense-cedar (smells good and good starter wood, also very easy to split).

So all that said and done, I don't think I'm going to go for free pine anymore, unless it is way easy. I'm turning towards, for softwoods, doug-fir as a nice firewood. Puts out descent BTU too from what I've read.

I hand split all my wood w/ a 8# maul and I enjoy it mostly. Those small challenging twisted pine rounds suck, but they don't beat me

 

[quercus_kelloggii]

Also... I don't really like how the pine bark comes off while I split... it is messy and I throw it into a garbage can, tap it down w/ the maul to compact it, and dump it. And the termites... don't care for those either. The doug-fir bark seems to mostly stay on, is much thinner and doug-fir smells nice (xmas tree smell) too. It is lighter too (less moister to start out with??)

 

[Corriewf]

Better question . . .why are you splitting it? Put it in the fire and grab a beer in one hand an' yer ole lady in the other ;-)

cause one arm is not enough to get around her...

 

[Corriewf]

Also... I don't really like how the pine bark comes off while I split... it is messy and I throw it into a garbage can, tap it down w/ the maul to compact it, and dump it. And the termites... don't care for those either. The doug-fir bark seems to mostly stay on, is much thinner and doug-fir smells nice (xmas tree smell) too. It is lighter too (less moister to start out with??)

Yeah we use those for xmas trees around here.. the problem with this wood is that its coming from... I cant turn myself down.

 

[ISeeDeadBTUs]

cause one arm is not enough to get around her...

If you gotz pine rounds THAT big . . .oh! Wait . . . you wern't talking about the firewood . . .


How 'bout them Yankees??

 

[sapratt]

I got some pine from my dad that was cut up 2 yrs ago and it split nice. Maybe it needs to dry some more.

 

[Corriewf]

Well I went out there like a big fat feline cat and noodled it all. I cut it some and then split it all in half with the maul. Tomorrow I will finish it.

Another witch of a b with this wood is that my saw kept getting clogged noodling. The chips were sticking togethet so much that it got stopped up alot.I will never do pine again unless its on my property.

 

[fire_man]

I wish I could wait a while to split it but the termites are getting to it. It is also blocking my lawn tractor in. I hate to throw away wood unless it's rotten and I hate noodling. The rounds are only a couple feet wide. I like to try and hold off noodling unless it three feet or more. What sucks is that I have two more poplars to bring down as well. I have split many different types of wood so far and that poplar was the worse. It was even hard to cut with the saw. It's like the grain is going the wrong way....

I sometimes wonder how the older folks here still split some of this tougher stuff by hand. I often wonder if a day will come that I won't be able to do the heavy wood work anymore.

The worst wood I ever split was a 4ft diameter Cottonwood Tree. Every stinking stringy piece required the splitter's ram to fully extend, and even then I needed a hatchet to break apart. Folks in the old days would have frozen if Cottonwood is all they could burn.

 

[Captain Hornet]

I once in a while burn pine and noticed some is hard to split. So I use a sledge and wedges and it'll bust right open for you. It dries better when it has been split so you're right by splitting it now. Sledge and wedges well work fine for you. I don't have a hydraulic splitter and really don't want one. David

 

[Corriewf]

I wish I could wait a while to split it but the termites are getting to it. It is also blocking my lawn tractor in. I hate to throw away wood unless it's rotten and I hate noodling. The rounds are only a couple feet wide. I like to try and hold off noodling unless it three feet or more. What sucks is that I have two more poplars to bring down as well. I have split many different types of wood so far and that poplar was the worse. It was even hard to cut with the saw. It's like the grain is going the wrong way....

I sometimes wonder how the older folks here still split some of this tougher stuff by hand. I often wonder if a day will come that I won't be able to do the heavy wood work anymore.

The worst wood I ever split was a 4ft diameter Cottonwood Tree. Every stinking stringy piece required the splitter's ram to fully extend, and even then I needed a hatchet to break apart. Folks in the old days would have frozen if Cottonwood is all they could burn.

Oh hell yeah I agree! Poplar is horrible! I still have some 3 foot wide rounds I have not touched in 8 months. It was so bad the saw could harely cut it. I dont know how they did some of this stuff a hundred years ago.

 

[ROBERT F]

Split 10 full cords of pine last year. Burning it this year. every piece I pick up will remind me exactly why i got a splitter for the 20 cords I did this year!! pine by hand? not any more

 

[Lumber-Jack]

I wish I could wait a while to split it but the termites are getting to it. It is also blocking my lawn tractor in. I hate to throw away wood unless it's rotten and I hate noodling. The rounds are only a couple feet wide. I like to try and hold off noodling unless it three feet or more. What sucks is that I have two more poplars to bring down as well. I have split many different types of wood so far and that poplar was the worse. It was even hard to cut with the saw. It's like the grain is going the wrong way....

I sometimes wonder how the older folks here still split some of this tougher stuff by hand. I often wonder if a day will come that I won't be able to do the heavy wood work anymore.

The worst wood I ever split was a 4ft diameter Cottonwood Tree. Every stinking stringy piece required the splitter's ram to fully extend, and even then I needed a hatchet to break apart. Folks in the old days would have frozen if Cottonwood is all they could burn.

Oh hell yeah I agree! Poplar is horrible! I still have some 3 foot wide rounds I have not touched in 8 months. It was so bad the saw could harely cut it. I dont know how they did some of this stuff a hundred years ago.

I'll tell you how they did it a hundred years ago, they simply had a lot more time on their hands that's how. Back in the old days they didn't have to run back inside and post their every move and thought on the internet, now get out there and get er DONE (just kidding)

Frankly I don't and wouldn't cut green pine, or poplar, or any green wood for that mater, anymore. I just don't have the room to store it while it seasons, and I have easy access to pre-seasoned standing dead lodgepole pine that splits pretty easy. If that supply ever gets depleted (not in my life time) then I guess my heat pump will start kicking in more often and my electric bill will be a little higher, oh well... I like gathering and burning wood, but I ain't gona fight with it, no way.