Worst wood to split

[crater22]

Did not have to split it, but my guy deliverd some Hedge to me, and to me that looks tough.

 

[Jags]

Did not have to split it, but my guy deliverd some Hedge to me, and to me that looks tough.

Hedge really isn't too bad to split.

 

[Oldman47]

Hedge is tough as nails to cut when green. I have no idea how it splits.

 

[planner steve]

Sweet Gum is bad. Usually takes two wedges, very stringy. I'll be burning my first sweet gum this winter. If it isn't a long lasting burn, I'll avoid it in the future.

 

[Wisneaky]

Elm for sure. I had a dead Elm in my yard and this guy was looking for wood. I told him he could cut the tree and take it because I wasn't going to even try. I would have cut it myself and split it only if I owned a wood splitter, but no way in hell was I doing it by hand.

 

[Little Digger]

The worst I've had was recently, the Residential Ash was murder second to the Elm I also had. I split it all by hand other than a few partial rounds that just wouldn't succumb to the axes or wedges and sledge. I'm not complaining though. It was an awesome workout!

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Another vote for elm. Sweet gum sucks too.

I've split several cords worth of both Sweet and Black Gum. Actually I'm looking at having another very large Gum taken down soon. Not sure I even want to mess with it to be honest, Might have them haul it off as I already have close to three winters worth in the stacks. Doesn't really split, more or less shreds Royal pain in the ass Rots fast if you don't keep it covered. LOTS of fluffy ash.... I've split about 2 cords worth of hickory too. Not quite as bad as Gum, but definitely sucks.

I hear Elm is a lot like Gum. Not much of that left around here.

 

[peakbagger]

Hop Hornbeam

 

[johneh]

Hop Hornbeam

And that why its called IRON WOOD

 

[CincyBurner]

Hedge is tough as nails to cut when green. I have no idea how it splits.

Very easy to split. It's a double bonus - easy splitting and great burning.

 

[MaintenanceMan]

Sweet Gum is bad. Usually takes two wedges, very stringy. I'll be burning my first sweet gum this winter. If it isn't a long lasting burn, I'll avoid it in the future.

I didn't find it to last quite as long as Oak, Hickory etc. The Black Gum was definitely better than the sweet. It split a little better and burned a tad better too.

Gum is a medium btu burner for sure, But the plus side to gum, other than the built in stringy kindling, was that the fluffy ash insulated the coals quite well. I would have good glowing embers burning LONG after the fire was gone. In my small stove it was pretty handy. I could almost always rake through the ashes and get enough coals to restart a fire if need be. Nothing like the oak and maple I've been burning since.

Keep that Gum dry, It does rot quite fast and all that hard work splitting will go down the drain...