Sweet Gum Scrounge 1+ True Cord - Would You Say Yes or No?

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Oregon Bigfoot

Feeling the Heat
May 21, 2011
271
Northwest Oregon
I have burned very little Sweet Gum over the years here and there. If I remember correctly, it was tough to split, and burned OK, but not like oak. In my neighborhood 2 blocks away, a guy just cut down two sweet gum trees this week from his yard and there is maybe a cord+ and free.

Should I get this wood, or move along to better scrounges. The 2 blocks away sure makes this tempting.

I have lined up dropping a standing dead Douglas Fir tree tomorrow, but I can postpone this. We have snow in the forecast here in Western Oregon from Sunday-Tuesday, but not a lot, and the wet stuff, then back to good, old fashioned soaking rain and wind for the rest of next week. I have a three day weekend with MLK day on Monday.

How does it burn, and how tough is it to split? What is your experience with this wood? What should I do, get it or pass on it?
 
I'm burning some this year and it burns fine. Like you said, not like oak at all but better than pine or poplar which is the other I'm using so far this year. I'm holding my Oak and Hickory in reserve.

Don't even think about it unless you are planning on using hydraulics to split it. At least not the sweet gum here in NC. You'll just end up cussing yourself and probably using it for bon fires if you try to split it by hand. My experience anyway.
 
If you are ok splitting it, I'd go get it. A full free cord 2 blocks away is a good return on time IMO. In an ideal world, I think we would all only burn the good stuff. But, what percentage of the heating season do you really need something as good as Oak?
 
I spit two cords of sweet gum this fall and I would say get it if you have a hydraulic splitter. Do not plan on splitting it by hand.
 
If you have a hydraulic splitter and a wood shed, I would certainly get it given the proximity of the score. If you don't have a splitter I would limit your take to the pole wood.

Sweet gum dries quickly but very difficult to split and the wood in my experience seems to deteriorate quickly if exposed.
 
Sweet gum is one of the fastest to rot species, it and poplar. It needs to be covered, even if just tarped or covered with tin. It gets mildewey like poplar and will rot fast even if off the ground.
 
One came down on my property during Irene. I had the tree service guy cut it up and leave it in the Ivy to rot. I'm a scrounger and walk past that wood to my truck to find better scrounges.
 
It's a really low density wood with some crazy grain pattern.
I wouldn't even attempt to split anything smaller than 6in rounds, they'll just break off halfway through.
Burn some as shoulder wood, but get it split/stacked and covered off the ground, otherwise you'll have a mushroom farm in a few months.
I burn a bit of it, but have a 30" at base tree I layed down next to the garage a year ago, split and burned some, the remainder is now covered with white shrooms.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

Based upon the input, I am passing on the Sweet Gum. I got a flat tire this morning, and after 2 hours at Les Schwab's Tires, I am running out of daylight. I have a 100' Douglas Fir standing dead scrounge lined up for today, and it's only about 3 or 4 miles away. It's supposed to snow here tonight and tomorrow in Western Oregon valleys, so I better get my butt going and at least get the thing knocked down and bucked. I can retrieve the wood Monday, MLK day.
 
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