Last year at this time I got a nice supply of soft woods. Pine, Basswood and some Cottonwood. I decided just to cut them into rounds, some big and some small, and let them sit out for one year and split them then. The other day I started splitting. The Pine and Basswood split super easy. I thought the Cottonwood would be the same. WRONG..Just as difficult as the first day I got it. The only beneficial grace was the bark peeled off like a banana skin. The Cottonwood is coming in at 30% moisture while the Pine and Basswood are in the teens. Lesson learned with Cottonwood. Split now rather that later