Worst wood to split

Anthony D, Is some of those logs you are having trouble splitting white inside. What i mean is the wood itself really white & very heavy?

Reason I ask is I also have a few of logs from a tri-axle load, that the bark looks like the one you show and my 26-ton splitter has a hard time with the large logs and is just turns into stringy crap.
I'm just hoping if i let the cut pieces sit all summer they will split normally.

Gooday Anthony hows your winter ??

Jags said:

Sorry that I don't have any bark to compare to, but the splits look a lot like this...and its elm.

Click to expand...

What kind of Elm do you have?

i am splitting some oak now that is like a corksrew, worst i have encountered in many years, how do i stack it, it is as hard as elm to split, i used to laugh at black powder splitting but

Anthony D said:

forest pirate said:

Sweet gum has monkey balls which are prickly little balls the size of a golf ball. see if these are on the ground near the tree. sometimes some will stay on the tree through the winter too. Also a leaf that looks somewhat of a maple but with 3 points. I just split some and your pics look just like it. black gum have no balls but has black berries and dark green crunchy foot ball shaped leaves. Just telling about the leaves for future reference. Is the log in your pic about 8" wide?

Click to expand...

Wish I could give more info about the tree in question , the logs were dropped off by local tree service . They mix their loads of lumber , kind off hit or miss . The log in the pic is about 8'' in dia . One good thing about splitting this wood , it leaves lots of rippings below the splitter nice fire starting material , once dried .
Thanks Anthony

Click to expand...

8" is the same size that I just split and the bark looks the same, thats why I guessed that but no telling for sure with out leaves or the monkey balls so could be elm too... My dad took out a whole hedge row of it and gave me some. real crap to split. But I burned some last year and it burned better then poplar and as long as red maple. The stuff he gave me was gum and it had those monkey balls still on it. a lot of people here in Delaware give it away sometimes because they don't want to split it. Elm too. I found that the small rounds of gum and elm burn great when they are not split, just need to season them longer. My 27 ton can split both but not as fast as oak or cherry. I don't think waiting longer makes them split any better. Just makes the splitter struggle more and still tears the wood up. I have some mixed in next years wood pile. I put it at the beginning and end of the pile for the fall and spring times. Good luck... oh yeah and sweet gum has 5 skinny points on the leaves. I messed up when I said 3. looks a lot like a japanesse red maple leafs shape.