Question about wood splitting

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egclassic

Feeling the Heat
Jan 1, 2011
261
SW Ohio
Is it easier to split wood (by hand) right after it is cut, or after it has sat around for awhile (in "round" form)?
I'm going to be cutting down a walnut tree (not sure which type yet) tomorrow.
I know it will speed the seasoning process the sooner I split but, been working alot and not sure I "feel" like splitting for awhile.
 
Walnut gets very hard when it sets around.
 
depends on wood. I tend to split it all as soon as I can. I have mostly Oak, white and red, so the sooner the better for me.(because of seasoning time) Now that I have 20 cord it is far less of an issue. If you have the wood you need for this and next season, no real need to rush the splitting, but keep it off the ground if you can.

Shawn
 
Most wood should be split right away. If not, I set it aside for months and it ussually gets hydrolic help.

Different trees, even the same kind from the same area may respond differently.

ATB,
Mike
 
I agree with the other responses, split your rounds as soon as you can to begin the drying process. Some species split better when partially dried some don't, your walnut for instance would give you some trouble.
 
of course.............if you wait til the wood is ROTTEN, it'll be rather soft (lol)...........but THEN it ain't worth burnin anyway!!

-Soupy1957
 
soupy1957 said:
of course.............if you wait til the wood is ROTTEN, it'll be rather soft (lol)...........but THEN it ain't worth burnin anyway!!

-Soupy1957
.

Well no, I was not planning on letting it sit long enough to rot, I've just been so busy at work and have a lot of things to get done this fall before the weather turns. I do not mind splitting it this winter, just wasn't sure if it would be harder to do so if it sits for a month or two( can't imagine it would even begin to rot in two months)
 
egclassic said:
soupy1957 said:
of course.............if you wait til the wood is ROTTEN, it'll be rather soft (lol)...........but THEN it ain't worth burnin anyway!!

-Soupy1957
.

Well no, I was not planning on letting it sit long enough to rot, I've just been so busy at work and have a lot of things to get done this fall before the weather turns. I do not mind splitting it this winter, just wasn't sure if it would be harder to do so if it sits for a month or two( can't imagine it would even begin to rot in two months)

It won't. Don't sweat it. It will be ready when you are.
 
I am not sure if it will be a little harder or not, but walnut is usually not much trouble to split so I don't think it matters much.
 
My only experience with letting rounds sit too long before splitting was with some pignut hickory. For some reason, I didn't get around to splitting about eight 7-8 inch rounds for about three years. When I tried to whack 'em, they just laughed as both my 10 pound maul and my Fiskers SS bounced right off, hardly making a dent.

So, I just put a couple on top each night for my overnight burns on the coldest nights. They did great! But, in the future, I would split them right away.

Of course, that's no longer much of a concern since I got my new Huskee 35 ton splitter.
 
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