Sounds obvious, but I finally "felt" green wood :)

[joefrompa]

Hi all,

Got about 2500 pounds (estimation) of brand-new elm from a neighbor. Felled about 2-3 weeks ago and cut into very large rounds.

I was figuring out how to cut them into sizes I could split with an axe. My axe barely even dented it (Fiskars, new, freshly sharpened) and definitely couldn't sink into these chunks.

Anyway, my FIL cut them down into about 10" high 30" rounds and I started chopping them with my axe to see how much effort it took to split them. Holy mother, I'll be worn out.

However, for the first time in my young chopping career, I truly felt green wood: Split, this stuff was palpably wet to the touch. Everything I've ever split before was dry feeling inside.

This stuff has been set aside for airing in smaller chunks until spring (lots of exposed surface area of the wood itself, not just the bark) and then it'll get 8-9 months of seasoning S/S.

On another note, it was also an excellent experience to look for the "knock". The fresh elm thudded, the ash split for a month (and laying on the ground for over a year before that) had a nice hollow knock to it.

Thought I'd share

Joe

 

[TreePointer]

It really has little to do with green or dry. There are many species that spit well when green and some that are more difficult to split when dry(er). Elm has has a twisted cross-linked grain that makes it difficult to split.

 

[raybonz]

Elm sucks unless you're the self abuse director there!

Ray

 

[joefrompa]

When the elm was brand new, I couldn't split it at all. Now that's it's age a bit, the axe will bite into it after about 3-4 chops and it starts to crack by about 6-7 chops in a line.

It's free fuel gents - I'll work up a sweat for it.

I was very surprised at how wet it was though...

 

[geoxman]

I love burning Elm but I would never attempt to split by hand. It is a bear even with my splitter!

 

[raybonz]

I love burning Elm but I would never attempt to split by hand. It is a bear even with my splitter!

It's easier to split atoms...

Ray

 

[Wood Duck]

Keep swinging. You'll eventually get most of it to split. You'll also get a good workout every day for the next five months.

 

[firefighterjake]

I love burning Elm but I would never attempt to split by hand. It is a bear even with my splitter!

+1 . . . love elm for burning . . . but wouldn't want to split it without the aid of my hydraulic splitter.

 

[Flatbedford]

This hand splitter leaves Elm to rot. Good luck with it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

well Joe, you will definitely get a nice workout. Maybe you'll lose a few pounds. It's nasty stuff when cut green.