Splitting Maple

[basswidow]

Last friday, a tree service dumped a load of Maple logs on my lawn down close to the street.

Saturday after my son's Basketball game, I bucked it all. I took me about three hours, since I had to replace my bar (tip sprocket siezed). Most of the pieces were huge for my little 16 inch saw, but I got it done. All the rounds were too big to lift.

Sunday, my idea was to split each round once, to make it a size I could lift into my truck and move to my processing area. I didn't want these rounds to sit and kill the grass where they were and I didn't want the neighbors to complain about an eyesore pile of wood. Plus - I didn't want any of it to walk (which was the least of my worries considering the size of the rounds). People see cut wood by the road and they assume we want it gone.

So,

I faced each round up on it's best side and tried to eyeball good lines to take with each one. I used my saw to make about a bar size cut into each - to use as a wedge starter. I put my wedge in closer to the edge and pounded away using my 10 lb sledge.

Good lord, green maple is hefty. The clean rounds were somewhat easy, but some rounds were just down right ugly and were a beast to break. Took me another 3 hours and 3 truck loads to move it to my processing area.

I've split oak and locust rounds that were too big to lift and they were a breeze compared to this maple (silver maple). Usually a whack or two to get the wedge to bite and one swift blow to break it. Not with this green maple. A good 10 to 20 blows to break them! I'm gonna enjoy taking a splitter to this stuff for working me like it did.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, once you split with a hydraulic splitter it will be difficult to go back to splitting by hand. Like you stated, some will split easy and then there are the other kind.

Sounds like you have a good find with that tree service.

 

[basswidow]

I've rented a splitter twice. There's just some wood that you've got to do with a hydraulic splitter rather then splitting by hand. This wood falls into that category. Once I halved these rounds with the sledge and wedge, I took a couple of swings with the axe. It splits alright - but it's tougher then other wood I've split. Perhaps because its so green? A guy at tractor supply warned me that I need to get this maple split soon or it will be even more difficult to split? Anyone ever experience this with maple? I think he was trying to sell a splitter.

I gather up enough srounged wood to justify a splitter rental and then try to split it all in a day. Usually there is more then I can get done and the rest just gets done by hand. I will start cherry picking the ugly stuff to use the splitter on and leave the easy stuff to do by hand when I find I am running out of time.

I'd like to own a splitter rather then rent one so I don't have to do it all in a day. This will be my 3rd rental. That's money that could be going to buying a splitter. I was looking at the Husky 22 ton. Maybe I'll use this years tax refund. I was also considering selling or trading my camper or boat for a splitter. Either way, now is peak season and not a good time to buy a splitter. They should be on sale come summer? I am always looking for a sale.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

I have been splitting alot of maple by hand, I never use a wedge, and I have been finding it pretty easy not matter the size of the round. I have trouble telling the maples apart, I understand sugar maple is the toughest. So far I have not found a tough one to split. I am using a Fiskars and a Monster Maul, they both make short order of it. Last night I got home aroung 5:30 and by 6:30 I had split about a face cord by 20 inch pieces.

 

[pyper]

A year and a half ago a Silver Maple in our yard didn't leaf out so I cut it down. It was a bear to split. 12" rounds needed a wedge driven through them. The wedge often went all the way from one end to the other and the round still wasn't completely split -- needed to be beat on from the side with a maul before the one side came loose from the other.

I never thought about cutting a groove for the wedge. I whack a round with the maul once or twice and then put the wedge on the largest crack and beat it with a 3 lb hammer until it's set.

 

[basswidow]

It's interesting, because I hear so much conflicting information about wood types. This maple (I think it's silver maple) is one tough wood. Toughest I've messed with with the exception of the stringy gum or elm I could only bust with a splitter last year and then chainsaw'd the splits apart.

I can hit these maple rounds with the maul and it will bounce back at me. I can take an axe and go around the outside and work small splits off this way, but it's still not easy by any means. Once I get the splitter fired up - I'll have my way with them and I will take great pleasure in making little splits from these big rounds.

 

[ecocavalier02]

i had a red maple cut down here at my house about 2years ago i waited till the following winter to to split about 6 months later. it was tuff some was easy and like you said some was a bear. just a lot of nots in the freking thing because theres so many places on the tree where it branched off. plus the bottom half of the tree was about 36 inches round. my father and i could barely lift them on the truck to get them in the back yard.

 

[yanksforever]

Yup...it sounds like it is time for a nice hydraulic splitter...if not for this year maybe next. Tell the wife
to have Santa bring you one. But you'll have to be real good to get one of them! :lol:

 

[Archer39]

i split about 3/4 of a cord of sugar maple this weekend in about 2 hours with my fiskars. It was about 26" at the bottom so not to huge but large enough. the large pieces i always find easier to split the the smaller ones.

 

[rathmir]

I can't speak for any maples besides Red and Silver, but my god they are both a sonofa....

The red maple I scrounged a few months back - I would hit it with the maul (8 lb) and it would just bounce back at me. I finally ended up noodling it down to smaller pieces (this must have been a huge old tree) and was able to split the smaller pieces.

The silver maple was a PITA but in a different way. I would hit it with the maul and it would just sink in about 2 inches and stick. No cracks, just stick. I have my suspicions that that stuff got punky though (even though I had it sitting on a pallet) since I left it uncovered in the round for most of the spring summer. It did have some spalting (black streaks of rot just beginning) in the wood.

Either way, I feel for you, and I've been looking at picking up a ramsplitter electric myself. I've read some good reviews of them here, and they're about the same price as the huskees at TSC so I am trying to make the decision about portability (gas) vs ease of maintenance (electric). I think in the end ease of maintenance will win out, as I've already got enough gas motors to deal with...

In any event good luck in your travails. Don't let that maple push you around!

 

[westkywood]

I just had a Red Maple cut down. I used a splitter to split it so I dont know how tough it would have been doing it by hand. The splitter would just have to go into the wood maybe 1-2 inches and it split all the way down. I noticed moving it around that it was quite a bit lighter than the Oak I had just split the week before.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Last friday, a tree service dumped a load of Maple logs on my lawn down close to the street.

Saturday after my son's Basketball game, I bucked it all. I took me about three hours, since I had to replace my bar (tip sprocket siezed). Most of the pieces were huge for my little 16 inch saw, but I got it done. All the rounds were too big to lift.

Sunday, my idea was to split each round once, to make it a size I could lift into my truck and move to my processing area. I didn't want these rounds to sit and kill the grass where they were and I didn't want the neighbors to complain about an eyesore pile of wood. Plus - I didn't want any of it to walk (which was the least of my worries considering the size of the rounds). People see cut wood by the road and they assume we want it gone.

So,

I faced each round up on it's best side and tried to eyeball good lines to take with each one. I used my saw to make about a bar size cut into each - to use as a wedge starter. I put my wedge in closer to the edge and pounded away using my 10 lb sledge.

Good lord, green maple is hefty. The clean rounds were somewhat easy, but some rounds were just down right ugly and were a beast to break. Took me another 3 hours and 3 truck loads to move it to my processing area.

I've split oak and locust rounds that were too big to lift and they were a breeze compared to this maple (silver maple). Usually a whack or two to get the wedge to bite and one swift blow to break it. Not with this green maple. A good 10 to 20 blows to break them! I'm gonna enjoy taking a splitter to this stuff for working me like it did.

Rock Maple is what we've got most of around here, and it comes by its name honestly.

I haven't made a study of it myself, but the general consensus in this area is that it's easiest to split when it's green, and the more it seasons, the harder it gets. I had a guy recently flat-out decline a job hand-splitting some 18-inch rock maple rounds I can't handle myself when he found out the tree had been down for a year. I still haven't gotten 'em split because they're in a place that's inaccessible by vehicle and they're much to heavy for me to lift and move to where I can get a splitter to. Grrrr.

 

[dirttracker]

I've only split sugar and black maple around here. It splits easier after it's dried a 6 mos to a year, most of it I used to split with an axe if it was not too big around. 90% of what I use here now is elm, so most things split easier than what I'm used to.