Toughest wood I've ever split (worse than gum) ID please so I can avoid it.

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WoodpileOCD

WoodpileOCD

Minister of Fire
Jan 19, 2011
722
Central NC
This was from a drive by neighborhood scrounge and some of what I split up yesterday. https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/91466/

I had tried one piece when I dropped it off just to see how it would do and it wouldn't budge even with a wedge. Hyd splitter got through it but not without some serious fights breaking out.

I'd really like to know what it is so I can be sure to pass on it next time if I'm not desperate. Thanks
 

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Twisty, gnarly Maple, IMO. Had something similar last fall and refused to return for more of the wood. Will burn well, but is it worth the struggle? Better be easy to get to in order to justify the extra split time. Won't stack worth a darn either.
 
kinda looks like hickory may be pecan, it's pretty knarly stuff either way.
 
BASOD said:
kinda looks like hickory may be pecan, it's pretty knarly stuff either way.
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I've cut and split hickory before and that's not what this was. Never worked with pecan before but I've seen a lot of them and this bark was totally different. When I got it, I thought it might be some kind of oak but the looks of the rounds but it's not any oak I've ever worked before. Thanks
 
It does look more like pecan.
It stalls(full length in HP stroke) my splitter even on moderate rounds.
Limbs/crotches you might as well forget about splitting
 
I'm gonna say pecan, too. That looks similar to maple bark but the heartwood is really dark on that stuff. Either way, I wouldn't pass it up if it is pecan, that is some fantastic outdoor cooking/smoker wood!! Suffer through and get all you can!!
 
Makes great pie, too!
 
Ugh. That gnarly maple is a killer. I took a large silver maple tree down in my yard that turned out to be a beast to split. I borrowed a 35-ton splitter and mostly crushed the wood apart rather than split. It seems like I have been burning uglies all winter. The wood did seem to be more dense than other normal silver maples that I have split and think it burned longer.

I would not knowingly scrounge that kind of wood though. It took a lot of time and effort. No matter what, it helped keep my family warm.
 
Not sure but could that be some kind of elm ?
 
Some of it looks like elm to me. When you say it's a horror to split, I think elm.
 
I bet that is sweetgum. Looks like it to me :<)).
 
Hickorynut said:
I bet that is sweetgum. Looks like it to me :<)).
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+1
 
Definately not sweetgum. The inside dark center looks like hickory or pecan. Did you happen to see the tree standing or is there another tree like it still standing ? Shape of the tree helps. Maybe ask the person you got it from.
 
looks like red maple and it is a big time SOB to split when green even with a hydo splitter it tears more then it splits, its easer to split when it drys a little.
 
Damnit said:
looks like red maple and it is a big time SOB to split when green even with a hydo splitter it tears more then it splits, its easer to split when it drys a little.
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I think i have some of the red maple and have been trying to figure out what it is for a while..really stringy..dark maroon when split..should be some good firewood i hope...have about a cord of it to split and not looking forward to it
 
??? The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split. I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length. It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.
 
That sure does not like like any red maple I have ever seen or split.
 
TreePointer said:
??? The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split. I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length. It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.
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+1
 
nrford said:
TreePointer said:
??? The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split. I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length. It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.
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+1
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+2
 
RORY12553 said:
I think i have some of the red maple and have been trying to figure out what it is for a while..really stringy..dark maroon when split..
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Red Maple I've split is light in color, not maroon, so I think you have something else there.

TreePointer said:
??? The red maple (Acer rubrum) I've been around is probably the easiest wood I've ever split. I don't have to penetrate much for a split to run down its length. It's pretty straight grained and not stringy.
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I got a Red last Summer that was a yard tree; That thing was an SOB to split. A woods tree I got was like you say, not stringy and split very easily by hand. The Red I got appears to have dried faster than anything else I got including White Ash and Black Cherry...
 
Woody Stover said:
RORY12553 said:
I think i have some of the red maple and have been trying to figure out what it is for a while..really stringy..dark maroon when split..
Click to expand...
Red Maple I've split is light in color, not maroon, so I think you have something else there.

Anybody have a website that will show you pictures of the bark & the tree split?
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Thanks for all the replies. I'm 100% positive it isn't gum as I have lots of experience with that. Pecan seems to be the favorite here but it was a yard tree and the lady said the tree cutters thought it was an oak. Defininitely not an oak but she certainly would have know if it was a pecan tree because they drop nuts which are VERY good eating. I've seen lots of pecan trees growing in groves here but are there other kinds that don't get the nuts that grow wild. The yard and house were cut out of the woods so it wasn't a planted tree. Haven't cut a lot of maple that I know of so I guess it could be that but my thoughts ran to elm because of how much I have read on here of what a SOB it is to split/tear.
Whatever it is it is split now and soon to be stacked so it will keep me and mine warm next year. Hope it dries well in a year.
 
The stringy splits and red core look to me like a maple. Possibly big leaf. Here is a pic of some big leaf that I got a few months ago. It is a PIA to split. The bark on mine was a bit different as it was from the newer growth of the branches but the inner wood looks like it. If the reddish color may turn golden after splitting and sitting in the sun a few weeks.\

1247lp0.jpg
 
rwhite said:
The stringy splits and red core look to me like a maple. Possibly big leaf. Here is a pic of some big leaf that I got a few months ago. It is a PIA to split. The bark on mine was a bit different as it was from the newer growth of the branches but the inner wood looks like it. If the reddish color may turn golden after splitting and sitting in the sun a few weeks.\

1247lp0.jpg
Click to expand...

That looks like what I have and man is it tough to split.
 
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