What wood is the worst to split

[hardwood715]

I was told to stand elm up in the winter time, let the water go into the wood, after it freezes it almost splits itself, Warren(The Elm Master) is this true? PS. Should I avoid Ashleighs when looking for new stove?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I agree with elm. However, for those who insist on splitting it, do not split it through the heart. Always take slices off the edges and it will split "easier." Still is a beatch to work with though but we burn a lot of it here.

 

[jjbaer]

Elm.

I vote for Elm.......my axe bounced off it.....had to slice a path about 1/4" deep with the chain saw and then use a wedge......buried one wedge and had to use a second......got that stuck also and got out the DeWalt battery operated saw to free the wedges.....then continued with the wedges and after 20 min I had it split......NASTY stuff.......


BTW.........Corie.......saw your bottom line about Bush and his poll ratings...I think Congress's rating is in the sh*&&^r maybe even at or below that of the Presidents......

 

[bcnu]

Last year was my first to split wood. Now I understand why the maul merely bounced off some of the stuff - ELM :ahhh: I couldn't even slab off any pieces. I tried it again yesterday with same results...now those few pieces are in a pile by themslelves(along with some knotty gnarly stuff) I may rent a splitter, but will more than likely give it away.

 

[Gark]

I say American elm is toughest to split, though I've never got into gum. Neighbor had an Am. elm falled and I (wisely) borrowed another neighbor's hydraulic machine to split it for him. Geeze, Louise! Make a split, rotate it, split again, flip it over and do again as above. Then whack it with an axe to break away the remaining fibers. Have resorted to rip-sawing the stuff (making 'curly-fries') when a splitter is not available. Spent 1/2 hour splitting three chunks of it with a maul. Frustrating stuff!

 

[DiscoInferno]

If we're comparing straight-grained logs to straight-grained logs, then I suppose elm wins. But I spent part of this weekend working on some knotty pine and some "lumpy" red maple (yard tree), and those were both a huge pain. Both had been drying for a little while, and were very stringy in addition to all the knots and weird swirls. I'd rather split straight elm. And it's not like either the pine or the maple is worth all that effort...

 

[wg_bent]

If we're comparing straight-grained logs to straight-grained logs, then I suppose elm wins. But I spent part of this weekend working on some knotty pine and some "lumpy" red maple (yard tree), and those were both a huge pain. Both had been drying for a little while, and were very stringy in addition to all the knots and weird swirls. I'd rather split straight elm. And it's not like either the pine or the maple is worth all that effort...

Yes, some pine can be as frustrating as elm. And worse, it doesn't have as many BTU's. White pine is right up there with elm for spliting difficulty, the thing that puts elm over the top is the clinkers when you burn it. They stick to the insulating firebrick and destroy it very quickly. At least the pine just dissapears.

 

[slowzuki]

Elm and dried pasture spruce. Some of that old pasture spruce will mash complelety in the splitter (6" diameter ram on a 3000 psi pump) without splitting apart. A splittered mess.

 

[WOODBUTCHER]

1. Shagbark Hickory
2. ELM
3. Hornbeam
3. Old twisted Swamp Maple

 

[northcountry]

Isn't Elm a "cold-burning" wood? And if so, why even bother?

I found an old poem (author unknown) which I have used as a guide in selecting firewood types over the years. It has served me well - and has steered me away from elm:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year.

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for long 'tis laid away.

But Ash new or Ash old

Is fit for a queen with a crown of Gold.



Birch and fir logs burn too fast,

Blaze up bright and do not last.

It is by the Irish said

Hawthorn Bakes the sweetest bread.

Elmwood burns like church yard mold,

E'en the very flames are cold.

But Ash green or Ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown.



Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke.

Applewood will scent your room

With an incense like perfume.

Oaken logs if dry and old,

Keep away the winters cold.

But Ash wet or Ash dry

A king shall warm his slippers by

 

[DoubleClutch]

Sweet gum. It doesn't split, period. Gotta use a chainsaw and rip it.

 

[bceureka]

Dont have elm or gum, but Eucalyptus sounds like the gum description-- a good level round makes a great chopping block. Green you can split with a hydraulic splitter, but even a week or two and the maul just bounces back at your forehead. Need a good oak coal bed to even burn. Leaves "butts" of unburned in stove.
Tough stuff man!

 

[drhiii]

Cottonwood. We have gobs of it around here and when I first started burning wood, I thought what a boon! I beat on some logs that were only 12" long until I tore tendons. I thought it was manly. What a dork. Come to find it has remarkably low BTU output, hard as hell to start, and it stinks stinks stinks. And for all that work. I vote cottonwood, over elm, and I have had a lot of elm handed to me. Doesn't compare. Still work, but not nearly the battle as with cottonwood.

The best is pinon. Magnificent to split, the scent it beeeoootiful, and it burns hot hot hot. 1 pinon log takes one whack to split and burns 5 times as long, with far more heat output.

You can't give cottonwood away out here, now that I have learned some of the ropes.

 

[Eric Johnson]

Another vote for elm. In fact, twas ever thus. I read the other day that they uncovered a petrified forest, and there was a chunk of elm sitting there with a bunch of maul-marks on it--both ends!

Actually, the trunks of most big, old yard trees are very difficult to split, in my experience. They tend to be very gnarly because they grow out in the yard all by themselves, and thus develop a tough, fibrous truck to keep from blowing over. Trees cut in a dense stand are always cleaner and easier to split. That's why you should always pay less for yard trees--that and all the metal they contain.

 

[BrotherBart]

The worst wood to split is someone else's.

 

[DriftWood]

PETRIFIED WOOD ;-P

Most of that stuff splits easily, its well aged, burns like a rock though.

 

[homebrewz]

The worst wood to split is the stuff thats currently sitting on the back of my truck.

The easiest is the stuff that I say I'm going to split next year.

 

[Harley]

The easiest is the stuff that I say I'm going to split next year.

Yup - ain't that the truth... actually getting quite a little collection of the ones I just let roll down the hill. By the time I get desperate enough to split them up - they will probably be good compost material.

 

[restorer]

I don't burn splits, so I have held back, but I do split wood for my business. I will without reservation say there are four grown in America that I would call the toughest. Mountain Laural, or Linden when dried is impossible. Hornbeam or Plane wood is the same. Let it dry and you are in trouble. Osage Orange or Hedge when dry is a tool users nightmare. And last is my special favorite, from the Southwest Deserts, Ironwood.

I think many if split green would not be bad, and all except the ironwood would be great to burn, They are all unusually dense, requiring extra time to dry, they don't like being put in a kiln.

 

[restorer]

As if I haven't caused enough groans with my post here, I have to relate a little story. A close friend who passed a few years ago, posed a question to me. Basically he wanted to know if I have ever run into a wood I couldn't utilize or burn. He had come across a stash of wood for burning, but was having problems processing it. His homelite saw stalled when cutting it, he couldn't split it, and what few pieces he did get fire ready, wouldn't burn. I said bring me a piece and I would see what we had. What he brought me was a piece of wood, black as bog oak or ebony. The heaviest wood I have ever seen, and a tool man's nightmare. I ran a few informal tests, I could not hand saw it, bogged down the 3hp table saw, the breaker on the 5hp radial saw tripped. I took a froe and mallet and it laughed at me. But I thought, burning is the real test. I started with a small softwood fire and put a 1 inch thick slab, cut by using a 2 1/2 inch builders slick and a 4lb. burl mallet. It put the fire out. I got pissed and too a propane torch and set it afire, smoked, but no burn. I took the same chunk and baked it at 400 degrees for three hours, the moisture was about 10%. Fired up the mapp gas torch and tried to set it off, got a glow, but no clean burn. I was done. I have no idea what the wood was, but I can tell you this.

The wood my friend got was dunnage, the protective crating from cast gate valves (24 inch and bigger) that were cast in India or Pakistan. They were shipped from Asia to Utah. The crates are removed and the casting are aged (usually two years) before they are machined and faced. There was on the property a pile thirty feet high and fifty feet long of the crating. Last I heard, the stack was still there. The wood starts as green, and that is why the valves are removed ASAP, the shrinking wood had broken some valves when left to sit. Crates were removed using a pneumatic drill with a sharpened chisel head working on the nails, not the wood.

I might say, that like some tropicals I have run into, this wood at 10% moisture sank like a stone in water.

 

[jjbaer]

I don't burn splits, so I have held back, but I do split wood for my business. I will without reservation say there are four grown in America that I would call the toughest. Mountain Laural, or Linden when dried is impossible. Hornbeam or Plane wood is the same. Let it dry and you are in trouble. Osage Orange or Hedge when dry is a tool users nightmare. And last is my special favorite, from the Southwest Deserts, Ironwood.

I think many if split green would not be bad, and all except the ironwood would be great to burn, They are all unusually dense, requiring extra time to dry, they don't like being put in a kiln.

I think Osage Orange (also known as Hedgewood or Hedge Apple) is the highest BTU wood in the world.......something like 33 million BTU's/cord......and it makes a nice "crackling" sound when burned........splits somewhat easily.....very heavy but dries quickly...... burned some the other night......

 

[restorer]

I don't burn splits, so I have held back, but I do split wood for my business. I will without reservation say there are four grown in America that I would call the toughest. Mountain Laural, or Linden when dried is impossible. Hornbeam or Plane wood is the same. Let it dry and you are in trouble. Osage Orange or Hedge when dry is a tool users nightmare. And last is my special favorite, from the Southwest Deserts, Ironwood.

I think many if split green would not be bad, and all except the ironwood would be great to burn, They are all unusually dense, requiring extra time to dry, they don't like being put in a kiln.

I think Osage Orange (also known as Hedgewood or Hedge Apple) is the highest BTU wood in the world.......something like 33 million BTU's/cord......and it makes a nice "crackling" sound when burned........splits somewhat easily.....very heavy but dries quickly...... burned some the other night......

Relatively, when it's green it can split easily, but friend in Kansas call it post wood. Used for fence posts and survey markers, as in section markers. They say, "What you see is what you get." if it's dry down or standing, they won't waste their tools. BTW, DON'T get stuck with one of the thorns. I had a sore on my arm for three months from a scratch. A very real American wood to love and respect.

 

[wg_bent]

Isn't Elm a "cold-burning" wood? And if so, why even bother?

I found an old poem (author unknown) which I have used as a guide in selecting firewood types over the years. It has served me well - and has steered me away from elm:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year.

Chestnut's only good they say,

If for long 'tis laid away.

But Ash new or Ash old

Is fit for a queen with a crown of Gold.



Birch and fir logs burn too fast,

Blaze up bright and do not last.

It is by the Irish said

Hawthorn Bakes the sweetest bread.

Elmwood burns like church yard mold,

E'en the very flames are cold.

But Ash green or Ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown.



Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke.

Applewood will scent your room

With an incense like perfume.

Oaken logs if dry and old,

Keep away the winters cold.

But Ash wet or Ash dry

A king shall warm his slippers by

Cold? Last time I checked, all fire from wood was capable of temps in excess of 1800 degrees. Elm heats my home about 30% of the time (ie 30% of my pile is elm) I hate splitting it, but it's free and heats well. It's no oak or locust or apple, but it's better than cherry, and about the same as maple or ash.

 

[MrGriz]

I'll take any unwanted elm. I don't mind running it through the splitter and I do like the way it burns.

Of course if the price is non-existant, I'll take just about any wood that's not rotten.

 

[detmurds]

Madrona is the very worst if not split after cutting into rounds! ....I approve of President Bush.....many of you will too when it is all said and done.