I was offered a load of gum a while back. I split a small round (8" across, 12" long) and after about 20 attempts with my wood grenade decided that life was too short to bother with any more. I really had no idea that some woods were virtually unsplittable.Gum that has been sitting in rounds for 6+ months. Had to take an axe to it while splitting just to get it to come apart.
That's interesting ! I've been splitting some locust lately , and it split well . But then again it wasn't seasoned . That might have been the difference . To me it's elm, sycamore ,and sweet gum.Locust on doubt about it. I had some seasoned locust I cut into 4" rounds and still couldn't split it. Stringiest wood I ever tried to split!
The worst I have split, green American Elm. Cottonwood sounds worse though.
The discussion on elm got me wondering. What kind of wood is hard to split. Elm apparently has a spiral type grain. Others? What are the 5 worst?
Some of my hophornbeam spirals round and round,,horrible to split. But perfect firewood, and the larger rounds, one round burns all night in my stove.To the list I would add American Hophornbeam (aka, Ironwood), though it ussualy stays small so you can burn it in the round. And also Apple.
Virtually anything that has grown in very tough conditions (slow growth) and lots of wind (twisted/knarled wood) is horrible to try to split.
To the list I would add American Hophornbeam (aka, Ironwood), though it ussualy stays small so you can burn it in the round. And also Apple.
Virtually anything that has grown in very tough conditions (slow growth) and lots of wind (twisted/knarled wood) is horrible to try to split.
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