Black Gum

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corey21

Minister of Fire
Oct 28, 2010
2,249
Soutwest VA
Is it any count never heard much about it. just finished busting some this week for next winter.
 
i css some for my brother to burn. found it tougher than elm to split. brother says it gives medium to low heat and lots of ash. if you are talking about black gum, scientific name nyssa silvatica, no more for us.
 
Remmy122 said:
You sure its not sweet gum? Very common in our area (freaking every where)

From what I understand its junk wood that will rot just as soon as it seasons..... hoping Im wrong for your sake though!!!

http://images.yourdictionary.com/sweet-gum

If he was able to "bust" it (which I think of as splitting with a maul) it wasn't sweet gum. That stuff is darn near impossible with hydraulics. I've never split black gum.
 
lukem said:
Remmy122 said:
You sure its not sweet gum? Very common in our area (freaking every where)

From what I understand its junk wood that will rot just as soon as it seasons..... hoping Im wrong for your sake though!!!

http://images.yourdictionary.com/sweet-gum

If he was able to "bust" it (which I think of as splitting with a maul) it wasn't sweet gum. That stuff is darn near impossible with hydraulics. I've never split black gum.

I busted it with my axe my maul is loaned out to someone at the time.
 
Digging up this thread.

The stuff burn hot but fast like pine Just about went though all of it i have and as tough as it was to bust i think i will stay away from it after seeing how fast it burns.
 
I'm in the middle of burning through about a cord of gum that I split up after some storm damage. If it wasn't for the hydraulic splitter I would of never got it split. Supposedly it seasons fast and rots fast so I stacked mine under cover. It starts fast and burns pretty fast and it does leave a lot of ash. It also stinks like hell and would make an awful bonfire wood. If it wasn't for the fact that I had to clean up the storm damage and had no wood at all to my name I probably would of passed it over. But I really don't regret taking the time to split it up and stack it. At the end of the day it is heating my house just fine.
 
picked up a p/u truck load last week---leftovers from a powerline sandy cleanup. it looked like red oak (bark) from a distance, so i took the saw. as soon as i saw the soft white chips flying, i knew what mistake i had made. so i said screw it and cut it up and took it home. it splits tough---nowhere near as bad as sweetgum or elm (ughh) to me. got thru most of the pieces easy with a handful of them getting ignorant with the splitter. for me, it meant about a half cord of free wood and about two hr.s labor to cut, load, unload, and split---not bad to me, but if you have enough wood to be choosy, let it lie wherever you see it. now that i have a solid 3 yr. supply, i would drive right bye.
 
Yep i forgot to mention the smell. I would split wood that tough again but as fast it burns i would rather take pine over black gum.
 
Black wood gum is my favourite wood to collect. It's obviously nothing like the stuff you get over the water. This is one of the easiest woods to split and has a higher btu than oak or even hickory it also has a low moisture content ~ 25% and dries in 6 months (1 Aussie summer.) You don't get much as people like to use this for furniture etc.... i got about a 1/3 cord last week and didn't realise until i split it what it was - went back for more and it was gone...;hm if i find more i will be a happy chappy.

CAM00112.jpgCAM00115.jpg
 
Black wood gum is my favourite wood to collect. It's obviously nothing like the stuff you get over the water. This is one of the easiest woods to split and has a higher btu than oak or even hickory it also has a low moisture content ~ 25% and dries in 6 months (1 Aussie summer.) You don't get much as people like to use this for furniture etc.... i got about a 1/3 cord last week and didn't realise until i split it what it was - went back for more and it was gone...;hm if i find more i will be a happy chappy.

View attachment 89750View attachment 89751

That is some nice looking wood there. Guessing we don't have it in the US. Really amazing how dark the heart is.
 
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