Advice on splitting Hackberry

[Qvist]

I just had a 90 or so year old hackberry taken down. It's about 2.5 ft in diameter and very difficult to split. Also lots of limbs. Does Hackberry get any easier to split as it dries? I have been splitting the rounds with a chainsaw. I have been thinking a splitter for the rest, and I have never used one before. It's hard splitting.... Even with wedges and sledge. There's some walnut there too. No problems with that.

 

[Stinkpickle]

Hackberry can get really stringy, like elm. I would use a splitter, just in case.

 

[Corey]

Advise is the same as all other wood...

1) Use a power splitter. Hydro, kinetic, electric or what ever else you have will substantially reduce the workload.
2) If #1 is unavailable, and you're manually splitting - no matter how big the round, there is always a spot 4-6 inches from the outer edge. Hit it there and work to cleave off a slab of wood. Once that happens, rotate and repeat. Ultimately you'll get down to a manageable 'center core'. THEN you can aim for the center and split it in half.

 

[weatherguy]

I've been having my troubles with hickory so I'm just gonna rent a splitter one weekend, trying to split it with a sledge and wedges is too time consuming, my advice is rent a splitter and knock it off in a few hours. I have 4 cords to split so the cost is worth it, looks like you have a lot there too so probably worth the cost.

 

[Qvist]

I don't have a splitter, but I am looking at purchasing an older one or renting. I've never needed one, but I need two people just to start the wedges into the large rounds. There is quite a bit there. There's absolutely no hope splitting by hand without wedges, the maul just bounces off the twisted grain.

 

[Simonkenton]

I got two 18 inch hickory logs dropped off in my yard. I am a serious wood splitter with the maul, but I couldn't lay a glove on the hickory. Since then I have just stayed away from hickory. Guess I need to get an electric splitter.

 

[FTG-05]

I modified my Huskee/Speeco log splitter to deal with Shagbark Hickory's stringy hard-to-split wood.

I added a 2" baseplate to the anvil. This shortened the stroke (and lost 2" of capacity) but gained a far closer split before the wedge reached it's end stroke.

The 2nd mod was to add "wings" to the wedge. When I did it, I also added length to the wedge to make it about 12" or so. The new wings are closer to the blade and are wider. So they both start sooner and split wider than the OEM wedge.

Pics:

Original wedge:

Modified wedge:

 

[Prof]

I don't have much experience with hackberry, but I have a fair amount with hickory---it doesn't split. Unless... you are willing to pound a wedge until your arms are spent (hydraulics would likely help here, but I wouldn't know). There are some exceptions, but get ready to hit some stuff and you can cancel your gym membership. I mostly split beech and hemlock these days. Most will split with my Fiskars, but I have an assortment of wedges ready to go. Noodling is also an option. I get some bedding for the chickens when I choose this option--this is why I cut with canola oil in the saw, but I digress...

 

[Donk4kyv]

Wedges don't work well for me. I have far better results with so-called "grenades", the cone-shaped thingies with sharp pointed end, pounded with a sledgehammer. I have used them with the sledgehammer to split 2 ft or more diameter segments of trunk. This usually requires strategically placing 2 or 3 grenades to get the best mechanical advantage. I usually use the chainsaw to first make a radial cut to give the wood room to give when the grenade sinks in. After that, splitting additional sections is usually a piece of cake. Picked up a used John Deere power splitter last year, but larger diameter trunk segments still have to be split at least into 2 or 3 sections first.

 

[Simonkenton]

I love the wood grenades. I have 2 of them.

 

[butkus1801]

I don't have much experience with hackberry, but I have a fair amount with hickory---it doesn't split. Unless... you are willing to pound a wedge until your arms are spent (hydraulics would likely help here, but I wouldn't know). There are some exceptions, but get ready to hit some stuff and you can cancel your gym membership. I mostly split beech and hemlock these days. Most will split with my Fiskars, but I have an assortment of wedges ready to go. Noodling is also an option. I get some bedding for the chickens when I choose this option--this is why I cut with canola oil in the saw, but I digress...

Yes cancel the gym membership, haha.

Qvist- This was a few months ago, wondering how it went. You can also noodle a few inches to give you a headstart with wedges. If it's like shagbark hickory then it needs to be dry to split, preferably very dry. Some wood splits better wet, like black walnut. Hickory and stringy woods need to be dry. A few months in the sun and wind, off the ground would help. This reply also has unrelated good advice on canola oil. It's commonly used for bar and chain oil in europe; I started using canola this year too, way cheaper etc. just have to add some other oil below freezing.

 

[Qvist]

I'll have to try the canola oil. I like the idea. I have tried noodling some, it binds up my bar sprocket all the time but it doable. The wedges stick into the rounds better now that's its drier. so its a bit easier but it's still all sledge and wedge. The plan is cut it all to length, quarter it with sledge and wedge to pick it up and then rent or buy a hydraulic splitter for the rest. I have been cutting and quartering it. Definitely not easy.

 

[Qvist]

Another update. I let it sit out all summer, it splits much better now after its dried. The huge Vs don't split at all though, will probably throw a good potion of them in the woods. It's easier to get a different tree... I tried to buy a splitter, but the cylinder was rusted internally and leaked and could not be rebuilt. A new cylinder was more than the unit was worth. $400 down the drain on the splitter and a lot of work trying to fix it. (Getting the engine running abd new tires) I scrapped it. Very frustrating.

 

[Vg3200p]

Me and a buddy tried to manually split some fresh long hackberry rounds once. I bet we hit 1 piece 100 times and it didn't split. We seasoned it in rounds for 1 or 2 years. Then it was easy. I split all my wood by hand and besides noodling off pieces of the edge by saw or axe the only other advice I have is cut your rounds really short like 8 to 10 inches tall. I do that on alot of the bigger stuff I get cause sometimes it's to heavy to move otherwise

 

[stoveliker]

I don't know hackberry, but I do know 10" rounds. I hate them. Both for stacking and for stove.l loading.

So when I got those, I split them, and donate them to elderly neighbors with an itty bitty stove.

 

[Stinkpickle]

Somebody learned about splitting hackberry two years ago during the great Iowa derecho, so I took advantage and bought it from him cheap. I’m gonna light some up tonight.

 

[Qvist]

I have seriously thought about giving it away. At the rate I'm going its going to rot before I split it. Sounds bad but I'd almost be relieved if it rotted. I usually cut to 16 inches long. This tree is a bear, I have a 50cc saw with 16 inch bar that has always worked but it's to small for this. I have to quarter it before I can move it. I have quartered most of the trunk, except for where the main leaders came off.

 

[Vg3200p]

I have seriously thought about giving it away. At the rate I'm going its going to rot before I split it. Sounds bad but I'd almost be relieved if it rotted. I usually cut to 16 inches long. This tree is a bear, I have a 50cc saw with 16 inch bar that has always worked but it's to small for this. I have to quarter it before I can move it. I have quartered most of the trunk, except for where the main leaders came off.

Some time I cheat on really knotty or pieces with multiple limbs/crotches and just use my chainsaw to (split) them. Usually leave these types really big as good overnight stokers

 

[neverbilly]

Hmmm, I don't recall having trouble splitting hackberry with my hydraulic splitter and it was green. If I come across another one, will take note.

 

[Qvist]

Got it cut up into managable sections yesterday. Now on to splitting it. We were able to stack some of the smaller pieces already.