Just got around to splitting the base logs of a large red oak that was standing dead for a couple years, then bucked for 2 more years. It's still some very nice wood, but the majority of the base logs (probably would have been the bottom 8' of the tree) were stringy. Worse than any sweet gum I've ever dealt with. Usually the straight grain of the red oak makes it a pleasure to manually split, but these were impossible. So, thank God for the hydraulic splitter. Some of this wood feels like tire rubber. Really weird. It'll cure and burn just fine in a couple years, though.
Most of the base logs were like this throughout:
But this last pic shows how some areas were encapsulated. This is a side-by-side split. The one on the left is domed (convex) and the one of the right is concave. Almost as if you could scoop it out.
Most of the base logs were like this throughout:
But this last pic shows how some areas were encapsulated. This is a side-by-side split. The one on the left is domed (convex) and the one of the right is concave. Almost as if you could scoop it out.