Gum Tree
- Thread starter cptoneleg
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midwestcoast
Minister of Fire
I think Gum Tree is a name for some types of Eucalyptus? That sure ain't Eucalyptus.
Looks like Elm, splits like Elm...
Looks like Elm, splits like Elm...
raybonz
Minister of Fire
Looks like American Elm to me too and I hate that crap! Took all of it and tossed out of my woodstack, doesn't dry very good, sucks up water like a sponge.. Gonna get a burning permit and get rid of it.. Wasted lots of time and effort on that garbage wood!
Ray
Ray
midwestcoast
Minister of Fire
cptoneleg said:
Where abouts are you in north-west Virginia? I've never seen Sweet Gum west of the Blue Ridge. East of the Blue Ridge its plentiful. Its a bear to split, splits best when green, but even then its a pain.
Cluttermagnet
Minister of Fire
The 2nd shot next to the wagon shows the bark better. I'm also thinking Gum. Not sure if it's the Black Gum like I have in my yard. Black Gum is difficult to split by hand, but I've done it with a maul. A hydraulic splitter may handle it fine. This bark sure looks like Black Gum to me.
Archie
Feeling the Heat
I've dealt with it, and it is a pain. As a scrounger, I'm trying to get smarter with my wood ID so I can avoid stuff like this. Your solution sounds as good as any, saw it up and don't kill yourself trying to split it.
Wood Duck
Minister of Fire
That trunk looks like it could be either Sweet Gum (Liquidamber styraciflua) or Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica) or a couple of other trees. A Sweet Gum that size should have had some balls hanging on it. I think the wood is similar although the trees aren't related.
jackofalltrades
Member
The top pic looks more like Black gum and the bottom one seems more like Sweet gum, but it really doesn't matter. You will never be able to split either one of the very effectively. The sweet gum tends to spark pretty bad when you do burn it also. I have never had any black gum to burn so I can't speak to that part of it. If you have to have wood then its ok but if you can do something different I would be looking at that.
cptoneleg said:
So what is that, like Strasburg area? You shouldn't have sweetgum there unless its been planted - probably black gum. Fine wood if you can split it. Try taking off an edge instead of trying to split them down the middle. its a lot of work for the wood, but if its already cut, might as well finish the job.
Cluttermagnet
Minister of Fire
I've been burning some Black Gum this winter. It was a relatively small tree, maybe 8in dia trunk on average. It was difficult but doable to hand split with a maul. Seasoned pretty fast. My verdict: worth it, and I'd do it again, but I just wouldn't go out of my way to get more. Maple is much easier to work with, for about the same BTU's.
Looks like sweet gum to me, I've got a couple of cords and it was a pain even with a 22 ton splitter.......in fact some of the larger rounds wouldn't split down the middle, they had to be split (almost peeled) from the outside in.........
myzamboni
Minister of Fire
Burning sweetgum right now. That's the stuff. I split it with the Fiskars after it seasons in the round for a month. It makes fluffy ash.
That looks like snag some call it hornbeam at least that's what it's called here in Ma. It don't split it shreds years back we cut this wood and it was used for rollers for the fishing nets out of New Bedford now they use old truck tires. Some of the smaller ones were used as rollers for boats and moving houses very twisted but rot quick. It could be gum but looks like snag to me.
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