I find fresh wood easier to split then dry, contrary to others...

[Amin1992]

Hey yall. I'm a bit confused about this, as it seems to differ from every opinion I read about on here and on the internet.

Bit of an informal experiment I ended up doing by accident over the last year or so. Had two very large Red Oaks die on the property, both similar - dead 2+ years standing, dropped and cut into 10 foot logs. I handled the two trees in different ways though.

For some of the logs, I would buck them into 16" lengths, and stack them until I could split them. This was anywhere from the next week, to the next year, and everything in between.

For other logs, I bucked the same way, then immediately split and stacked them.

I found that for the rounds that had been bucked and then I waited to split, they were extremely difficult to split (I split all wood by hand with a maul). I'm talking 10+ hits before cracking open. My maul would just keep bouncing off. For rounds I had just bucked minutes ago, they were splitting almost instantly: 1-3 hits and they popped open!

I started to notice this trend, and found something even more interesting: when freshly bucking the end of a log that had sat out for a few months, I'd take it over to split. If I tried splitting the end that was at the edge of the log (dried out, checked, grey) it would take, again, 10+ hits. If I just flipped the round around, and tried splitting the fresh, light, unchecked side, it would again split instantly.

I had always read that wood is harder to split when fresh, and easier if allowed to dry a bit. But I'm finding the opposite. I even tried this on some Ash I had and though it was easier to split overall, I did find that dried out rounds took more hits with a maul than freshly bucked. Any ideas what's going on?

 

[johneh]

I also find fresh-cut wet oak easer to split
than the oak that has been stored in rounds for any length of time

 

[Stinkpickle]

Yep, that’s probably dependent on the type.

 

[brenndatomu]

Yep, that’s probably dependent on the type.

Agree...if you ever try to split fresh cut elm, you won't make that mistake again! Better off bucking it an leaving it lay a year (unless it was dead standing and barkless)

 

[bigealta]

I split as soon as i cut it. Mostly oak, locust, some cherry and maple. Fresh is best for me for both splitting and immediately starting the drying clock.

 

[Poindexter]

For birch and spruce, the greener/ wetter they are, the easier they are to split.

 

[CatfishHunter]

I guess that I've never tried to split fresh birch. I split hundreds of rounds each winter that have sat for 1-2 years and it rarely takes more than one hit. Mine is all stored in an airy log-sided woodshed.

Now pine does NOT split easier when wet. It always needs to dry out the sap.

I've also generally found that wood splits better when the air temperature is below 0F.

 

[Hoytman]

Wet wood splits easily with an ax below 15F as it’s frozen through at that point. One smack and it flies apart. Let it thaw...and if it’s super wet from sitting in snow and being rained on...you won’t split it when thawed without many attempts. Let it freeze solid again...it pops right apart with one hit of the ax.

 

[Simonkenton]

I have always found fresh cut wood easier to split and am baffled when someone claims different.

 

[brenndatomu]

I have always found fresh cut wood easier to split and am baffled when someone claims different.

Ever split fresh cut/green Elm?

 

[Doublebogey]

I have had similar experiences with oak, soft maple, locust and Hackberry off the top of my head.

 

[Simonkenton]

I have never cut an elm tree. Do they grow in N. Carolina?

 

[johneh]

Ever split fresh cut/green Elm

That I do and is the reason I bought a Hydraulic splitter
Don't matter if is dry or wet, most definitely the worst
wood to split around here

 

[Doublebogey]

I have never cut an elm tree. Do they grow in N. Carolina?

They cover the entire eastern half of the US. They are everywhere. They are a hassle to split even with a hydraulic splitter.

 

[brenndatomu]

I have never cut an elm tree. Do they grow in N. Carolina?

They cover the entire eastern half of the US. They are everywhere. They are a hassle to split even with a hydraulic splitter.

View attachment 296325

Looks like they do.
Trying to split green Elm will test even the best splitter...and often results in something along the lines of this

But splitting elm that is dry, especially if it was left dead standing long enough to be barkless, will result in something that splits pretty normal...maybe not like red oak, but nothing that would stand out in a pile of mixed species firewood