sweetgum
- Thread starter morning wood
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Found this. Never burned gum but black cherry is just a little better and I liked cherry. http://www.thelograck.com/firewood_rating_chart.html
morning wood said:
Welcome.
I've never tried burning the stuff, but I do know the wood is really tough stuff, and very difficult to split. Unless you like lots of "noodling" you might want to have a hydraulic splitter available.
Air-dry density is only about 35 lb/cu. ft. so, like black cherry, it's of only moderate fuel value. You might see if there's an extension agent handy to advise as to whether any of the trees are valuable for sawlogs locally. A forester could give advice on a cutting plan.
It's there, it's yours and you have a use for it. So you might as well start thinning it out soon to speed up its readiness for burning.
I would compare it to american elm/sycamore. Similar btus and VERY hard to split. It splits slightly easier green. The big positive feature with the wood is it dries fast( 6 months) but the wood deteriorates quickly if left in the elements.
You better have a mechanical splitter on hand for the pieces that will not fit in the stove otherwise you are in for a MAJOR workout. I would advise just limiting your keep to rounds that will fit in the stove unsplit.
You better have a mechanical splitter on hand for the pieces that will not fit in the stove otherwise you are in for a MAJOR workout. I would advise just limiting your keep to rounds that will fit in the stove unsplit.
I too had about 25 trees that ended up dying when we built the lake all sweet gum. I too heard the folks talk about the burns and the btu's but I said hey it's here it's dead and it's free....so I started cutting and splitting, OMG is it tough stuff, but with a splitter have never had an issue some punky stuff but they get thrown into another pile and they get burned outside in the burn pit on the patio....love fire!
It dried great and has done a great job at heating thus far this year, lights right up and I get overnight burns on 5-6 splits. Not as hot as the oak but I live in a warmer area anyway and 4 splits gets me by most days and the same at night.... Burn away, it's better than letting it sit!
It dried great and has done a great job at heating thus far this year, lights right up and I get overnight burns on 5-6 splits. Not as hot as the oak but I live in a warmer area anyway and 4 splits gets me by most days and the same at night.... Burn away, it's better than letting it sit!
Good to see the OK rating on sweetgum, I ran across some on my job a while back. I found it moderate to difficult to split.
Like others said, it can be hard to split. I also have found it to rot pretty quick. But if it is free, I wouldn't pass it up either.
I just finished splitting two cords worth, even with a gas splitter it tore more than split, so much so some portions of the bigger rounds are so mangled it was hard to stack.
jlove1974
Member
I have burned quite a bit of sweetgum in the last 4 years. It IS similar to american sycamore (planetree) in that it's :
1. heavy and full of water when green
2. quick to season and much lighter when dry
3. burns hot and fast in comparison to oak
I use it to mix in with greenish oak when I want a good long burn.
I can split it by hand with the fiskars axe but it takes a funny technique. You have to hew out the heartwood in a 4-side chunk. It's basically
like cutting the bark off 4 sides of a log. Don't ever try to split sweetgum down the middle unless you are using a hydraulic splitter
1. heavy and full of water when green
2. quick to season and much lighter when dry
3. burns hot and fast in comparison to oak
I use it to mix in with greenish oak when I want a good long burn.
I can split it by hand with the fiskars axe but it takes a funny technique. You have to hew out the heartwood in a 4-side chunk. It's basically
like cutting the bark off 4 sides of a log. Don't ever try to split sweetgum down the middle unless you are using a hydraulic splitter
fallsfire36
New Member
I came into a few large rounds of fresh cut sweetgum last year - tried to split it as soon as I got it home and buried the wedge of my splitter so bad I could barely get it out with a sledge. I decided to let it season til fall and then try again. I split it in the fall and it almost seemed like it had already dryrotted. I buried the wedge again too (had to cut it out with my saw). Anyway, its tough on the splitter but not as bad as elm...
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