The party is over…

[Investmentdude]

No idea how good I had it chopping through what I now know is red oak. It would split with one blow from the maul and once stacked, is the most awesome perfume that blows into the yard!!
Now I’ve got some more oak. A BIG tree, 4 foot rounds at least. Smells good just not quite as pungent. And fighting us like a pissed of Irish redhead. Stringy stringy stringy. This is just processing the rounds. Now that they are into smaller chunks we will have to see. Wet and stringy. White Oak. But hey, a tree guy cut it up nicely and left it. And I’m getting in shape. But jeez there are a few logs left over in the red stuff and I’m going back.

 

[Rusty18]

Lol nothing like driving a wedge in all the way and the only thing that happens is you lose a wedge!

 

[begreen]

Sounds like elm

 

[Investmentdude]

Sounds like elm

Smells like oak all the way. Probably splits like elm but the smell is spot on

 

[begreen]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Elm is a bear to split. The worst I have dealt with is eucalyptus limb wood. It has incredible strength because the grain spirals. A wedge, even on a power splitter mushes through it.

 

[Simonkenton]

I love oak.

 

[stoveliker]

I think white oak is harder to split than (the easy to split) red oak.
Was the previous batch red oak? (Since you're saying white oak now.)

 

[Riverbanks]

Flip the round upside down, and start again, then a wedge in the side, success. Just like locust fence posts, read the wood

 

[kennyp2339]

For stringy oak I've found that if I take my chainsaw and make a 2" deep purchase point across the log face then use 2 wedges on both ends I can get a nice split, quarter up the rounds then place the quarters into a tire and whack some more, should bust up just fine and the tire holds the splits so your not constantly bending over, resetting the fallen pieces. It the bending over constantly that made me tired.

 

[Riverbanks]

Good reply, I do the same with the saw, hold it back a bit and watch the beards fly

 

[DonTee]

For especially big or tough to split rounds, I’ll quarter it with the saw. Makes it easier to move around also.

I love straight grain oak or ash.

 

[Corey]

Sounds like a bunch of people splittin' the hard way. But if you want to make more work of it, then that is your business, I guess! As I always say, though: No matter how big the round, there is always a spot 4-6 inches from the edge. Hit it there and work to split off a slab. Keep doing that until you get all the way around the edge, then go back and do it again if the log is still too big.