Tree ID help Please!

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Magus

New Member
Nov 17, 2010
65
Michigan
I am fairly new to burning wood. I picked up some wood today that needs to be seasoned. When I got the bucked pieces home OMG...I am going at the bucked pieces like a mad man. and I was able to get one piece off, can someone help me ID what kind of wood this is. it is VERY heavy!
 

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Need a picture of the dry bark and end grain.
 
hey, only the guys and gals with guts will take an early stab at this one :)

not the best pics to go by for sure.

maybe hickory......
 
how would I go about splitting this stuff? I went at it with a new 8lb maul. It took 10 to 12 wacks to get 2 pieces off.

Also, being that my maul is brand new, do I need to sharpen it?
 
Swing the maul harder. You may need to get a lighter maul.

If you had a pic of the buds I'd hazard a guess on what type of tree.

Matt
 
Sure looks like it would split just fine. Straight grain, not stringy. If the maul is very blunt you might sharpen the edge some, but plenty of folks use dull mauls & some oeven claim they work better. How long are those rounds you're trying to split? Got them on a block or on solid ground? (I guess there's no soft ground anywhere in Michigan this time of year)
Better post some more pics for an I.D. I see several possibilities for that spit.
 
Many people actually pull up at the end while swinging a maul. This lowers the force you hit the round with. Try bending your knees a little when you near the bottom of your swing. I either use a 6 lb maul or a 10 lb sledge and wedge when I split by hand.

Matt
 
The color of the second pic doesn't help much, but I will take a stab at a smooth bark hickory variety.

Better pics please.
 
Not an expert by any stretch, but looks like some hickory to me. Red center with very light sap wood. Bark(whats left) looks like the smooth silver of hickory. Even the straight grain with no knots doesn't want to split. Seems to be alot of hickory characteristics.
 
Second pic looks like HoneyLocust, but that stuff is easy to split as it is so dense.
 
Birch maybe
 
EatenByLimestone said:
Swing the maul harder. You may need to get a lighter maul.

If you had a pic of the buds I'd hazard a guess on what type of tree.

Matt

lol, swing harder, lol hahahaha
 
WooDpSycho said:
EatenByLimestone said:
Swing the maul harder. You may need to get a lighter maul.

If you had a pic of the buds I'd hazard a guess on what type of tree.

Matt

lol, swing harder, lol hahahaha

yeah, I like that too - like in the movie 13th warrior when the viking throws antonio bandaras a sword and he complains that he can't use it because its too heavy, and the viking tell him to grow stronger.


drive a wedge in one side of the round and then smack the other side a couple good times with the maul - that usually helps pop the tough ones open for me.

once you get the rounds halved they should split better.
 
Didn't mean to laugh earlier but that was funny. Like in Robin Hood when fighting Little John, He looks to Hazzeem for advice and he says "Fight better, Hit harder!" HAHAHAHA!!

As far as advice, when ever I had problems I too used A wedge. Of course it helped when I was 20 years old 6'3" 350lbs. I can no longer split by hand (broken back) but A good wedge helped me in those rare occasions when 10,000lbs of force wouldn't cut it.
 
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