White Oak is a PIA to split !

[patch53]

I've c/s/s about 7 cord of my ~ 25 cord truckload of red oak, and I've noticed that there are a few white oak mixed in. It has beautiful straight grain compared to the red oak, which is often quite gnarly. But trying to split even a 6" chunk of this white oak is almost impossible ! I can not believe how hard it is to split this stuff. You'd think with a nice clean grain it would pop almost effortlessly... hardly ! LOL Out of the 7 cords, I only had 18 chunks that I could not split with my immitation 4 1/2 lb Fiskars, and 4 of them were white oak about 8" in diameter, and I only had 2 log length pieces of white oak in the 7 cords !

Is all white oak like this to split? I thought it was supposed to be easier to split than red oak ?

Pat

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

I've noticed a good deal of variation myself. I have 4 different mauls heavy, light, skinny, & fat. Some wood is still destined for the hydrolic splitter...

I finally bought a splitter to spend more time with the wife. She moved out recently but I'm using the splitter to split anything that even looks difficult. ; )

ATB,
Mike

 

[Backwoods Savage]

You have to give is a good stern look before taking aim. Then hit with all your might and it will work. Remember, pick your spot to hit. If you are going to hit, hit hard.

 

[Todd]

Red Oak is one of the easiest woods to split and White Oak is not far behind imo, but sometimes you can't help running into some that can be a real pita.

 

[FLINT]

Is all white oak like this to split? I thought it was supposed to be easier to split than red oak ?

Pat

nah man,

in my experience red oak is much easier to split that white oak. a good straight grained block of red oak is one of the easiest woods to split. White oak tends to be tougher and stringier.

try to make a 'line' across your block with your maul, you know hit the edge, then middle, then other end in as straight a line as you can, and she'll pop. don't just randomly wack at it. if the blocks are real big, try taking off the edges going all the way around. also, avoid the knots until the last split or two if you can.

 

[patch53]

Is all white oak like this to split? I thought it was supposed to be easier to split than red oak ?

Pat

nah man,

in my experience red oak is much easier to split that white oak. a good straight grained block of red oak is one of the easiest woods to split. White oak tends to be tougher and stringier.

try to make a 'line' across your block with your maul, you know hit the edge, then middle, then other end in as straight a line as you can, and she'll pop. don't just randomly wack at it. if the blocks are real big, try taking off the edges going all the way around. also, avoid the knots until the last split or two if you can.

I agree, a nice straight grained piece of red oak pops effortlessly, problem is, there ain't that much of it around, at least not here.

The white oak pieces I tried to split were completely smooth with no knots or limbs. The ones that did split, it took me 3-4 whacks to get them to crack, and they were only 6-7" rounds. The few I had over 8" were nice and smooth too, but I didn't even bother trying, I just set them aside for the hydro splitter. I'm glad this load only has a few white oaks in it ! LOL

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Get it fresh- it toughens up a lot as it dries.

 

[Wood Duck]

Around here the White and Chestnut Oaks tend to be stringier than Red or Black Oaks. i find a lot of straight White Oak pieces will split OK, but a few strings hold the halves together, lessening the satisfaction of splitting.

 

[Bspring]

I split quite a bit of red and white oak yeasterday by hand. The white took much more effort but it should give you more BTUs. Good advice from FLINT. That is how I do it.

 

[Todd]

Are you sure it's White Oak? Pretty rare in the UP.

 

[patch53]

Are you sure it's White Oak? Pretty rare in the UP.

Yes, it came from southern Menominee County, not far from the Wisconsin line.

 

[billb3]

I think white is a little more work than red oak.
Got any liquid nitrogen ?

 

[hareball]

Yesterday my scrounger brought 2 truckloads of White Oak over. It was all fresh cut on standing dead trees. Those rounds reeeeeally showed their teeth when I tried to split them. The 8 pound maul just bounced back at me.
I split on a big red oak round with a concrete driveway under that and the "thud" was pretty impressive. On rounds over 12" across it was taking a good 5 hits before busting open while the under 12" rounds would take one solid hit.
Stringy stuff though so I had to keep my hatchet close by.

 

[DiscoInferno]

When I first started scrounging and splitting wood some of my first loads were from a huge white oak street tree. Most of it had a curly grain, sort of like wavy permed hair. A lot of it was virtually unsplittable, even some 8-10" rounds. That's when I learned to noodle. Since then I've picked up white oak now and again, and it's always been extremely easy to split. So go figure.

 

[Battenkiller]

Most white oak in these parts splits just a bit harder than red oak, but nowhere near as tough and stringy as our hickory. Some folks here have said they found cherry and ash to be tough splitting, but I have never found that to be the case. Others split elm without much problem, but I once had to drive two wedges right through an elm round in order to retrieve them, and the round never split... and I never again tried to split elm. There are probably regional variations in genetics or growing conditions that are responsible for this. Just like brown trout in the Battenkill River are twice as smart as brown trout found everywhere else in the world. ;-)

 

[dmacfarland]

White oak can be a bear. I have taken a full swing and had the splitting axe bounce off like a superball. Another of its endearing traits is it takes longer to dry than about anything else.

The butt is the worst, those stay in the woods now.

Been working on the sugarbush and seems like all that's coming out is white oak. Gonna need a splitter.

d

 

[oldspark]

I thought white oak and burr oak were about the same and I find burr oak easy to split.

 

[Jags]

As stated above, if you have the skills, draw a line across the log when you strike. Since I can't hit the same place twice, when I was an axe swinger (yes, Axe - I never have owned a maul), I used to just haul off and whack it for all I had. It usually only took one or two swings that way to get it to split.

 

[CJRages]

It depends on the growing conditions of the tree. White oak that grows tall and straight in the forest is WAY easier to split than a white oak that grew in a windy, open area. I've been splitting some bur oak rounds that have a 90 degree bend and a quarter turn twists in a 18" piece. Even without any knots, that's a tough piece to handle by hand.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

White oak can be a bear. I have taken a full swing and had the splitting axe bounce off like a superball. Another of its endearing traits is it takes longer to dry than about anything else.

The butt is the worst, those stay in the woods now.

Been working on the sugarbush and seems like all that's coming out is white oak. Gonna need a splitter.

d

Hey Clinker. Welcome to the forum.

Yes, a hydraulic splitter is super nice to have and probably more so for splitting for the sugar bush. I hope you had a better run this spring out there than everyone did here in MI. It was the worst year we've ever had for making syrup.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

It depends on the growing conditions of the tree. White oak that grows tall and straight in the forest is WAY easier to split than a white oak that grew in a windy, open area. I've been splitting some bur oak rounds that have a 90 degree bend and a quarter turn twists in a 18" piece. Even without any knots, that's a tough piece to handle by hand.

Yep. And that tends to be true of a good lot of species. First, trees in a forest are in a race to the top of the canopy to get the most sun. So you get tall, straight trunks.

Trees in the open branch out to lay their claim to sunlight on all sides. It's also a way for a tree to protect itself from the vagaries of the wind. A well-balanced tree will sway with the wind, its branches absorbing the force, protecting the main trunk.

Street trees, and them in meadows and other open areas also don't have the windbreak that a forest provides to specimens growing in the middle of the woods.

Oh yeah - the little bit of white I've split (I'm on the very northern extent of its range) has been pretty easy. As noted before, a little stringier than red and scarlet, so a hatchet's a good thing to have handy.

 

[maxed_out]

Hey White oak can be stringy...Im working thru a load myself right now. I'm focused on BTU and it looks good.

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/W/AE_wood_heat_value_BTU.html

 

[BrotherBart]

Yep it can be tough to hand split and takes a long time to dry but that stuff is as good as burning gets around these parts.

 

[dmacfarland]

Savage,

The sugar season was pretty bad. got about 1/3 of what i expected, but there is always next year.

 

[Rockey]

3 facts.

1 - Oak stumps are the biggest PITA to split by hand.

2 - Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries.

See where I'm going with this?

3 - We could cure every form of cancer 10 times over if he would stop by my house and lend a hand.