Wood ID
- Thread starter JSeery
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nrford
Minister of Fire
ValleyCottageSplitter
Feeling the Heat
The dark chocolate sapwood looks a little like sweet gum. Also not fun to split. I can't imagine splitting something over 12" diameter. If that's the case you might want to saw them in thirds or quarters before trying to split...
Definitely pick out all of the black birch first!
Definitely pick out all of the black birch first!
No Elm around here but lots of sweet gum. Doesn't look like gum to me. If it is gum you need the cow catcher on a freight train to split rounds that big.
Yeah, I'm gonna let him use my hydraulic splitter in exchange for the black birch (hopefully). Will see. I feel bad taking the best stuff but he burns in an open fireplace so it's not like it should matter to him. He was convinced the elm was oak, so it's not like he can really tell the difference anyway.
I do think nrford is right that this is Elm. I split one smaller round with a maul. It did split, but wasn't easy. I have a feeling sweet gum wouldn't have split at all with the amount of effort I put in. Elm is much more common around here than gum.
ValleyCottageSplitter
Feeling the Heat
I've got something just like it right over the Tappan Zee! Just saw that you are in Irvington. I couldn't tell if mine was Elm or sweet gum but it seems to match more with gum signs. There were a few nearby sweet gum leaves mixed in with ash and maple.
The rounds under 6" seemed to mostly split with one or two strikes but over 8" and they would take 15 hits and some mix of wedge and maul to get them split. The wedge could made it about 2/3 through without splitting.
The rounds under 6" seemed to mostly split with one or two strikes but over 8" and they would take 15 hits and some mix of wedge and maul to get them split. The wedge could made it about 2/3 through without splitting.
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Hey neighbor. Looks like a lot of work either way. Hope the juice is worth the squeeze for you
ValleyCottageSplitter
Feeling the Heat
I did about two dozen of these small rounds for my friend who helped get some ash dragged out of the woods. Still have a 6' log I'm saving when I'm really desperate to split 
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