Wood that is very stringy, needs to be pulled apart

[Stelcom66]

I had 2 trees taken down in my yard recently. One is very easy to split, it may be maple. The other - don't know what kind, needs to be pulled apart after splitting. It holds together with what I'll call fibers, (not sure if that's the right word) - long strong pieces of the wood. It's very time consuming compared to the other tree where one hit will completely split it. (Especially since I just bought a Fiskars X27)

Would there be any benefit to let it season for several months to make it easier? A few years ago I had similar rounds. I think it was cedar, it was red in the middle and smelled quite good.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Sounds like Popple to me. What color is the bark?

 

[Stelcom66]

Just brought a round into the garage and took a photo. The axe will just get stuck on the first strike, hardly doing anything. I've been using a wedge. The other tree of the same small diameter, one hit not at all full force will completely split it.



Here's a few split.



Like the similar cedar (?) it has the darker area in the middle, but not red.

 

[JohnDolz]

Might be Hickory.

 

[Gearhead660]

Since it was in your yard, what did the leaves look like? Did it drop any nuts?

 

[SidecarFlip]

Sure looks like popple to me. Popple typically will not clean split and laughs at splitting wedges.

 

[wooddope]

Sure looks like cherry to me,, what's it smell like?

 

[Stelcom66]

The leaves were quite small. Not home now - I will smell it when I get home. I can say there isn't any good noticeable scent like cedar.
I don't believe it dropped any nuts. I'll see if I can find a photo before it was taken down.

 

[mark cline]

Shag bark hickory

 

[SidecarFlip]

Wrong bark. Look at his picture of the to be split round. It's popple.

 

[mark cline]

Waiting for the smell test

 

[Stelcom66]

No distinctive smell - just like any piece of wood. Here's a shot of the tree(s) before it was taken down. The yellow lines were for the tree co. for reference. As you can see - it wasn't a mature tree. I never thought something so small in diameter (~9") could be so hard to split.



Interesting when I searched on Popple tree, it came back as Poplar, but it is known as Popple or Poppel in some areas.

 

[Touch0Gray]

Where are you located? Looks like elm to me. Red can be pretty stringy, white, or "piss elm" is really, hard to split, grain seems to spiral.

 

[KC Matt]

Another vote for Elm. I've split a few young Elm that looked exactly like that after the line clearing crews took them down.

 

[Stelcom66]

I'm in Connecticut. Was the Elm hard to split? Maybe this grain does spiral. The other tree's grain was straight, very easy to split.

 

[Touch0Gray]

The gnarly branch structure in the pictures looks like elm to me, no way to look at the leaves.

Knowing Your Trees

This is the most comprehensive book on trees in North America that I have ever seen. I picked mine up in the mid 70's from a DNR office in rural Georgia, it is out of print but it is worth trying to find a copy used. I got one for a friend some time ago. It shows range, pictures of leaves...

www.hearth.com

I cannot recommend this book enough. ^^^^^^

 

[Touch0Gray]

I'm in Connecticut. Was the Elm hard to split? Maybe this grain does spiral. The other tree's grain was straight, very easy to split.

Elm is miserable to hand split! Piss elm (white elm) is nearly impossible. Especially big stuff.

 

[Stelcom66]

I can't imagine what larger diameter rounds of this would be like! I'll have to use a wedge on each round, at least initially.

I'd like to find a book like 'Knowing Your Trees'. I wonder if it mentions how different types are to split, how they burn - etc.

 

[mark cline]

That tree structure looks more like elm than my fist thought of hickory. I don’t even bother with elm. I have 175 acres of hardwoods so I don’t have to put up with the aggravation of elm.

 

[Touch0Gray]

I can't imagine what larger diameter rounds of this would be like! I'll have to use a wedge on each round, at least initially.

I'd like to find a book like 'Knowing Your Trees'. I wonder if it mentions how different types are to split, how they burn - etc.

No, it does not go into btu or ease of splitting. The book, although out of print, is available online pretty easily. I actually bought mine in 1978? I just bought another copy for my son in law on ebay last week, 7 bucks shipped.

 

[Touch0Gray]

That tree structure looks more like elm than my fist thought of hickory. I don’t even bother with elm. I have 175 acres of hardwoods so I don’t have to put up with the aggravation of elm.

I have a. LOT of red elm, they get to 50 to 70 feet tall maybe 18 inches in diameter (30 feet to the first fork). They die, bark falls off and it is clean and ready to burn in less than a year, tops are actually ready to go right away. I love it. I burn too much wood to split by hand (6 or 7 cords/year) piss elm, fortunately, I don't have any, to speak of, not a forest loving tree.

 

[weatherguy]

Looks like elm to me not poplar, elm can be a beeotch to split.

 

[David.Ervin]

Could be chinese elm. A lot of farmers planted them for windbreaks because they grow fairly quickly and the twisty nature blocks a lot of wind. Those same qualities also make them a bear to split.

 

[hickoryhoarder]

Elm is a possibility, but my guess is pignut hickory. It is very stringy when split. Does not always come apart, even when people split it with power splitters (I use a maul). It does not get way easier as it seasons, but I prefer to give it time. Seems a little easier.

The thing about my comment -- is the reddish tone of the wood. I just looked at my hickory splits, which I think are pignut, and they are mostly white. Hickory is stringy -- that part of my comment is correct.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Really don't matter, let it dry out, cut it into stove length knots and stuff it in. It will burn just fine.