Glad you got unpinched, 5 or 6 rounds is a good haul from that big a tree. You had daylight today? Nothing but rainy gloom here.
Ok I was busy this weekend and didn't do much in the way of firewood, but now I'm a bit upset at all of you for going on making tremendous progress without me haha. Everyone seemed to be stocking up with a particular flavor Midwinter - Your stack of black birch is mouth watering! Then to get another car load of white birch???......I would be happy for you if I wasn't so jealous! ...Seriously Ohio dave - thanks for NOT showing that trailer full of cherry. It would probably only make me feel worse haha mrfancyplants - If you're gonna repeatedly keep filling up your trunk, I cant think of a better wood than Black Locust... iowahiker - Im not sure if I should congratulate you or say a prayer for you. Who knows?...Ive had some elm that split with surprising ease. I guess you will have your answer on the first swing as far as if it will be a beast or not. If you swing and get that all familiar "boink" with a bounce, and then boink - boink - boink Then I would start looking at some 37 ton Log splitters..haha. Seriously good luck! Its great wood if you can crack them
Urban Woods, I started splitting some of that slippery elm and I needed two wedges. Sure makes white ash look good. Off for my last load of the year tomorrow, white ash (something easy ). Several rounds of snow are expected starting Tuesday night and going through the holiday period which will end "hoarding" but I have plenty of elm, ash, and hackberry to split and stack.
Actually, the black birch is proving tough to hand split. The heartwood opens up fine, but the sapwood right under the bark is very stringy, and binds up the split. I thought I'd try zipping it just through the sapwood, and see if I can get it into quarters then. Or, wait until it is frozen, and try again.
Hmm.... I split some fresh cut black birch recently, that I got from my sil's. About 7in diameter. It split fine for me. As well as some white birch. I have another black birch to take down. I'll have to pay more attention, when I drop the hammer(x27) on it.
I missed a photo of the first load, but it looked a lot like this one. I took a day off to “pack” for our trip to the lake.
not sure which i like more...your recent locust or white oak scores. Either way i know you house is gonna be nice and warm a few Winters from now! Some nice PRIMO wood!
I wear gloves 99% of the time. They end up with holes in them though! Though, there was a time a few years ago when I stopped wearing them all together. It was about the time that I realized that much like Mr Hooper on Jaws, I had city hands, and I wanted to fix that.
J Last physical I got the doctor looked at my hands and said those hands have done alot of manual labor. I didn't reply but gave me a sense of satisfaction
This is the only way I can get this black birch apart! Once I cut through the bark and sapwood, it's a one-strike split. I can't even get the quarters split in half without making a cut. Oh well, I'll save the noodles, they will be awesome to start a fire.
Have you tried to square off the round? Splitting off edges instead of trying to split the round in half. Once you get it squared, you can knock of the corners, then eventually in half.
Did you try a heavier maul? Perhaps you just need to cut through the bark layer and use an 8 pounder? I think if I ever see black birch now I'll just run away. Its beautiful wood though...shame its giving you such a hard time. Its kind of reminding me of sycamore
It's a weird wood, straight grained in the middle and stringy around the circumference. After many strikes, I can get through the bark, but the split is still all hung up with stringiness. I've had no problem with skinnier black birch, but these big rounds are something else again.
