I should have cut it shorter or noodled it into quarters or let it dry out. I know. But once I broke my back getting it onto the splitter, I was determined to get the job done. It was a 30" diameter x 24" length red pine round with 5 or 6 huge knots. I managed to get it split into thirds, and then proceeded to shred the thirds with a 30 ton splitter. I even stopped and put an edge on the splitter head with a bastard file, which didn't really help. Here's what I have to to show for my efforts: And here are the three chunks that I gave up on. I'll let them dry and then whack at them with a hatchet for kindling. Way worse than elm, but at least it smells good.
Thats one ugly sob! I split a little red pine today that I scored last night. That stuff was is heavy as oak when fresh cut I swear.
I know. It is surprisingly heavy when green. Decent firewood once dry, however. Way better than white pine.
I'm with you on this one. Hate Red pine. Worst splitting stuff ever, which is a little surprising for a softwood species.
Even the rounds without huge knots aren't exactly easy splittin'. Seems like the grain is a little twisty. And then there are the knots...
I've cut, split, and stacked at least 20 cords in the past 2 weeks. My hands, arms, and back hurt. I've even got a sore throttle finger from too much sawing. At this point I'm just "dumping" big rounds onto the splitter with my tractor and hoping for the best. I had a close call today when a huge red oak round popped in half cleanly on the first split, and the half closest to me nearly knocked me over as I tried to keep it on the splitter. The things I go through to keep the splitter in its proper position (horizontal).
That’s definitely ugly. If they protest like that, they get pitched aside for firepit wood. I don’t waist much time anymore.
Holy chit! That's gotta be the worst attempted "split" I've ever seen here. After a few tries I would've noodled it, but I see you and the splitter were on a mission. Valiant effort there.
That is some really gnarly stuff! Think I'd be doin some noodlin! Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk
It was a fool's errand. At some point I became irrationally committed to it. It the end, it was not to be.
If I left it on the ground like that for a year, it would be half rotten. Off the ground, it would be ok. Top covered, even better. And yes, if the pine dries out a good bit it splits a lot easier. Green pine is too rubbery, flexible, and wet to really split (as in fracture) the way most hardwoods split. You ever see a pine tree snap in half in a storm? I haven't.
Nope, never. Previously we'd dry in round he'd hand split after dry, clean. Last load I bought was split wet then dried, sharp shards everywhere. Idk, with how hard you've been working I'd stack in on pallets and call it done
I don't split a ton of softwood, but when I have split it dry it's way easier. Red pine doesn't dry very fast in big rounds, however, and seems to soak up the rain a bit. So I'd probably cover it if I was going that route. I was saving that one for the end, since I knew it wouldn't split. I wanted to run the splitter out of gas before storing it, so I just kept trying.
That looks so familiar. The digger pine around here is like that. Like you said, if you leave it til next year it will be rotten. You can only noodle so much. And sometimes you have to teach that round who's boss. It looks like a knock down drag out battle was had here!
I'm afraid I was taught who's boss. The knots are hard, but that's not the problem. The splitter will cut through white oak and hickory knots. The problem with the red pine is that it's wet / slippery / rubbery. I've never heard of digger pine. I'll have to look that one up.
