Will Norway spruce be easier to split when not green?

I'm a newbie to this forum, and will be burning wood for the first time in 20 years. Burned for about ten year when I was a kid, but I don't have much recent experience. I'm putting two new wood stoves in our drafty old farmhouse to stop sending our money to the oil co.

I have a good number of big rounds of Norway spruce, which I've been trying to split by hand. As others have mentioned, it's not an easy job. The maul just sinks into the wood in the center, and I've had a hard time getting it out on occasion. The smaller ones I've been able to do, but not a single large one. If I'm able to split some edges off to get more wood exposed, will it be easier to split in the winter, or maybe in a year or so? I won't be purchasing a splitter any time soon.

Not a chance to noodle them, as the wife doesn't ask much from me, but is not happy at the prospect of my getting a chainsaw. Too bad, since I'd love to cut up some of the old, dead trees on our property (standing dead elm with bark coming off at the top, a big maple that's fallen but been off the ground for what looks to be many years, etc.). A local guy took down two spruce for us, as they had some rot and were near the neighbor's house.

I've learned a heck of a lot from lurking on this forum, and it's great to go to a place where people ask for help, and so many people offer good advice. Haven't seen much if any conflict, put downs, or much of anything negative at all. It's refreshing. Good group of guys and gals on this site.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

 

Spruce is one of the tough ones. lots of limbs & thy=ey are even tougher.

When I was hand splitting I like to split it when it was below zero, it split better then.
Don't hit the center with the maul, hit about 3 inches into the edge, then do the opposite edge.

Typically it gets tougher to split as it dries
Rent a splitter,
It will season 3 times faster when it's split & stacked.

Good luck

 

Ditto to what Dave said. Half of my hoard is spruce harvested from my property and split by hand only because I wanted the space opened up for solar gain. I would buy hardwood logs or splits over harvesting spruce by choice.

 

Remember the "Spruce goose"
They used spruce for the wings because it's tough .

Actually they used birch, but that's not the point. LOL

 

Thanks for the help guys. And I'll get to work convincing the wife about the chainsaw. Looked up the reviews on the Stihl 180 and they look good.

 

Thanks Dennis. I've read your posts about seasoning wood, and your advice and that of others has been very helpful. When I was a kid we used to let it sit on the ground, season it for three or four months (and we used to get a lot of oak down in CT), and totally cover with tarps in the winter months. Now I'm working hard to get ahead with our wood, stacking it loose, putting it up on pallets, and not keeping all the moisture in with a tarp. Thanks to you and others on this site.

 

I'm too darn cheap to rent a splitter, but picked up some wedges at HD and these babies popped right apart. When I told my wife how satisfying it was to hear that POP as the rounds split apart, she did a few herself. That I should have gotten a picture of!

 

The spruce we have here (I forget the species) is rough splitting even on the splitter because of the 200 million branches which makes all sorts of knots.

 

Good that the wedges worked! When I have tough rounds, I just whittle splits off around the edges. Make the round into a square, and then just take off corners until its all split up

 

Did you ever convince your wife to let you get a chainsaw? Perhaps if you get the protective equipment as well - chaps, etc - she'd feel better about it? Or perhaps you could show her how cold it gets in VT in the winter, and how much it would cost to heat with oil/gas!

Free wood from your own land is gooder!

 

So the "Spruce Goose" was more like the "Birch Bitch"

 

Hope to go and see it next spring!
http://evergreenmuseum.org/the-museum/aircraft-exhibits/the-spruce-goose/

 

Back on the track!
This is Sitka Spruce and it is and was the toughest tree that I have ever split , 3 days with a lot of noodling!





No description necessary the pictures say it all!

 

Big tree campinspector! Who needs mulch loads when you have all those nice noodles

 

Yup, just bought a Husqvarna 257 from @KilliansRedLeo, it's on its way. Wife's not too happy about it. Her only experience with chainsaws was her grandfather's kickback into his shoulder, and her great-uncle's accident that almost led to him bleeding out from a cut to his leg while clearing brush (almost hit femoral artery?). Will make sure to get the right PPE before getting out there, especially since frankly I'm easily distracted, which is not a good trait when you're wielding a chainsaw.

 

You Canadians grow em big out there Camp! And love to see those pics of your old splitter. Three decades you've gotten out of her?

 

The tree was in Granny's front yard. When Granny and Woodwidow's Dad built their house starting in 1949/1950, the lot was skinned bare so the tree was about 60 years old when it was taken down. One thing that really aided its growth was that it grew over top of the septic tank and perk field. The tree had been topped twice in its life time; the last time by me in about 1975. When the Electric Company expressed a desire to take the tree down, it had power lines on 2 sides and was leaning towards Granny's house on a third, so we were more than happy to have it taken down (free of charge). They asked how tall it was and I said around 90', the four major tops started at about 30 feet from the ground but with the bucket at full extension, it was too short , they figured it to be closer to 130'! Limbs over 3" in diameter were cut into firewood lengths. The total of about 7 cords came from this tree. Another humorous aspect of the splitting of this tree is that at the local coffee shop they were running a pool as to how much of the tree would get split before I gave up.

The splitter was new in 1984 and is showing no signs of giving up. It's on its second engine and all hydraulic components have either been rebuilt or replaced.