My tree feller brought me a bunch of gum wood. What a pain to split. Is it worth processing and burning in my wood stove?
Miserable stuff. Most FHCer's avoid it like the plague (myself included) for the splitting reason. Not known for its BTU value, but if you're willing to split it, it heats better than snowballs.
Nope, not to me. I pass on all gums. Long time ago I was helping a local FHC’er split wood. We got into some stuff that was horrific, he said it was sweet gum. We tossed the rest of those rounds to the side. He mentioned it burned like paper but I’ve never burned any.
A little gum for the stacks? Sure, it’s fun to try out just to say you tried it. A bunch? Definitely not worth the aggravation or the storage space.
Sweet gum or black gum? Cancel that, it doesn't matter...both suck but black is worse and not worth the aggravation in my opinion. I do tend to get some every year though. My preferred method is to just cut it and stuff it in my owb.