Step 1: Let it rot Step 2: Noodle what's left Just kidding. But seriously, I did have a huge pile of sweetgum rounds from a tree-man load earlier this summer (beggars can't be choosers eh?). I never got around to splitting them, just stacked them behind some split stacks. Out of sight out of mind. But now I need that area to start stacking in, so they had to be dealt with. As some of you know, sweetgum goes punky very fast. These rounds had some serious fungal growth on the ends. They split pretty easy for the most part, as the inside was starting to dry rot. Very light, and a few of the pieces I tested were already below 20% MC. Split what I could with the x27, and noodled what I couldn't (along with some elm and maple uglies from a while back). Here's the finished stack along with a bit of magnolia I split up too. A little over 1.5 cords done this weekend Glad I didn't catch this with the saw when I was bucking it up The dog has a seat around the fire pit now too Anyways, the moral of the sorry is that if you don't mind losing some BTUs, let your sweetgum sit for a while before splitting. Or just chuck it in the woods
If you get one you will wonder why you waited. What kind of dog BB ? Looks like our Australian Shepard with a tail, good looking dog.
Yeah, something like that. We think he's mixed with a little Shepard. Maybe some other stuff too. He's a mutt
I reduced three 70-80' gums into a nice stack from green trees with hydraulics. After working the stuff for a while I found it came apart easiest by working the edges instead of trying to half & quarter them. the big rounds will pop at a growth ring quite easily
That's the same tactic I used for these rounds, but with an axe. I had a load a while back that even gave a splitter problems. It had worse grain than most gum. The pile of shards/splitter trash after I was done was about as big as the pile of "splits"
I cut some sweetgum years ago. It laughed at the maul when I tried to split it. Most pieces could fit in the stove whole so that's how they went in. Chainsaw took care of the rest. Made me glad most of what I cut is red oak!
I cut to length, stack it in the pole barn, and let it get good and dry. After it is good and dry and well checked, it isn't too bad to split by hand. At least compared to green sweet gum or elm. The stuff I cut in winter did fine, the stuff I cut and stacked in the summer got a bit of black mold on the ends but no rot. Can also let it set in log form for several years and use it for overnight logs without bothering to split it. I'm hoping the same technique works for elm because that is what I'm up against next. The next few years promise to be heavy on the elm and sweet gum.
Mine got that black mold too, then started looking like a Petri dish with all the fungal growth on the ends I've found that gum rounds dry quick, so if they'll fit in your stove, don't bother splitting. red oak : Sure is nice to go back to splitting oak after a bit of gum isn't it?
We did a black gum at scout camp last summer, MAN was that a beast. It was even hollow, and it STILL stalled the ram on my buddy's 27T splitter several times per round. I gave him the whole tree out of the kindness of my heart.......
I had some hollow gum rounds a while back, and found them harder to split than normal ones They got made into flower lots for my mom, much better use for gum
Back in colonial times they would use hollow gum trees for honeybee hives.......no lie, look it up.....
Very interesting. People have been getting creative so they wouldn't have to split gum for hundreds of years
