Update on the Cherry wood--- Comparison of mauls. Well I was just splitting some of that Cherry and would like to share a few comparisons and observations. First: the splitting difficulties of the two varieties of cherry, one being the smooth bark flowering cherry variety and the other being the wild American cherry. The comparison here is fair because both were of approx the same diameter rounds. Noted in the splitting it was easier to split the smooth birch bark type of the flowering cherry. This may have been helped by them being extremely straight grained where the Wild cherry had some hidden knotty branch grain and what I refer to as having "fasteners" as in knotty grain that will keep wood from splitting and stubbornly held together. The flowering cherry was a bit more dry and checking deeper as a result. It split easier, but believe it or not the bark on some logs was like a belt girdling the wood so I couldn't get the wood to break away without chopping into the bark and even having to peel it off the split in some cases. Also the flowering cherry wood had a more dullish olive tone as apposed to the more vibrant pink salmon like color of the wild cherry. As stated before, some of this wood was proving difficult to split and so I figured I would do an experiment that I always wanted to do with two models of splitting mauls. I already felt confident I knew what the outcome of this experiment would show, but this was the perfect scenario to solidify those opinions. I started with my 8lb fiskars Isocore as I usually do, but it was getting stuck in some of the Wild cherry logs to the point of needing to bash the maul free battering its head with some splits of wood. You see in some dense doughy wood like cherry for instance the very narrow concave head of the Isocore will become wedged tight as if your maul was welded to the log. You will begin to tire trying to unstuck the maul and even begin to hate and fear this returning outcome. So luckily I also own an equivalent 8lb Husky maul. This maul has a much stubbier blade which is convex as apposed to the Isocores concave blade. I started at the troubling logs with the Husky and to my delight the problem was solved and I was splitting again without having to wrestle the head free. This is why I advocate for owning a variety of design as to trying to find the one perfect maul, but of course there are overall better mauls out there that I'm sure are worth every penny. Now I noticed I had less aim control with the clumsier feeling Husky as apposed to the Isocore which felt like a perfectly balanced and guided plum bob. Once the Husky did its job busting open the main logs and dividing each into three slabs (which is what I do with big logs), I finished splitting those chunky slabs into smaller firewood with the Isocore which by then was easily busting heads open and not getting buried.
Wild Cherry around here doesn't split real well either unless grown in a very dense stand. Lots of low branches & it'll grow in about 5 different directions. Stuff's basically a giant weed, but it is decent firewood.
Have you tried keeping the rounds on end so one end stays wet or damp Urban Woods? IME the wet end splits easier than the dry and checked end. Ive tried the experiment with some 10-12" dead ash rounds (pictured) recently and it makes a difference.
A short stack(12-14”)of red oak is better than no oak at all. I had a couple bad dreams last night and then my son called out because he was having bad dreams too, so I was up early and not getting back to sleep, and I stopped by my sporadic honey hole on the way in to work with a little time to kill, and lucked out. Not just pine this time. There was more there when I left, but I picked the longer straighter sections for time efficiency and made it in to work by 8:00.
An excellent score MFP! I'd be returning silver maple to make room for the oak. Your bad dream turned into a good reality! Nice way to start the work week!
I have to say compared to the 2+ hours cutting, and wedging and sledging the (^actually) Norwegian maple (as you pointed out), this score was such a piece of cake. There is the extra wait time with oak though, it’s only going to help me out in a few years, whereas that maple will come in handy next (not this) winter.
Where I got this red oak, sometimes I call the dump, or “community firewood drop off”, is at a gas station near my work. I at least take a peak every time it is time to fill the tank. Last time I checked was when I was filling the can for the saw and only found the EWP (pinus strobus) and most of the rounds were over 22”. It is actually good that I think someone cleaned up a lot of big ugly and rotting stuff recently.
It has served me well.. another red oak score, ash, yellow poplar. And the hoard that started it all, a bunch of Bradford Pear rounds before I learned to split in site. I also rolled home a chopping block from the base of an oak tree there. I was ribbing my brother in law and our friend also from Ohio telling them I call the Bradford pear a “Cleveland Pear” and got a laugh out of them. They connected the dots that it is not a very tasty pear. Edit: Cleveland is really a lovely city. I just though “Cleveland Pear” sounded funny.
Why would anybody get rid of that. Looks nice. I'm not good on wood id what kind is it. Will it fit in your stove as is?
Yeah, it will fit, just a tad shorter than the 16” standard. It was red oak dumped in the round, likely by a landscaping company. I split it up before I popped it in the trunk. There are a couple clean rows before I started jumbling it in on top to fill it up.
Here it is after I got it home.. in a temporary stack just to get it out of the car. I think my best car hoard yet.
Yes, a real nice haul for sure. And no Miracle Whip! Did your trunk smell like oak? The wood did sit in there all day, right?
Yeah, it was starting to smell a little funky by the time I unloaded. No whiskey smell like the white oak. I am wondering if I should have thrown some rounds in the back seat too, but most were either shorter, like 10” and or had branches or knots. The straight ones split pretty well, but the knotty ones got pretty tough, pretty fast.
Well maybe so, but with a car you don't want to beat it up too much or push it beyond its limits as far as weight. That is a pretty large stack for one fresh heavy green load and any more may over stress your cars struts. This is of course different for every car and you need to get to know what your particular car can handle. Remember weight is different for passengers who are soft and have built in bounce and also lean with turns as apposed to wood that is solid stable weight and will not help absorb impact from say a pothole. One thing you can do if you don't already is push down on the back bumper and rock the car to see if it has a satisfactory amount of spring left under the load.
Well it finally happened. It took the dealership two days to get it done, poor scheduling on their part, and they allotted 2-3 hours labor where it actually took them 6. I didn't have to pay them any more, though. $871 so I better get some use out of it. Now I have to find a trailer to practice with in a parking lot.
Does that mean you wont post in this thread anymore? I hate when dealers/mechanics say it'll take "X" amount of time and it takes more. Same thing with price!
I'll post here for the forseeable future. I'm a long way from trailer hoarding, this is just the first step. Anyway, it's still car hoarding if a car is pulling the trailer.
