This is it!

I’ve discovered that I really enjoy burning the nastiest, stringiest gum in my fireplace. With all the tears its like a giant piece of kindling. Big bright and hot flames. Does t last long but if you want heat from a fireplace, this is the way. So this is it, the only time you’ll ever hear me say anything positive about gum wood.

 

Had one run in with gum and from then on I knew I'd never try splitting it again. One and done.

 

I hate sweetgum. I want to like this post, but at the same time I dont..... I'm torn. I guess I like seeing it burning up....

 

I'm with ya. I pulled a Tom Sawyer on a California guy a few years ago. I cut one from my front yard and the guy he could sure use some wood. I gave him every last piece of it in rounds. It is piled by his fence to this day

 

You don’t split gum, you tear it

 

And black gum is even worse...

 

Sounds like good wood to noodle into burnable sized pieces...

 

I guess I lucked out with the one small roadside log of black gum I unwittingly "scored" last March. It was on the tough side to hand split, but it did split relatively clean. As far as the burning goes, it won't see my stove until next winter and I'm definitely not expecting to be wowed by it.

 

I'm told it burns like paper.

 

When its shredded like this it’s like putting half a dozen pizza boxes in the fireplace

 

Anytime you get a wood that doesn’t split well I wonder if it would make good hammer/axe/sledge handles.

 

Thank God i can ID the stuff and avoid it like the plague. Only once i took an unknown log which was IDed as black gum. I hand split it and learned my lesson.

Do you get much of it Joe?

 

I've never come across gum. Don't plan on seeking it out.

 

I have never seen black gum that was not WORSE than sweetgum. The last round I tried to split just for kicks, my splitter barely even got through it; I was afraid my splitter was going to explode.

 

Unless you're in the Carolinian Zone of southern Ontario, you won't have to worry about coming across one.

 

Well hickory is used for most handles if im not mistaken. I remember reading somewhere that they used a species of unsplittable wood for wagon wheels as it held together well.

 

I have my tree guys pretty well trained so no, i don’t get a whole lot but it seems to be a couple cords a year.

 

Oh I don’t seek it out, but sometimes my tree guys drop some off.

 

Only gum I ever see is juicy fruit or big league chew.

 

True. But I don’t think hickory is all it’s cracked up to be. I’ve seen plenty of almost new hickory handles fail.
I recall reading not long ago about wagon wheels too. Can’t remember what wood they said was used.