Picked up some Box Elder from a neighbor about a 1/2 mile away. Really, really big chunks. I had to noodle them to be able to handle them.........................and then to lift them into my Dodge Ram 2500. Long story, short here......................................that was in December....................before REAL WINTER got here. Anyhow; much of the stuff I noodled was still TOO long for my stove..................so I had to cut anywhere from 4-8" off all these really big piece which I did yesterday. That said; when I went to split them with Mr. Fiskars; essentially right after cutting to length, I had to attack them from the fresh cut side of the chunk vs. the old cut side. Couldn't make a dent in the wood on the old cut side. Fresh cut side split no problem!! IdeasSS??
I only had box elder once. I also split it by hand the same day. I found some nice color inside some of the splits, not all. What I do remember about it was the offensive smell when it burnt. Leave it dry long enough.
I know all about "the alleged box elder smell"!!!! Ain't never smelled it here.........................and I burn a lot of it. This is my 4th season burning....................and, "in all honesty", probably 1/2 of the wood I've burned to heat my home in that time is box elder!!!!! It seasons fast, burns hot, and is really abundant around here. My wood stove is an Englander 13NC.............................the "Little Big Stove"...........................................the burn times from oak to box elder don't vary too much IMHO in this stove as I can only load about 4 medium split EW in her. We're talking USABLE HEAT HERE...................................about 4 with box elder vs. 6 with white oak. I can still have enough coals for a cold start with both...............................but the stove isn't putting out USABLE heat then.
Darned stinky wood..... Got a while before the Siberian Elm from last summer goes in the stove, but splitting that stuff? One word-Stank.
I had a very similar experience last year. Brought homes about 15 24" rounds of box elder November 13'. Went to split them last April and it was like concrete! I might have gotten 10 splits by hand in an hour. I borrowed a hydraulic for the rest!!!!
I burn a bit of box elder. I don't think it smells bad at all. It's decent btu's and it dries quickly. There's also a lot of it around here. Now as to splitting it by axe/ maul, yeah it can be tricky. I split 99.9% of my wood with hydro's.
Siberian elm, I feel bad cutting any elm for firewood, my buddy slabs it up for furniture and whatnot, and it is GORGEOUS! I've burnt a lot of box elder, I like it, but I don't mess with giant pieces because there a pain to split
Shaggy, I burn a good amount of American elm too. Elm's great wood. Yeah it sucks to split, but with the hydro's it splits straight and it's great for making corners. The blue flames are pretty nice too.
I talk to a friend of mine, an old timer and he says wood splits the easiest if it was cut the same day or it's frozen. Any time your trying to split by hand and it has sat for a while you're going to work harder for it. I have found this to be true in my experience so now I don't ever cut more than I know I can split
I've never burned box elder in the house, but there's a ton at my parents down by the river that I've cut and split for camp outs. It seems like the wood absorbs ground and rain moisture very easily and that makes the wood soggy and harder to split. Perhaps the fresh cut side was a little more dry than the older side?
Most wood cuts easier wet, but in my experience I haven't found it easier to split. In fact I run into the most trouble with certain species (the stringy ones) when they're wet. American Elm is one that needs to be really dry - same with the poplar that I get around here. If it's too wet the axe will just compress the fibers rather than popping the round open. I'd agree with bassJam's suggestion that the old face may be wetter. If that's not the case, then I doubt wetness has anything to do with it - maybe its just a coincidence and more knots happen to be located on the old cut side.
That is exactly the experience I had with my yard tree ash when I cut its length in half. It split fine from the fresh cut end but the other end had gotten just soft enough that the X-27 just spread a few of the fibers but couldn't get the split started. I did a few with sledge and wedge before I figured out I just had to turn them over to split easy.
