Howdy everyone. Hope all is well in everyone's late burning season. Been busy as can be and have a list a mile long of things to get done. Finally got around to splitting all the wood I got from my BIL's lot. I have no idea what this wood is but it broke me thats for sure. I finally broke down and used a wood splitter. Some of the stringiest wood I have ever split. Was hoping someone might have an idea what it is so I can stay clear of it in the future. Lol, now I just have to find time to stack all this.
I was afraid that would be the consensus. Well its all split now but yeah not going to be doing that again.
Def gum. Lots on this side of bay, imagine ur side is the same. I never touch it lol, because you’ll see... once its seasoned, it burns up super fast which makes all that struggling splitting it pointless lol.
I split everything by hand and then tried splitting some of this. Was just going to take me to long so borrowed a log splitter from my neighbor. Not really a fan of using a log splitter though, so going to try and avoid sweetgum in the future.
It burns fine. Lasts longer than pine, not as long as oak. All the torn fibers that make it hard to split make it easy to light once it dries. It seems to leave a disproportionately large amount of ash compared with other wood. It is somewhat easier to split if you let it dry in round form for a year or so before trying to split it. Another approach is to just cut it short and use it as chunks. It’s easier to split an 8 inch piece than a 16 inch piece. I’ve been keeping warm the last few months using sweet gum and elm chunks. I would not seek it out. It is pretty low yield as far as BTUs for the effort if you are hand splitting. Easier to split twice as much pine or better yet half as much oak for the BTUs. But if you have a bunch to take down like I do, may as well use it.
wow, that looks like it would a tough split. Hey, I am right there with you with the mile long list of stuff to do.
