In loving memory of Kenis D. Keathley 6/4/81 - 3/27/22 Loving father, husband, brother, friend and firewood hoarder Rest in peace, Dexterday

Hardest Wood to Split?

Discussion in 'The Wood Pile' started by Nordic Splitter, Dec 10, 2016.

  1. TripleF

    TripleF

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    Sycamore, Sweet Gum, Live Oak......sheeesh! I avoid these at all costs....LOL
     
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  2. billb3

    billb3

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    Standing wood is, most assuredly, a bear to split, although, with a tall/reach excavator, eastern white pine shatters rather readily.
     
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  3. jrider

    jrider

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    Wow, don't know how I missed this thread...or maybe I didn't but just not about to read the whole thread now. I've split elm (although not all varieties) sycamore, sweet gum, and black gum. There is no doubt in my mind that black gum and sweet gum are by far the worst!
     
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  4. Dumf

    Dumf Banned

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    1. Apple
    2. Elm
     
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  5. iowahiker

    iowahiker

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    Rock Elm, by a mile. Very dense and very fibrous. 100% noodle. Good firewood.
     
  6. fox9988

    fox9988

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    Elm. But sycamore is tough too, until this year.

    I cut a 30” fresh dead last summer. Bucked it up and loaded with the tractor for a friend’s shop. This fall it easily cracked right open with hydraulics. Split smooth, no strings, as easy as red oak. And had lost a ton of water weight.
     
  7. JPDavis

    JPDavis

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    Fremont Cottonwood
    The shear size of dealing with them is enough to have most people walk away. If that weren't enough the smell of the stuff, think of a ripe barnyard in summer, should have you headed in the other direction. It splits stringy when wet and still isn't the easiest when dry. Then to top it all off the stuff doesn't put out much heat nor does it burn for any length of time. Hands down the worst excuse for firewood in my area.

    Amazing Places: Giant Cottonwood worth a visit <<<< they all aren't quite this big in my area but close enough to be a p.i.t.a. to deal with when removing.
     
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  8. Kris_S

    Kris_S

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    I haven’t had to chance to split very many varieties yet, but it’s easily locust for me. I can chip away at the edges with a maul, but I’m gonna need to get a splitter for most of what I have sitting around.


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  9. campinspecter

    campinspecter

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    Cottonwood! Split this wood the hard way by hand in my teen years with metal wedges and big maple wedges would not pop apart very stringy . Also was very danger-es wood to burn in the summer if you had a cedar roof was very bad for big flying embers .
     
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  10. Cash Larue

    Cash Larue

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    Cottonwood. Hands down.
    I take all the elm I can get. It’s a breeze to split compared to cottonwood.
     
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  11. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    Im surprised by your response of black locust Kris_S . Ive only scored my first BL in October (green) and have been cutting more fallen dead with some partly green. Even the knotty sections werent too bad to hand split. Any pics of the wood your splitting as im curious about it.
     
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  12. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    Gum, sycamore are my NEVER take woods. Ill attempt frozen green elm and maybe smaller dead elm, but usually avoid it.
    I hand split :axe:all my wood (i noodle knotty and gnarly) Splitting is the determining factor on what i scrounge.
    Never processed cottonwood and ill heed the warnings on here.
     
  13. Kris_S

    Kris_S

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    I’ll try to get some picks tomorrow Brad.


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  14. Midwinter

    Midwinter

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    Do you mean honey locust? If it's at all knotty, I've found it very tough to split.
     
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  15. buZZsaw BRAD

    buZZsaw BRAD

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    i never thought of it being honey locust as he didnt specify. One wood ive never scored and can honestly say ive never seen one that im aware of.
    That and mulberry are a couple of bucket list woods for me.
     
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  16. Kris_S

    Kris_S

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    It might be honey locust. New to this and not great at tree ID. Only heard it referred to as locust. I have gotten to do 1 mulberry that was on my in-laws old property. It was pretty wet if I remember correctly.


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  17. fezdawg12

    fezdawg12

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    I am not sure exactly what is predominant around my neck of the woods but elm is awful as is cottonwood. Almost have to cut it green in the late fall, hope for a week or better of sub zero temps then fire up the hydro splitter.

    I once cut down a large pinion(30” at the base) that was quite twisty for about 10’ of the trunk. That was miserable as well.

    Those are my 3
     
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  18. fezdawg12

    fezdawg12

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    Surprised to see ironwood made your 3. The ironwood that I know about(haven’t ever cut any) is cosmetically very similar to curl-leaf mountain mahogany and that stuff splits very easily.
     
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  19. JSH

    JSH

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    Elm for me. We have Cottonwoods around but I don't recall ever splitting any. I'm surprised at the locust comments as Honey Locust is one of my favorites to split. I'm assuming straight sections of all since with crotches all bets are off and they can all be tough.
     
  20. Paul bunion

    Paul bunion

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    I would hazard a guess that you have seen lots of thornless honey locust planted curbside or in peoples yards. Just never knew it. Next time I’m in the neighborhood I’ll keep my eyes out for some.