I wonder perhaps if sycamore is like elm in that if you wait until it is dead, then it splits much easier and cleaner. This picture shows some dead elm (rounds with no bark). Sad that I didn't take a picture of some of those after splitting but they split nice and clean. Could easily have split those with splitting maul.
It depends on the tree. I have seen dried elm that could not be split with a hydro or SS SE, even 8-10" rounds. Had to noodle the whole thing. I wish I had pictures of the rounds we tried to split with hydro and SS. Looked like a wad of steel cable.
Yes, elm can be testy, especially if it has not grown in the woods. Those in the open are terrible. But there is a big difference between dried elm and that which has died and left standing until the bark has fallen off. That is how we cut our elm. Once the bark starts falling off, it usually takes a couple more years before we cut it. This makes a tremendous difference in splitting and it burns much better too because it is not all stringy.
Sycamore looks good milled, sucks as firewood. The wood scraps from the sawmill i pushed into a brush pile and burned. Wasnt worth messing with.
