I am sure this is sweetgum. It splits fine except for the bit at the end but a quick chop with the axe completes it. It may not have the BTUs of other woods; I don't know what BTU sweetgum holds, but I will burn anything that produces heat. Now I am not sure I would want to split it by hand but my little 5 ton SpeeCo had no issue with popping it open.
I have one in my front yard that I really don't like, drops thousands and thousands of those balls all throughout the year. Quite a nuisance of a yard tree. What keeps it safe is the horror stories of splitting like yours
I've split sweet gum before. It's similar to splitting a bail of wire. It's without a doubt the worst wood to split. Elm is a joke compared to this stuff. After I get caught up on my list of dead, fallen and damaged trees this winter I'm going to target sweet gum for the purpose of eliminating them. I have 150 acres and certain areas are loaded with them while other areas there are none to be found. It seems like they prefer the areas where the ground has been disturbed. I think they put out plenty of BTUs but most people don't want to deal with them when they have better trees to choose from. I'm the opposite, I have PLENTY of better trees to choose from, but I'd rather thin the junk out first. I admit I would rather burn mulberry, black locust, hackberry, sweet gum and boxelder over the premium hardwoods any day.
Sorry about your wood hoarding problem there James. If you want to just give up your firewood in order to break the addiction you can probably find a couple folk round here to take it off your hands. I'm too far away by just a few miles or you would be in range.
Everyone loves oak, and for good reason, but black locust and mulberry aren't anything to be mad about. Both are excellent firewood.
