Curious, when you guys mention wanting to split certain types of wood when it's freezing temps, how low of a temp does it need to be? Does it need to be super cold for wood to freeze? Does it just crack and split all the way down rapidly or do you need to cycle the splitter all the way down? Or if hand splitting, does it just crack all the way down with no need to clean up the 'kerf' from those pieces that can hang on to the sides of the splits in warmer times?
The only time I’ve ever waited on the cold to split wood was when I split by hand. Then I only saved the impossible to split pieces. All the cold did was make it possible. It was still a lot of work. Most of what I’d save is elm. I’d wait till it was single digits.
There are several factors that affect ease of splitting frozen wood such as species and moisture content.
Ive just noticed green rounds seem to "pop" easier regardless of species. Usually its well below freezing overnight or a cold spell.
In November I had cut 2 green willow trees (26” and 20” at base)from a friends yard that had become a nuisance. Totaled just shy of a cord and my intent was to split it after temps got down to single digits for a week or so. Well, those temps have not come and I started to worry about the stringyness that may come with those trees. I couldn’t stand it any longer so I fired up the splitter, finished a small pile of mahogany and tried the willow. They popped right open with little effort from my 25 ton Yard Machine. I was really surprised.
Just remember that one or two nights below freezing won't do much except for the very outside layer. Just realize what it takes to freeze the ground to any decent depths. It takes some time for the inside of a log to freeze up.
