Was wondering if any of you have ever run into this? We have a woods that has quite a bit of mature beech trees, lots of 3 footers. What has always puzzled me is how one tree can split normally and the one right next to it is hydraulic only version. Some are so bad you can't even start a thin taper steel wedge with a sledgehammer. Even with the lightest of taps they pop right out. Before we had the 3 pt and my current splitter we would hand split to lifting size. Many a time we would plunge cut into the round so the wedge could stay and split. Here are a couple of pics of what I call "wavy" grain. If you notice to the right on the end of the piece it has a sawtooth pattern. Waves are about 1 to 1 and a 1/2 inches peak to peak. Not bad with a hydraulic bad it will ruin your day trying by hand. I vowed the next time we get one I'll "save" it for a Fiskars guy. That would be fun to watch!
Interlocked grain,similar to American/White Elm,just Beech is much finer textured. Bet that's pretty when sawed smooth & polished up. Like Cherry & Sugar/Silver Maples,they can have real curl at times.
I have quite a few; never had the "pleasure" of splitting any yet though. Mine are probably on the younger side, healthy, and dead plumb straight, so I may never get the chance. My biggest one is maybe 20" DBH. Quite a few have that same vertical "rippled" appearance.
We probably run 80% easy - 20 % wavy. This was an easier one as notice the round on the left is split down the middle. That is a 3 ft bar on the saw to give you some scale to it. Kind of dwarfs the 192 Surprizingly the worst wood we ever had was a rouge maple that came out of someones front yard. We've split knotted elms, oaks, Shagbark hickorys and nothing compared to tree. It split easier crossgrain than with grain. Dad even tried cutting the rounds to half size(12 inches long) and still the same. Broke his splitter twice on it before noodling it. One of the few times we have ever done that. Even the staight grain, knot free, lengths were horrible. BAD memories there.
I've posted this one before but that was just the top of the tree 25 ft up it y'd. One side was right at a 4 ft branch and the other was just over 3 ft in diameter. Here is the Top all slpit up This was the bottom. . . . . . . . That's a great grandpa of a Beech!
Beech can be hit or miss. Be happy that the bark disease hasn't come your way yet. Trees that grow where it is established are miserable to split.
Your comment just inspired me to read a USDA Forest Service paper on it. Sounds like it should have long since made it's way to my area by now. But the paper said that isolated and thinner stands of it are less vulnerable, having less potential vectors to acquire it. And that perfectly describes my population of them. Of my great-grandparent's original 77 acres, they're only present in my 14. And for that matter, I haven't seen them on any of my other neighbor's properties either. And I was considering planting/transplanting one as a shade tree in my yard. Scratch that plan! You may have inadvertently saved about 50 healthy beech trees from my ignorance just now! I guess I really do need to call a forester and have them develop a plan for me, before I muck things up!
I was thinking the same thing.... Never heard of curly beech before.... Now I need to google it. Found it... Not exactly the same look as curly maple, but you may have found something that could go to the sawmill instead of the firewood pile?
That's the largest beech I have ever seen, bar none... We have some big ones by us, but they can frequently succumb to insect damage or bark disease.
Beech is at the top of my favorites list. I like the tight bark, no mess and it burns awesome. I had a big boy that my late brother in law and I took down, enough to burn both of us all season easily.
In our experience, beech will usually not split very straight. We've also found it is best to not try to split it through the heart but take slabs off it and this way it does split better. I've never had the honor of using hydraulics to split beech but no doubt I'd split it the same as if splitting by hand. Some beech can get super big but they usually tend to get hollow after a certain size. But even then, they will last for many years. We had one on our place and I don't remember the diameter but off hand I am guessing it was near 6' diameter. Some of the limbs were 3'. I used to enjoy getting up in that for deer hunting. Didn't need a stand as one could just stand or sit on a limb. Sadly, it is no longer with us but at least it gave us some seed so new ones are coming up.
Dennis, I've found the same thing with big beeches. Often either hollow or very soft in the middle. Interesting
Its rare to see a smooth beech tree here. Its a hydraulic only wood here in maine. Up to about 6" diameter is only what you can split by hand. I have some Ohio beech lumber from my grandfathers place. It seems like different wood all together than we have here. I made my stair treads out of it. Dries crooked as hell though.
