Splitting Wood

[mswabbie]

Is it best to split wood when it is green, or after it has seasoned. I have some Oak and Pecan trees I am going to cut for firewood and am new at this.
Thank You

 

[glens]

I hold the opinion that firewood does not properly start to season until after it's split and stacked.  You can leave it in rounds and even after a year it can still be wet in the middle when you pop it open. 

It's not the same case as if it had been cut to stove lengths, but a fellow down the road had a huge red oak tip over and he was leaving it lay there.&nbsp; I asked him about it and he gave it to me to get whatever I wanted from it.&nbsp; 32" diameter and 1/2 to 3/4 was usable in each round.&nbsp; He couldn't belive it was soaking wet inside just like a live tree when it had been standing dead as long as he'd lived there (15 years - <i>30 feet from his house!</i>).

Most wood types respond best when green, getting tougher as they age.&nbsp; There can be exceptions though, and some stuff seems a little easier when it's frozen.

I've never split pecan, but if it's like most other hickory wood, sooner is better than later.&nbsp; Generally the same for the oaks in my experience.

 

[bwalker]

Glens, We had some property where the gypsy moths called off alot of very large oaks. We would cut what we needed every year from this lot and even trees that where dead for 5 years where wet in the middle.
I like to split wood when its green and frozen for FWIW.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Sometimes it is nice to have some green wood to add to dry wood that burns up to fast. I burned some Beech that had just been cut, and it was nice to see how long it lasted.
John

 

[dbabcock]

Boring, boring, boring. Post up some interesting sh!t, will ya?

 

[Gypo Logger]

Ok, here's a picture of my toolbox.
John

 

[dbabcock]

Here's a picture that's the equivalent of the the best that I've seen out of anyone on AS in the last three weeks.

 

[treeclimber165]

John-
Next time you are at a hardware store, pick up a foot of 3/4" PVC and two end caps. Use it to protect your files, as the ones in your toolbox are trashed. Even if you bought new files and dumped them in that box, they would be trashed in a week tops. For less than a dollar (maybe $1.50 Canadian) your files will always be clean and dry.

 

[sedanman]

If you live in an area where there are no firewood thieves, you can drop trees in the spring after they've got a full conopy of leaves. Leave the tree laying in the woods 'til the leaves dry out. The tree will try to live but since it's severed from it's roots, the leaves can only use the moisture in the tree, when it's gone they die and your wood is well on it's way to being dry.

 

[glens]

off topic

John,

I'd forgotten to ask in the "staying on topic" thread, and the shot here of your now-full container jogged my memory.&nbsp; Regarding that cherry you were preparing for the stove, was that a surprise or did you know it would be suitable only for that purpose from the get-go?

Glen

 

[dbabcock]

Let's change this thread to "Rocks that I have known and loved".

 

[glens]

Sedanman, I've heard that about the leaves before, and it has to do some good, but don't you think it only affects the sapwood?&nbsp; How different do you think the end result is from a tree dropped mid-winter?&nbsp; (just curious)

The comment about wood thieves reminded me about another aspect of the red oak tree I'd mentioned.&nbsp; The fellow also had a basswood tree mostly down, laying along the top of a hill.&nbsp; I just wanted to run my saw, so I cut it to stove lengths and let the pieces roll down the hill into a ditch alongside the road.&nbsp; There must have been at least 30 feet of it 12" dia. average.&nbsp; A couple of days later I was dinking around and went down there and stacked the rounds in a pile.&nbsp; I came back by in a few days and it was gone.&nbsp; There must have been at least a day's worth of heat there for the those poor thieves :<tt>)</tt>

Doug, that was a great head shot of a turkey, but based on your recent suggestion, if the thread doesn't interest you, you don't have to post to, or even read it.

Glen

 

[ricksvar]

Not sure about the leaves,they tend to wither quickly after a tree is cut.

Wood seems to dry fairly fast,especially in winter with lower humidity(temps above freezing).No doubt split wood dries faster.A mixture of green and seasoned wood will hold a fire a little longer,don't have to tends it quite as often.Because I would burn some green wood,would also sweep my chimney once a year.

I have split and burned pecan,fine wood if you can get it,fairly easy to split with a maul.

Rick

 

[Rotax Robert]

I use a unicorn style splitter that runs off of the PTO on my tractor and it does'nt seem to care if the wood is wet or dry.

I also remember as a kid we would split our ponderosa pine firewood when it got to around 0 to -10f . seems the sap was frozen and even the toughest pieces would split like glass.

Maybe dbabcock could test this technique this winter for us by first splitting a log outside where it is freezing cold then bringing in the next piece of firewood into the house and warming it up for a day or so and trying to split it with the same axe. He maybe able to come up with some figures for us such as how hard to swing, fps of the axe head, kinetic energy, proper use of a inclined plane etc. etc. Boy are going to have fun waiting to see the results of this test.

 

[crowe]

split it green

If it was me and I was handsplitting I would split it while it was green and preferably frozen as Rotax said when the sap freezes it will break off like glass even the knottiest stuff like old water maple will shatter in chunks every time you hit it. I think the longer it sits whole the harder it is to split the grain around the outside draws up tight and doesn't really want to seperate or break apart when you hit and then from where it is still green in the middle your mall wants to stick in it and there you are horsing around on your handle trying to get it out and we know what happens when you start horsing around on your handle. Happy splitting, Wade

 

[Gypo Logger]

Once in a while you can get dry blocks to split, but they are only dry on the outside. Some people think that if wood is dry and cracked on the outside, then it must be dry on the inside.
Wood is a many splendard thing and water content doesnt always dictate its burnability.
John

 

[Rotax Robert]

Gypo, that aint nothin....here is how we split-em here out west. 2 men and 2 cords per hour...Wanna race

 

[Rotax Robert]

maybe a pic would help.

 

[dbabcock]

Robert,
What is that thing? It looks like half of Madonna's bra.

 

[Rotax Robert]

Its called out here a unicorn splitter and runs off of a PTO @ 540 rpm. Jim and I busted up 8 cords and 3 cases of beer today and that was with tough spliten wood.