chilly460
ArboristSite Lurker
Tree has the spiky seed balls and five pointed leaves same as what I've seen online for a Sweet Gum...
Sweet Gum is no joke...
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harpersend
ArboristSite Member
Black Gum turns darker in the heart than Sweet Gum, but I am not sure if it gets that dark... However, that would be my vote... Pretty sure the leaves and gum balls are similar... I believe the foliage turns dark red in fall...
NGaMountains
ArboristSite Operative
I've had decent success splitting gum from the outside in. Working around the outside perimeter knocking chunks off working in towards the middle instead of splitting from the middle like you normally would. With a hydraulic splitter this works ok but still not worth it. Gum burns like crap and rots fast. Had some I thought would split better dry and after a year in rounds it was a soft rotten mess.
Ash_403
Shop smart. Shop S-Mart.
They actually look a bit different. (Though that wood pictured by chilly460 is quite dark for Sweet Gum.)
Links have some good pictures too. http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/sweetgum
http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/tupelo
I live just across the mountain from you and I dont see many sweetgum's. altho they do grow here. I do see a lot of blackgum. From the look of the dark color, my guess would lean toward the black gum instead of sweetgum. The two trees are only distantly related. The black gum has rounded shiny leaves. The sweetgum has pointed star shaped leaves. Both trees are a bugger to split. I mostly see sweetgum around lake banks, but have never really paid that much attention until last year when my sisterinlaw asked me what kind of tree it was when we where on the lake fishing.
NGaMountains
ArboristSite Operative
We have lots of sweetgum in this area. The pointy leaves are everywhere as are the spiky balls all over the ground. Unfortunately...
Full Chisel
Slingin' Stihls and runnin' Huskies
Worst. Tree. Ever. Absolutely worthless as firewood. The gum I have *tried* to split was next to impossible. It laughed at my maul and the splitter just sheared the grain and pulled chunks off. I did manage to get a few actual splits and it's easy to see why it's so hard to split...wavy grain and super stringy. Junk wood!
I dont have any sweet or blackgum currently in my wood pile. I have split it with my hyd splitter in the past. I can say with certainty that Sweetgum/blackgum is the only thing I have ever split that would slow my splitter down. I have split 40india whiteoak with 4-5 large knots and watched my splitter grunt, but it always slices thru it. Then throw on a smallish, 10-12in dia piece of sweetgum and worry that it is going to stall my splitter out. I actually believe if I was to try running a 24in dia sweet gum thru my mulit wedge, I would have to beat it off the wedge with a sledge hammer, or cut it off with a saw. Sweetgum doesnt split, it tears apart. Stacking the splits is like stacking razor blades because of all the sharp, jagged splinters. I have heard a lot of folks talk about how hard it is to split elm, well if elm is anywhere near as hard to split as sweetgum, they can keep it.
Bradford pear is almost as bad and I have a load on the ground waiting to be split now.
Bradford pear is almost as bad and I have a load on the ground waiting to be split now.
Babaganoosh
ArboristSite Operative
Now THAT'S sweetgum.
Full Chisel
Slingin' Stihls and runnin' Huskies
I don't know why anyone would even bother with it. Way too much hastle for what it's worth. The best cure for sweet gum balls is a saw and the best cure for a pile of logs is a blazing bonfire.
I'll take elm over sweet gum...every time. It actually splits if you know how to do it right. Slabbing with the rings towards the core is the key...not splitting across the rings.
I'll take elm over sweet gum...every time. It actually splits if you know how to do it right. Slabbing with the rings towards the core is the key...not splitting across the rings.
JB Weld
If it aint broke, it aint mine!
I like burning elm, but it is hell to split. Noodle it.
Pitch the sweet gum.
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Pitch the sweet gum.
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I haven't split Sweetgum in a while, but the last time I split it I remember my log splitter screaming mercy. I recently took down a SG, and am now having second thoughts about cutting and splitting it. May try a few pieces for the heck of it
So I recently cut up a few rounds and decided to run them through the hydraulic splitter. The first pass, splitting the round in two is very slow. Once you have two halves it actually goes much easier. I'll split the rest and let it dry out.
jrider
Addicted to ArboristSite
Never had any problem lighting year old sweet gum, it just doesn't burn long or terribly hot.
zogger
Tree Freak
Just noodle it. Burns OK in a stove once real dry, at least two good summers. Not so good in a fireplace, it spits. I have hand split some but it has to sit for a long time before all the bark falls off and big natural cracks occur, then follow the cracks with a wedge and have a hatchet handy to cut strings.
johnnyballs
ArboristSite Operative
almost looks and sounds like chinese elm, but i don't know if they grow in your area...
Sweet gum splits pretty easily using my hydraulic log splitter. I can split it with the 4 way wedge on.
Black gum is very difficult and must be split with the 4 way wedge off. Even then it tears more than it splits.
There is a huge difference in splitting difficulty.
I heat with both but black gum that is too large to fit in the stove without splitting I usually just dump in the woods. I get both in my tree service.
We have two kinds of black gum here, Nyssa sylvatica and Nyssa aquatica. Aquatica is easier to split than sylvatica.
Black gum is very difficult and must be split with the 4 way wedge off. Even then it tears more than it splits.
There is a huge difference in splitting difficulty.
I heat with both but black gum that is too large to fit in the stove without splitting I usually just dump in the woods. I get both in my tree service.
We have two kinds of black gum here, Nyssa sylvatica and Nyssa aquatica. Aquatica is easier to split than sylvatica.
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