Splittin' wood tips.. the old fashoned way

That axe flipping business wouldn't carry you too far on some sugar maple. I heat with anything seasoned. Spruce, oak, maple, ash, cherry, etc. As far as im concerned, a good mix of seasoned wood beats relying on one species. If is had to rely on one wood it might be ash.
 
Dave Shepard said:
Would probably make good tool handles.
Click to expand...

Bay Laurel makes for excellent chair seats and other woodworking. Good resistance to splitting when wedging legs near the outside of the seat. It isn't an extremely hard wood though, I'd say fairly similar to Walnut. I have worked with it a lot. I used to get a good quantity from an old timer up in Occidental, California, named Rico Calvi. Jerry, perhaps you made his acquaintance? Cool Italiano. He had some type of mill, and I assume logged the trees himself. Never dickered around much in price, always just gave a sweet deal on large wide planks. The wood is useful for boat building as well, i think keels.
 

Attachments

  • bay wood side chair copy.jpg
    bay wood side chair copy.jpg
    83.3 KB · Views: 9
And because it is easy splitting wood. Flippin or not, on tough wood your gonna get stuck sometimes.
Click to expand...

Yep, right tool for the job. A maul would be over kill on her wood
 
Any wood that has a history of being used for gears at water powered flour mills, or for wagon wheel hubs, makes for difficult splitting. Elm fits that category.

Thanks, Stephen, made mucho moons ago.
 
Elm is nearly impossible to split with an axe plus it will bend like a noodle before it breaks .

I'll guarantee if that barefoot sweety with the double bit axe laid into a chunk of American elm she'd stick the axe .It's a pain in the buttocks with wedges and it takes several to get-er-done .In addition a maul does no good either because all it is is fat 8 pound axe that can stick too .

Elm will split alright but then it closes in about like a bear trap .Gotya .
 
Sheesh...looking to get a new friction cord...ice tail for $26 from Wesspur or Treestuff...plus $25 postage via USPS int'l priority!!!
 
X27 is about $100 here, I'll stick with my block buster.8)

You should try Trev's shop Fi, he'll beat most prices here and with postage might be cheaper on some things. Plus you'll have them next day or so.
 
Only way to split elm by hand is start a wedge on the side and don't bury it. Lay it over on edge and go at the split with an ax to cut all those nasty crisscrossed fibers. If they have been standing dead till they got a little past prime they split.
 
Elm is not the greatest firewood either .Certain things like heavy loading planks etc it's hard to beat though because unlike oak it doesnt have a propensity to split and as it dries out it gets lighter .That freakin oak never seems to get lighter and even if it does you age so it feels the same anyway .Just plain heavy period .
 
Al, last I checked, the US had somewhere around 35 different species of oak.

So just calling it "oak" doesn't work.

I bet there is a world of difference between the different kinds.
 
I split some Chesnut Oak once. We don't have much of it around here. I remember the splitter building up pressure with no results. All of a sudden it would let go with a bang. Never saw any other wood do that on a regular basis.
 
For clarification Stig in these parts there are basically four kinds of oak .Northern red, white ,bur and pin .Everyone of them is heavy .

Red and white have a market for saw logs ,bur only for pallets cribbing etc .Pin none that I know of and of the four pin is the worst to split .

Most hazard or nuisance removals done by the tree service guys are either red or white and they are large and old .

The picture shows a four foot T square on top of the largest chunk of pin oak I ever saw in my life .That thing was a tad over 4 feet across which is a rarity to find one that size .
 

Attachments

  • Giant oak 001.jpg
    Giant oak 001.jpg
    52.6 KB · Views: 7
4 foot really? I thought they got a lot bigger there.

That one I did a few years ago was nowhere near that big but they must like it here. I don't see many but there was one next door to a job a couple of months ago that would have been easy 5' at about my waist height.

3rd sept 09 009.jpg

I checked, it looked bigger from where I was standing downhill from it. There was another tree behind it a Liquid Amber, so it is about 3'6''. Still a big tree.
 
Last edited:
Mine is like that, 21 years old now and growing fast this last year after all the rain last summer.

That one was a big tree, it's in the valley. I don't go there much but I'll get a picture next time.
 
This was all a great vast hardwood forest at one from lake Erie to the Ohio river .Over several centuies much of it was clear cut for farm land .They would leave across those open fields a big oak standing simpley for a place to rest the horses working the fields .Those oaks how ever old they are are still standing and they are huge with big spreading canopies .Over the years with no compition for sun light they probabley didn't grow much taller but they certainly have grown broader .

I suppose about 3 feet across is about the average size for a pin oak were I to guess .Fact I've got a 3 footer right beside my driveway but I think it's the only one on the property . I have no idea where the acorn came from from wince it grew but there could have been other pins in the area at one time .

A pin oak by the way is not the predominate oak in this area but there are some .That probabley would be the northern red followed closely by the white oak .
 
I just thought of something and I don't know if I can find the picture or not .A few years ago old Tom brought me out a mixed load of red oak and honey locust .That freakin honey locust was just as fat as that pic of the pin oak .I though he was joking until I saw the thorns growing out of it .I had to move those rounds with a skid loader just to split them .
 
Yeah the thorns are like miniature elk antlers and can puncture a tractor tire or a foot for that matter .It's burns okay from what I see .Fact I'm going to use out of a stack of oak and locust this year if it ever gets cold enough to light the stove .

I think there's around 6-7 cords in that one stack that's been drying for 5 years more or less .I would have gotten into it two years ago except I had about 3 tons of junk in front of it which is now in my burn pile .Fact Tom the tardy was supposed to come out today with a bunch of rotten pallets to toss on the pile so I could set a match to it .Late as usual .
 
Locust was nice to have in the pile this year.. Only seasoned one year, you could not close the damper all the way. Burns a long time when you get the draft just right :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Burnham
My father's axe
2 3 4
Replies
91
Views
2K
cory
cory
Tree09
Gasification and wood gas
Replies
1
Views
82
Marc-Antoine
Marc-Antoine
lxskllr
Fiskars Tool Quality?
2 3
Replies
65
Views
1K
SeanKroll
SeanKroll
BlackBikeDave
stihl 201 kickback when starting
Replies
20
Views
874
Ed L
Ed L
Eric H-L
Long but light branch equals big excitement for a newb
2
Replies
32
Views
2K
WoodCutr
WoodCutr
Back
Top