Black Gum?

[esshup]

Maybe I'm becoming a wood snob, but this stuff is about as bad as Elm or Sycamore to split. Stringy, hard to split, etc. Free is free after all, but when I can get Oak and Maple for the same price sometimes I wonder if the harder to split (and stack) stuff is worth it. This particular tree is about 20" dia.

Anybody have experience with it, both burning it and time to season?

Thoughts?

 

[lone wolf]

Maybe I'm becoming a wood snob, but this stuff is about as bad as Elm or Sycamore to split. Stringy, hard to split, etc. Free is free after all, but when I can get Oak and Maple for the same price sometimes I wonder if the harder to split (and stack) stuff is worth it. This particular tree is about 20" dia.

Anybody have experience with it, both burning it and time to season?

Thoughts?

I DONT EVEN TRY TO SPLIT IT IT GOES IN THE CHIPPER.

 

[Tree Feller]

if it's small enough to burn without splitting i will cut it. If not i leave it standing, even if it's the only tree left where i'm cutting! Well i may go back and cut it down just because. But on the other hand it drys quick but still not worth it!

 

[Babaganoosh]

Last year was my first with a new house and a wood stove. Cousin cut down a sweet gum tree and I took it to get ahead since have next to nothing. I came online and checked and everyone says gum trees suck to split. I took it and will never take one again. I'll crank up the gas furnace before I split another sweet gum tree.

 

[Fred Wright]

Anybody have experience with it, both burning it and time to season?

Sure do. We used to drop one or two every year for shoulder season wood. Burns well, leaves a lot of ash behind. Will burn after a year stacked. Black gum has a lower resin content than sweetgum.

Like sweetgum, it can be a bear to split, even with a power splitter. I learned to deal with it early on via serendipity ~ got one bucked and the rains came before I could load 'em out. Rounds lay for over a couple months before the ground finally dried enough to get the little tractor in without getting mired down.

They split like a dream after being left in the round awhile. Some splintering but much of it split smooth, almost like it had been milled. We don't cut 'em anymore, got a good supplier of fall and spring wood. But I'll always remember those smooth, suntan-colored splits.

As an aside, black gums feed wildlife ~ birds eat the fruit, deer chew on the saplings. And bees make the best honey from black gum (tupelo) flowers.

 

[leonardo]

worst stuff i've ever split. finally figured the best way to split it is take off splits where the heartwood and sapwood meet. then if remaining sapwood is big enough split it once, or better yet stack it as a round. my brother has a ton of it on his property and i process firewood for him. he says it is low heat and lots of ash. don't cut it anymore. there are lots of other hardwoods that are less agravating out there.

 

[lone wolf]

worst stuff i've ever split. finally figured the best way to split it is take off splits where the heartwood and sapwood meet. then if remaining sapwood is big enough split it once, or better yet stack it as a round. my brother has a ton of it on his property and i process firewood for him. he says it is low heat and lots of ash. don't cut it anymore. there are lots of other hardwoods that are less agravating out there.

Leave it sit 6 months and split it on the out sides working your way in a little at a time.

 

[esshup]

Thanks guys! I just might try to noodle some to see how it goes, but with the abundance of other better wood, it probably will just find it's way to the burn pile as it is.

 

[Preston]

If it's anything like Sweet Gum, in the fire place it explodes like it's got fire crackers inside. I've burned it but it's causing me problems. I may just put all of it in the trash pile and let it rot.

 

[moondoggie]

https://books.google.com/books?id=Q...ge&q=did early settlers use black gum&f=false


Page 331



I split black gum with my splitter. I doesn't have a wide wedge though its narrow so it slices it more than splits it! Dries fast after split.

 

[bleoh]

I have the same experience as others with the black gum I got last year. Tried to split it green from the center out and the grain is so twisted it just rips apart. Makes it slow going and the splits are a pain to stack, but it does create so many rips in the pieces that I think it dried fast. Then I read on here about splitting it parallel to the growth rings and that was better, even better now that the rounds have aged a year.

I have not heard this mentioned, and maybe it is just my imagination, but I like the smell of the smoke.

 

[jrider]

Black gum is the devil. I only take it anymore if it fits in my owb without needing to be split.

 

[zogger]

Haven't seen any black gum around here but plenty of sweetgum. along with elm, I noodle, cut shorties etc. to the point if I can fit it into the stove, good enough.

If I have to touch it, it goes in the stacks, I jiss don't care either, my stacks get big. Rather have too much than not enough.

 

[sledge&wedge]

Farmer neighbor of mine cut down a ~24" black gum last year that was starting to uproot and the only thing he found that would split it halfway decent was the bucket tooth of his Case 160 excavator

 

[Fred Wright]

Smaller rounds from the forks up weren't too bad. It was the main stem that put up a struggle. These were forest trees. More stem than top but no knots. Slab splitting around the outside of the rounds made a world of difference. The inside will bust easily once exposed.

I'm not familiar with the scientific explanation; my understanding is the interlocking grain deteriorates over time after the tree is bucked. Generates a lot of splitter scraps but it parts, at least.

Another advantage to leaving the rounds set is they lose water weight. Black and sweetgum trees are mostly water. The rounds don't dry, per se but they do become easier to lift.