branchbuzzer
Undiagnosed
Yep, we all know it ranks right up there as being one of the toughest woods to split. This past spring I was a bit bored and brought some home that was free on Craigslist. At the time, I hadn't really worked with Sycamore much before. I knew it had a reputation as being hard to split, but I had tried splitting a small amount of 12" rounds and they didn't seem too bad - about 3 swings and they'd go. So, I thought I would try some more. It was a little old lady that someone had brought the tree down for, but left the main trunk sitting on her lawn and she needed it gone, so I was also just trying to do her a favor as much as getting the wood. It was about a 24" dbh tree, about 30-40 feet long.
Well, as you'd expect it was a nightmare to split. I had trouble even slabbing anything off the edges of the rounds and wedges were just sinking in without starting a split. I gave up splitting it on the site and just heaved the rounds into the truck and brought them home so I could work on them piecemeal and after dark if need be. I tried noodling them up, but I don't really like doing that if I don't have to ( the cuts would actually close back up after the b&c went past...) so I decided to just buck the rounds again into 8"-10" lengths. These still needed to be wedged, and when they did go they'd crack in a zig-zag pattern, very stringy. So I did some this way getting them just small enough to fit in the stove, noodled some others, then got Syc of working in the heat and just let the rest lay there.
So, to get to the friggin point here, fast forward to now. I go back to some the ones that I let lay there and they now split quite easily. The big rounds still need a wedge to start, but a couple hits and they crack, no stringiness at all and the cracks are straight. I'm able to do most of the full length splits on one swing.
The wood is even wetter now than when I cut it, since it's been laying on moist ground and covered with weeds. To see if the moisture was the reason for the easy splitting, I brought some big pieces into my stove room and baked them for a few weeks til they were dried out and checking. After drying them out those also were splitting very easily.
So, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. It's not like I'm going to go out searching for the stuff on purpose, because it's still a pain, but I might still take it if it was there and easily got.
Well, as you'd expect it was a nightmare to split. I had trouble even slabbing anything off the edges of the rounds and wedges were just sinking in without starting a split. I gave up splitting it on the site and just heaved the rounds into the truck and brought them home so I could work on them piecemeal and after dark if need be. I tried noodling them up, but I don't really like doing that if I don't have to ( the cuts would actually close back up after the b&c went past...) so I decided to just buck the rounds again into 8"-10" lengths. These still needed to be wedged, and when they did go they'd crack in a zig-zag pattern, very stringy. So I did some this way getting them just small enough to fit in the stove, noodled some others, then got Syc of working in the heat and just let the rest lay there.
So, to get to the friggin point here, fast forward to now. I go back to some the ones that I let lay there and they now split quite easily. The big rounds still need a wedge to start, but a couple hits and they crack, no stringiness at all and the cracks are straight. I'm able to do most of the full length splits on one swing.
The wood is even wetter now than when I cut it, since it's been laying on moist ground and covered with weeds. To see if the moisture was the reason for the easy splitting, I brought some big pieces into my stove room and baked them for a few weeks til they were dried out and checking. After drying them out those also were splitting very easily.
So, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this. It's not like I'm going to go out searching for the stuff on purpose, because it's still a pain, but I might still take it if it was there and easily got.
