I have some 18-20" diameter yellow pine rounds I cut from a tree that fell over about a month ago. I noodled a bunch of the rounds, but found that the wet sappy wood was too hard on the saws when noodling (the same saws can noodle hardwood no issue). So I held off dealing with the rest of the rounds until yesterday.
I was using my Fiskars X27 on some poplar, walnut, hickory, and oak, and it did fine (that is one impressive tool). I cranked out about a 1/4 cord very quickly and got it stacked. Worked on some gum, and that was more of a challenge, but doable with patience. But then I got to the pine, and it was again a pain in the butt. The first round had some real sappy wood, and just wanted to break into chunks rather than split. I never did get the second round to split -- it just foamed white milky liquid out, and was like wet cork, absorbing and healing all the axe marks.
So what's the deal with splitting yellow pine? Do I just need to give the rounds some time to dry before tackling them? I assumed this would be easy wood, but it's turning out to be the most challenging so far. At this rate, I may just cut it into cookies, as a crosscut seems to be the only way to deal with it quickly right now. It will be for firepit wood to keep me warm when working outdoors, so whether it's in splits or cookies doesn't matter too much.
I was using my Fiskars X27 on some poplar, walnut, hickory, and oak, and it did fine (that is one impressive tool). I cranked out about a 1/4 cord very quickly and got it stacked. Worked on some gum, and that was more of a challenge, but doable with patience. But then I got to the pine, and it was again a pain in the butt. The first round had some real sappy wood, and just wanted to break into chunks rather than split. I never did get the second round to split -- it just foamed white milky liquid out, and was like wet cork, absorbing and healing all the axe marks.
So what's the deal with splitting yellow pine? Do I just need to give the rounds some time to dry before tackling them? I assumed this would be easy wood, but it's turning out to be the most challenging so far. At this rate, I may just cut it into cookies, as a crosscut seems to be the only way to deal with it quickly right now. It will be for firepit wood to keep me warm when working outdoors, so whether it's in splits or cookies doesn't matter too much.