white oak question

[hill]

How tough is green white oak to split.......my neighbor just gave me a white oak tree he had cut down yesterday which is about 30" in diam. I need to use the 5100 to cut it into rounds and split it before I can haul it as I don't thick I can lift the rounds the way they are. Thanks for any info.

 

[ropensaddle]

How tough is green white oak to split.......my neighbor just gave me a white oak tree he had cut down yesterday which is about 30" in diam. I need to use the 5100 to cut it into rounds and split it before I can haul it as I don't thick I can lift the rounds the way they are. Thanks for any info.

Not too bad but are you hand splitting? If so bring a few steel wedges
to start the rounds then the maul should do after busted. They are
not too bad though not as easy as red oak but not as stringy as hickory.

 

[avalancher]

As was metioned above, have a couple of extra wedges and you will do alright. If you want to make it even easier to split by hand, try and cut the rounds in half with your saw, you will find that the halves split pretty easy with a splitting maul. Its a little tougher than red oak, but a good bit more heat than red oak so its well worth the effort, specially when its free!

 

[iowawoodcutter]

I split everything by hand and red oak and white oak are my fav to split. Usually pretty straight grained. Much easier in my opinion to split than elm or maple. Depending on how big your rounds are, I usually use a monster maul to split them into quarters, drive them home, then use a regular maul to split them to firewood size. I never have to use wedges, but I have a lot of practice so I can hit the same spot 90% of the time. Which sometimes on the big rounds you will have to do 5-6 times to yield its treasure.

Dont lift the rounds by yourself unless you have help, they will probably be 75-100 pounds.

C

 

[woodbooga]

agree RE: tougher than red oak, which is my favorite to split. That said, your efforts will be greatly rewarded. Fine firewood. We don't have as much white up our way in NH because of the climate - maple, beech, birch, red oak are the most prevelant hardwoods.

 

[avalancher]

I split everything by hand and red oak and white oak are my fav to split. Usually pretty straight grained. Much easier in my opinion to split than elm or maple. Depending on how big your rounds are, I usually use a monster maul to split them into quarters, drive them home, then use a regular maul to split them to firewood size. I never have to use wedges, but I have a lot of practice so I can hit the same spot 90% of the time. Which sometimes on the big rounds you will have to do 5-6 times to yield its treasure.

Dont lift the rounds by yourself unless you have help, they will probably be 75-100 pounds.

C

Easier than Maple? Man, I dont know what kind of Maple you got up there, but the maple here splits almost by dropping it on the ground. I dont even fire up the log splitter for maple, its far quicker by hand. One wack per chunk and its "to the woodpile" it goes. I imagine there must be a dozen varieties at least of maple, but I sure wouldnt call white oak easier to split than maple. I will take oak over maple any day, but just because it burns so much better!
My two cents...

 

[hill]

thanks

Well, thanks for the help. I hand split everything as well with my 8lb maul. It has certainly gotten a workout over the past few years. I haven't had much white oak, mainly locust, red oak, and walnut. The black walnut in my experience is extremely easy to split. I do have access to several steel wedges, so I'll probably bring them just in case.

 

[iowawoodcutter]

agreed that maple is easy to split, IF, you can get some straight trunk pieces with no knots. When I get maple, I just never seem to get any of that. It is always littered with knots and very hard to get through with the maul. Which mean I usually have to get the MS460 out and cut through it a couple of times to get splittable pieces. Which in a way, I guess you could say maple is my favorite wood to split if I get more chainsaw time.

C

 

[Peacock]

Dont lift the rounds by yourself unless you have help, they will probably be 75-100 pounds.

C

Actually, according the sources available at the top of this forum a 18" piece of white oak in 30" diameter weighs 450lbs.

 

[hill]

???

What? That's ridiculous. I have a really hard time believing that.....Not questioning you, just the source. It doesn't matter, I'm not going to attempt to lift these rounds into the truck...I'm planning on spitting them on the spot.

 

[trax]

How long and straight is that 30" butt log ? I'd saw that into boards and use the top for firewood

 

[ray benson]

Actually, according the sources available at the top of this forum a 18" piece of white oak in 30" diameter weighs 450lbs.

That works out to 7.36 cu.ft. per piece. At 50 to 60 lbs per cu. ft. - would be 368lbs. to 441 lbs. each.

 

[hill]

Yikes

Holy mackeral, I had no idea what I was getting into here. All I can say is when the job is through.....

 

[Brian Bush]

All Depends

Depends entirely on the diameter and grain of the wood. It can split with a few good strokes of a maul/axe or you can lodge wedge after wedge, bind up a splitter, etc. I cut one down last fall (60-70') and had it hand split over a weekend.

 

[Buckethead]

I (we) regularly load 30" rounds by rolling them to the truck and then use a set of ramps (2x6) to get them into the bed. Oak is usually pretty easy to load because it tends to be very straight with few limbs and rolls easily. Maple can be tough because all the cut off limbs make rolling them in a straight line almost impossible...a buddy of mine calls them "cat toys".

If splitting them turns out to be too much of a pain then I resort to ripping them in half or quarters with the saw.

 

[hill]

Well thanks guys for all the suggestions....I'll be tackling the big rounds tomorrow morning early. I hauled a truckload last night of 6-8 foot limb sections and judging by the weight of some of those things, I'll have to admit I was wrong.....those rounds are going to be a good bit heavier than I expected (I guess I'm used to dead wood). In any event, I don't think rolling them will be much of an option because the neighbor has a chainlink fence, so I'll have to roll each one about 50 yards to my truck before loading them. I enjoy splitting wood, so I'll just take my time and try not to kill myself!! Thanks again, I'll give you an update on Monday!!!

 

[abohac]

How tough is green white oak to split.......my neighbor just gave me a white oak tree he had cut down yesterday which is about 30" in diam. I need to use the 5100 to cut it into rounds and split it before I can haul it as I don't thick I can lift the rounds the way they are. Thanks for any info.

White oak splits pretty well if it wasn't in a fence row or somewhere where it has been exposed to the elements its whole life. And also, just rip it a ways with your saw if you have a tough one (tons of people are now going to write and say you can't do this). I rip it just far enough to weaken the knot then hit it with a splitting maul. Good luck

 

[hill]

Never ripped before, any recommendations/cautions I need to be aware of. I'm assuming you just stand them up and have at it?...making sure they don't roll on you of course.

 

[iowawoodcutter]

yep, thats how I do it. I usually get the dawgs in the round with the bar pointing at 45 deg upward then tilt the saw down into the cut. This way the round won't be tempted to pull into you when you put the chain into it. Otherwise if they are small you might topple it on your foot.

C

 

[secureland]

yep, thats how I do it. I usually get the dawgs in the round with the bar pointing at 45 deg upward then tilt the saw down into the cut. This way the round won't be tempted to pull into you when you put the chain into it. Otherwise if they are small you might topple it on your foot.

C

Do you file the chain differently for this? Otherwise it must be tough on the saw.


Bill