Willow

[Laroo]

I've never had any experience with splitting Elm, I gather from you all on here that its pretty tough stuff. Well I picked up about 1/2 cord of Willow today, if elm is any harder to split than this stuff I don't want anything to do.with it!!

 

[ShaneLogs]

I've never had any experience with splitting Elm, I gather from you all on here that its pretty tough stuff. Well I picked up about 1/2 cord of Willow today, if elm is any harder to split than this stuff I don't want anything to do.with it!!

I don't think it is harder to split, Just depends on your method of splitting.

 

[Laroo]

I don't think it is harder to split, Just depends on your method of splitting.

Well when ya sink a brand new x27 clear to the handle, and beat a steel wedge flush to to the top of a 12" dia x 16" long block without it even sqeaking, I call that pretty tough splitting. No doubt if you have a 30 ton hydraulic it all seems fairly easy.

 

[zogger]

Let it dry until it shows well defined deep cracks, then it should split a lot easier. The willows here are smallish, but they split like that, sucks when fresh cut wet, split easy peasey oncer dried a little. Same with tulip poplar, about impossible to split green, real easy pops open when checked good. this juicy pine I got jn the back yard is like that as well, just absorbs the blows, but once a little dried, pops open OK.

 

[Steve2910]

Same with tulip poplar, about impossible to split green, real easy pops open when checked good.

Sorry for hijacking, but try splitting green Tulip Poplar around the circumference, works much better than trying to bust big rounds open right down the middle.

Can't comment on Willow, never had any...

 

[no tree to big]

willow is like a sponge when its wet all your going to do is push the water around when it drys out some you wont need much effort behind that fiskars

 

[zogger]

Sorry for hijacking, but try splitting green Tulip Poplar around the circumference, works much better than trying to bust big rounds open right down the middle.

Can't comment on Willow, never had any...

Ya, I work anything large diameter like that, round and round to the heart wood, then quarter that piece, or half, or leave it, depends on the size. I still leave most stuff go until it is well checked before I Fiskarize it.

I think for me around here the worst to split is sweetgum. A lot of that I don't even bother, cut smaller lengths, and leave them whole or wait like a year before I start splitting them. They just suck, no way around it. I know I ain't taking down no big ones anymore until I get to selling saw logs, the railroad guys can have them! Smaller ones I take and if the diameter will fit into the stove, that's it, into the stack whole. Luckily most of them I need to cut are smallish diameter. It's Ok wood to burn, about like maple I guess.

The absolute positive worst I ever tackled was some really large old huge dead dutch elms, back when they were croaking off all over. Got a bunch of it, got it cut eventually (by hand, big crosscut) then went to splitting and...man..no wonder I got that stuff for free!

I think..hmm..that was a year before I bought my first chainsaw, and that was so teeny it wouldn't have worked anyway, noodling or crosscutting/bucking.

That was without any doubt the hardest axe work I ever did. Whenever I get a nasty chunk now I think back to those dutch elms and just go heck with it, try a few more faster swings, or toss it on the bummer pile and noodle it later.

 

[dingeryote]

Willow? Yeah, willow rounds are like a bucket of clay when green.
Elm is on a whole 'nother level in it's own right.

Save yourself the strain, and just pile up the willow rounds somewhere, and forget about it untill late fall.
If you wait 6 months to split willow, it will split easy enough. At least the stuff the bugs havn't eaten or gone rotten anyway.
The crap is like Styrofoam once it's dried and burns like paper.

Smaller wrist sized stuff comes in handy when mixed in with hardwood of similar size for shoulder seasons.

Good luck!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Laroo]

The strange thing is this stuff has been down and in about 12' lengths for long enough that the stuff on the bottom was going punky. I first thought I had made a wood score, I soon found out that there is fine line between free wood and just cleaning up somones yard for free. Oh well I got a load of wood that I didn't have yesterday, and it will burn!

 

[Steve2910]

Oh well I got a load of wood that I didn't have yesterday, and it will burn!

"Better than snowballs", as they say... but from what I've read here, not much better...

 

[turnkey4099]

Well when ya sink a brand new x27 clear to the handle, and beat a steel wedge flush to to the top of a 12" dia x 16" long block without it even sqeaking, I call that pretty tough splitting. No doubt if you have a 30 ton hydraulic it all seems fairly easy.

?? I heated my house with 95% willow for over 30 years. Never had anything like what you describe, most of it split very easily. Of course if it is getting to the 'punky' side it could do that.

Are you sure you have willow? What you describe fits a cottonwood that I cut way back when and swore I'd never doanother one as it could not be split even after halving the blocks to 8".

Harry K

 

[blades]

Willow, cotton wood, Box Elder, mean stuff to split because they are mostly all twisty with branch sections everywhere. Not much straight grain in them. Even on the splitter they are a pain. Fire pit, shoulder season, or cut fine for starter strips. Just sliced some up Sat., been sitting around for 3 years. I bust the chunks down to where I can run them through my 17" bandsaw. If not kept dry off the ground goes punky real quick. At that point it is wasted effort.

 

[haveawoody]

Willow in my area splits like butter as soon as rounds start to check.
They grow mighty big here so i bet a different species.
It usualy ends up as free firewood on a front yard since the btu is pretty low and it's smokey wood.
Great wood for a rip roaring camp fire though and as wood to get a fire going in the woodstove.

As for elm when the ends are checked it's not to bad to split, but best to split with a splitter.
Even popeye i think would get a splitter

 

[ponyexpress976]

Only ever got my hands on one willow. Rounds in direct contact with the ground had rooted and stems coming out all over them. Everything else, when spit and dried went up like a small fart in a tornado. I'll take pine before I go after another oneof those.

 

[ShaneLogs]

When I split Willow, It was in the middle of winter and the wood was frozen from being stacked. The ax just swung right through it. So I thought it split pretty easy for me.

 

[turnkey4099]

Willow in my area splits like butter as soon as rounds start to check.
They grow mighty big here so i bet a different species.
It usualy ends up as free firewood on a front yard since the btu is pretty low and it's smokey wood.
Great wood for a rip roaring camp fire though and as wood to get a fire going in the woodstove.

As for elm when the ends are checked it's not to bad to split, but best to split with a splitter.
Even popeye i think would get a splitter

Same here. I have cut them up to 5' dbh. Nice straight, few limbs and most of them all in a few spots instead of scattered up/down the trunk.

As for elm. Splitter only and have a sharp hatchet to cut the strings!

Harry K

 

[haveawoody]

turnkey4099,

You must be talking about the same willows as in my area.
They seem to get to about 60-70ft tall and stop growing up and start getting fat.
My wife says I'm doing the same thing. LOL
Wet willow is like splitting a sponge but dry oh to easy.

The only elm for me that is painful is American Elm.
I split one piece until it's a string clinger, then leave it and load another to push it through.
Doing it that way it's pretty much as easy as anything else to split.

Rock elm and Red elm only rarely need that second pusher piece and for me they mainly go bang like very dry sugar maple.
Fun to launch wood into space
Siberian i have never split but i hear it's similar to american.

 

[turnkey4099]

turnkey4099,

You must be talking about the same willows as in my area.
They seem to get to about 60-70ft tall and stop growing up and start getting fat.
My wife says I'm doing the same thing. LOL
Wet willow is like splitting a sponge but dry oh to easy.

The only elm for me that is painful is American Elm.
I split one piece until it's a string clinger, then leave it and load another to push it through.
Doing it that way it's pretty much as easy as anything else to split.

Rock elm and Red elm only rarely need that second pusher piece and for me they mainly go bang like very dry sugar maple.
Fun to launch wood into space
Siberian i have never split but i hear it's similar to american.

The several elm I did, I had to chop the strings that were above the wedge height - almosts every piece until I was down the chunk size less in diameter thant the wedge height. I saw someone with a pic of a splitter, normal looking wedge but he had a really tall 'string cutter' on top of it. Ideal set up. I really hate having to run a chunk througha nd then turn it over to run through again to get the 'strings'.

Harry K

 

[haveawoody]

turnkey4099,

You must have a smallish wedge to have to keep turing elm to get it split.
Even a big wedge though has the occasional multi feed bits so don't feel to bad.

I split lots of rock elm and it's low in ugly fibres so rare for me to have to turn one, American elm is another story.
All the elm i do stays at chunky size mode and becomes long burn things so less splitting is always a good thing with elm.

Rock elm and Red Elm make excellent chunky night wood, i would rate as #1 and #2 for the job.
IMO better than hickory for both.