Wood ID....

[knockbill]

I got some blocks of this wood, but it doesn't split with a 20T splitter,,, it either crushes into fibers, or tries to unwind, and makes the mess you see in the pic... I'm thinking maybe Elm, with the bark and light color... Looks like I may have to noodle the rest of it, but that's going to be time consuming... The tree it came from had a double trunk,, I didn't see the leaves...
Unfortunately, there are more blocks at the site I told em I'd take!!!
Anyone recognize it??
Thanks..

 

[Del_]

Looks like Nyssa sylvatica.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nyssa-sylvatica/

 

[farmer steve]

Like @Del_ Said, black gum John. Try splitting slices from the outside. It seemed to help when I had some.

 

[knockbill]

Thanks guys,,, just doesn't want to split nice!!! I didn't see any gumballs around it but it was in the church grounds where I was cutting leaners,,, They had a tree company take it down Friday, cause it was messing up the neighbors pool!!!!
I tried splitting around the edges, Steve,,, that's how I handled Elm,,, but this stuff is softer, and wants to crush,,,
I'm thinking of letting it season a bit, or trying to split it when its frozen,,,
Thanks again..

 

[wildwes]

I have seen sweetgum look similar to that as well. If it is blackgum it won't have any gumballs, it's fruit looks like little berries.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Try noodling it - at least partway, or ripping from the end, then try splitting.

 

[knockbill]

Yep,, that may work,, didn't want to noodle it tho,,, got to much of it!!

 

[Seachaser]

If it’s gum, it will not burn, just smolder. It looks like gum. We have two kinds, sweet and black.

 

[wildwes]

If it’s gum, it will not burn, just smolder. It looks like gum. We have two kinds, sweet and black.

I burn green gum in my woodstove, it will burn, you just better have a hot bed of coals and split it into reasonably small pieces. If it is dry it will burn very well, just doesn't last long.
It burns well in our outdoor wood boiler, even green.

 

[Del_]

Both black gum and sweet gum burn well in out wood stove. What we burn is well seasoned. Our splitter will split sweet gum 4 ways but for black gum we have to take the 4-way wedge off and then our splitter 'tears' the round in two. It's two way hydraulic pump sees so much back pressure that it stays in low gear for the whole splitting stroke. Black gum burns with a bright yellow flame and we call it 'bomb wood'. For Black gum you may be better off only burning rounds that will fit into your wood stove without being split. It's good firewood.



Sweet Gum
https://mortonarb.org/plant-and-protect/trees-and-plants/sweet-gum/
Black Gum
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a670

 

[Woody912]

Looks like Nyssa sylvatica.

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nyssa-sylvatica/

wife's uncle told me I would have better luck splitting an eraser!

 

[wildwes]

wife's uncle told me I would have better luck splitting an eraser!

It definitely doesn't split clean. How sharp is the wedge on your splitter? Mine is very sharp, and splits all kinds of gum and elm well. My dad's old splitter, with a more blunt wedge, not so much.

 

[knockbill]

Well,,,, I went back to get the rest of the wood from last week and noticed they were shoved to the other side of the drive way... They weren't blocked like the others, so I started to wrestle some of the 4' logs in to the truck,,,, Then I noticed why I was surprised how hard they split.... Seems the wood I saw originally was Ash,,, and they must have pushed some of that Gum in the pile... So I filled the truck with all the Ash I could lift in,, and left the Gum there to season... there are a few more Ash logs I can cut and bring home next trip,,, but the Gum may not follow it!!!!!
BTW,,, the truck full of Ash I got today is already stacked/split!!!!