burning sweet gum wood ?

We haven't had any problems burning it, but, like others said, splitting it green is a HUGE pain!

We're about to take down a huge number of sweet gum. In nc, our lot seems to be only junk pine and sweet gum. :P We're thinking of renting a chipper because we need mulch and it's cheaper to chip what we cut than pay for mulch. But, can you chip sweet gum? I think the chipper takes 4 inch logs/limbs, if I'm remembering correctly.

We burnt one with no problems.

While I don't burn wood now, we always did growing up. In fact, I just sawed up some on my sawmill for my uncle. We figured it was easier to saw it than split it with an ax. I looked pretty when sawed but it's not really worth the boards. We just sawed a few cuts to make it easier to stack as fire wood

I burn sweet gum all the time - makes a fine fire- definately better than yellow pine. I dont find it all that difficult to split by hand what is next to impossible to split is black gum.

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My daddy works at a sawmill where we had access to the wood pile many times I would grab a sweet peace. The only way I have found it easy to split is if you first have cut the tree into 8 maybe 10 inch pieces but that can take more time and energy too. The pieces that we used were the end pieces that were cut of on the cutting yard. If you are going to split sweet gum I have found it easier to start on the outside working your way in not trying to split it down the middle like it is a piece of pie.

This reminds me of when I was in college. I was in the forestry class and we had a competition between the forestry club and one of the frat clubs. They had several members of the football team on their side. We put our smallest member up against one of these big guys in a wood splitting contest. Put the big guy in front of a piece of green gum and our guy had a much larger piece of dry oak. At "Go" the little guy split the oak with one swing while the big football player stuck his ax in the gum and couldn't get it out,LOL. They never knew the difference, city slickers LOL.

Hank
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

Funny Trick Hank. I have split a fair amount of Gum with my Craftsman Splitting ax alone.

Slabbing or taking chunks from the edge inwards with the rings is the easiest way. Obviously a 16 inch log will split easier than a 24 inch log, but I prefer 24 for my stove as it will hold 30+ inch pieces. The rule for me is ALWAYS split it green, if not it gets like mentioned above a tight stringy hard mess to split when dry.

Many times I will stand a piece up and slab it on the four edges and then slab the middle before it falls apart from splitting it. I tried some in his hydraulic splitter and it really put it in a bind trying to split the log in half, and then I did the same with his splitter taking slabs off of it and it was not as nearly as hard as trying to split the log in half.

My friend has cut down 300 gum trees and gives me all I can slab... the btu's according to what I have read are around 20 to 21 million per cord as opposed to 26 million per cord for oaks, except live oak and that is 31 million per cord.

I theorize on the coldest nights I can burn my oak and then the other less colder nights, just gum. When it is 5 degrees like it was this week, believe me in a 150 year old building with 11 foot ceilings and only a wood stove to supply heat, I am not going to get picky.

Keep it dry or it will not last very long after it is split...and like mentioned give it a 6 months to a year to dry, but when it is already split or slabbed, it will dry in a hurry. I try to have my wood ready a year in advance so this year I am burning the gum I got last winter and split on the spot before loading it in my 1957 side dump truck.
chimneysweeponline.com/howood.htm btu/cord reference for starters.

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I've never tried splitting it.. Would it split better if it was wet and frozen?

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Drat. Wrote out reply, website or something crashed when I went to post it. Trying again.

Sweet gum will burn as others said. It may split easier after it dries a month or two.

Lumber uses: Pallets. When dried and kept from twisting, it is used in furniture. Large gum trees have nice red streaks in the wood. Can also be used as a base for veneering. It is strong and tough. Dump trucks have a slot in the top of the bed where a 2 x 8 can be placed to protect the steel top of the bed from loader operators who ling to bang the top of the bed to empty the last of the load out of the bucket.

Sweet gum could be used in interior barn construction. Sweet Gum is NOT decay resistant. Could be used for interior stalls, gates, walls, or alleyways.

COWS

The IP papermill that used to be in Natchez bought a many a load of sweetgum pulpwood through the years. It was all chipped and used in the mill.

We're burning sweet gum this year. Hubby is splitting it with the chainsaw! It sure does have a pretty grain, but isn't my favorite for the fireplace. Unfortunately, we lost one of our biggest sweet gums to a tornado a few weeks back so I see lots more sweet gum fires in the coming years as we only burn what dies or is blown down.

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http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

Yes it does split easier when it is wet and when it is cold. I have hand split 20 cords already this year with my splitting ax.

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It makes mighty fine post maul heads....I'm on the second handle in the maul I made about 20 years ago. If your gonna cover it..it makes alright lumber for feed barns ect.....but you got to cut it and nail it before it drys..or it'll warp 6 ways from sundown....I've seen log barns built out of gum that were over 60 years old
We always burned it at home...threw a few green pieces in right along with the oak...Dad always said the oak would dry out the gum so it'd burn...

What type of tool are you talking about Plowhand?

As for Sweetgum. It grows like weeds here. Splits best when green and is suitable firewood when dry. Used as veneer in the making of plywood

A maul is basically a wooden sledgehammer. They can be made by sawing off a short section of small log and drilling a hole through the side for a handle. However, the way my father made one was to take a 3 or 4 foot section of 4 or 5 inch diameter log and trim most of it down to handle size, leaving a 6 or 8 inch section on one end full size. This section was the "hammer" part of the maul. Steel wedges were used to split wood for firewood or whatever. They theory is that a steel sledgehammer will quickly deform the wedge and the wooden maul will take the wear. When the maul is splintered make another one. We always used hickory but I see no reason why sweetgum wouldn't do. Mauls work best when the wood is green, adds weight.

COWS

splitting it is the worst. I am with woodboy -- slab it off. Works so much easier. I have split it with a maul, but I was younger then. Will make a !man! out of you.
I also burned it with other wood. In a fireplace makes a nice crackle

I cut a section about a foot long, drill a hole for the handle about halfway through....and put in some wood glue a fat wedge in my handle slot and drive it home...then I let it dry a few months.....thats a piece of gum about 10" through...i make a handle out of oak or hickory..or if I need to a sledge hammer handle. I make them different sizes for different work.....maybe a 4" or 5" for general woodworking mallet.
I make the whole tree mauls from dogwoods that have to be removed for one reason or other. I dig the tree up, and hew out a handle from about where the trunk comes out of the ground...I finish off/ smooth down the handle with a drawknife, spokeshave, and pocket knife.
I use the big gum mauls for drive wood fence posts...the dogwood mauls I use for demolition, splittling wood..just knocking the devil out of something that needs it..
You can make splitting wedges out of dogwood also.....use a steel wedge to start, and slide in the thicker wood wedge to help split further.....Dogwood is real hard wood!