Oh NO! Just bought oak I can't split!

I have never split frozen hardwood as it doesn't get that cold here. Hardwood of the oak family splits easier while still green. As rockpile stated one has to learn the little "tricks" to work the wood. Look closely for the largest crack that appears soon after cutting into block lengths. This is the attack point for rounds less than a foot in diameter. Using your maul burst that crack into a larger crack and split from there. On larger diameter blocks look at the growth rings and find an area where there are few or no knots or odd growth rings. Then starting on the outside, hull the outer segments of the piece off and work around the perimeter and then finally to the inside of the piece being split. One caution, on green hardwood it is possible for the maul to spring back and hit the user in the face.

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The oaks around here generally split fairly well, but occationally I have had some NC white oak that has done exactly what you describe-spit the wedge out. I ended up taking a sharp chainsaw and cutting it about halfway down the length several times, like a pie. I could then knock the pieces apart pretty easily. At the end of the day it didn't take too much longer...

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Rent a splitter...I am not strong but I can roll the wood close enough to a splitter. We rent one once or twice a yr. We split lots of elm, stack & let it dry. We are at least a couple yrs out on the wood. Our neighbors like to give us wood...they tell us what trees and we do the work.

Splitter.

Borrow or rent one. Borrow is cheaper.

A good splitter will eather split it, or tear it into pieces, I don't care what it is. Either way, you get a product small enough to burn.

Studies have shown that wood dries 10X faster out the end than it does across the grain so I wouldn't get too excited about getting it split now. Cut it to length and stack it so the air can get to it. Later when it dries a bit it should split easier.

Also, If you don't need to split a chunk don't. It will last longer in the stove.

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Most wood splits real good when it's about 10 below. And one tends to keep working.....

If that's not an option, very wet wood will split ok, and dry hardwoods split good. The 'in between' stuff does not like to split. Wait until you see checking - cracks - in the ends of the pieces. Then you can put a wedge in the natural crack and be ahead of the game.

I grew up with an elm grove, as Dutch Elm disease hit. Helped the folks heat the house for a decade or more with 30+ inch elm trees, needing to be split......

Oak should be easy, count your blessings.

--->Paul

If I get one thats hard to split I just take the chain saw and make a slice long ways (rip) about 3 inches deep. I never use mauls or wedges. Just a axe. Was taught by a Mennonite preacher. It in the snap of the wrist just be for you hit. Start with the axe flat above you head. I'm 63 and split at least two or three cords here in a TN a year by hand. Your welcome to come see And now that Lowes has those splitin axes it easier. Look for one with two small wedges welded to it. And it WAY lighter than any maul. in fact not any heavier than a regular axe.

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Thanks, all of your, for your replies. Update: The guy came back with the second cord this morning. (Thankfully it was a mix of dry stuff already split).

He also brought his 6" axe/maul and demonstrated that indeed those oak rounds can be split - though the strength with which a 30-something man possesses to wield that tool is much more than the 40-something woman I am. However, seeing it demonstrated is of much relief.
he recommended that we not wait too long as it gets harder to split later.

We do have a chainsaw, but have a pact that we will never use it when home alone.

Rj returns tonight. The plan was to have much of it split and ready for stacking before DP's return. Since this won't be happening, and I still have some explaining to do, I'm rehearsing my speech, preparing a nice chicken dinner, and am cleaning the house like mad. You know the routine.

At least I know it's "doable". Whew! Thanks again for your suggestions. We will be referring to all the tips and tricks real soon.

I wouldn't worry about getting it wet from the rain. I prefer it to be exposed to the sun which shines more than it rains, at least in most places it does.

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Oak that is quite green will be ready to burn well by Jan. 2013. That is just the way it is. If you try to burn it sooner you will suffer the loss of a good bit of the heat value in the wood. That is to say that part of the energy produced by the burning will be used up in the fire to finish drying the green wood so that it will burn. You will get less heat by burning the green wood.

Once you get a splitter you will be able to get the rounds split. It might help to locate a strong helper if you are having trouble moving the rounds around.

I would suggest setting the rounds aside for now and looking for some firewood to buy that is already dry (now) so you can stay warm this winter.

Agreed

We season all of our oak for a mimimum of two years after cutting and splitting.

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We purchased 6+ cord of log length oak, beech and maple mixed. DH is 60 and not as spry as he use to be. We purchased a splitter on Craigs list and cut the logs into rounds. Some have a diameter of 30 inches! Dh has been rolling the rounds up on to the splitter using a ramp made of a scrap of plywood and a couple of bricks. He has gotton almost all of the wood split. Once it is all split we will probably put the splitter back o to Craigs List and sell it for what we purchased it for a few months ago!

From a random website (unverified)

A number of specialty subjects might be useful to woodburners.

Should pieces of wood be split from the top down or the bottom up? Since most people these days either buy their wood already split or they use hydraulic log-splitters, this is a somewhat irrelevant question these days. Even though old timer wood burners will adamandtly tell you one or the other, careful experimental tests have shown that there is no advantage in time or effort in splitting from either direction. It doesn't matter!

Wood pieces should be split along "check lines", cracks that have already formed in the piece during drying. This can significantly reduce the time and effort necessary to split pieces of wood.

There are people who believe that wood is split easiest if it is frozen. The idea is that the pieces are more brittle and will sort of shatter. Surprisingly enough, experimental tests showed very little advantage of spliting general wood. Even more surprising, if most of the wood to be split is full of knots, there is actually substantial advantage of doing that splitting them thawed and not frozen!

There are people who insist that wood should be dried (seasoned) for at least one or two years. Experimental evidence has established that that is nearly always unnecessary, as long as the pieces of wood are cut to length and stacked. Natural airflows through the stack, and particularly through the cut cells of the pieces of wood themselves, dries them sooner than that. Experimental evidence has established that one-foot long cut pieces generally dry to acceptable levels in just two or three months. Two-foot long cut pieces take about six or seven months for similar acceptability. Four-foot long cut pieces DO require at least a year.
Associated with this, covering the woodpile with a tarp slightly improves this, but probably not enough to make the expense of a tarp worthwhile, except in a climate where rain and very high humidity is common. Similarly, split pieces of wood tend to dry slightly faster than full diameter logs, but again by minimal amounts.

There appears to be no value in drying firewood more than about nine months.


If wood is stacked in four-foot or longer lengths, the drying process is greatly slowed. In other words, if wood is cut to four-foot length and stacked, for nine months, and then cut to shorter burning length just before use, it will probably not burn well because it is still to wet (green).

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So there is hope then! My DP is a former lumber inspector, did I mention? It was impressive. = before I even had the chance to glaze flashlight across my purchase, she exclaimed, "gosh, that smells just like green oak!". Busted.

I'm prepared to buy a long handled axe/maul and learn to use it. Just interested at this point, when the oak will be burnable. Somewhere around 2013, I've been told.

PERFECT! The Mayan calendar ends in 2012, so I guess that's either a lot of $$ the drain, or, we'll be feeling warm and lucky over that 2010 bonehead decision I made this summer. Guess we get to wait and see.

Nothing wasted, it's a good investment in the future.

I think climate has a lot to do with how wood dries? When I got my first chainsaw, I read the manual - it told the type of oil to use, and then added, "In _extreme_ cold (below 32 degrees) use 20 weight oil..."

Huh? Who in their right mind has time to use a chainsaw until winter, when it's a great day if it gets up to 20 degrees???? Heck if it doesn't get down to 32 degrees very often who needs wood anyhow? Too funny.

I note Matthew is from the same state my chainsaw came from. Real different conditions.

Here in MN, winters are dry air, but wood pile is covered with snow and temps near zero don't move much water vapor. In spring the wood pile sits in water from the snow melt. In summer the humidity is 80% and not much of anything dries. That leaves a few days in fall when the wood pile can dry....

So, 'here' you typically need a lot more than 9 months to dry green wood.

But oak is good stuff, you will use less of it - once it's dry - than other woods, so was a great investment.

--->Paul