Up in my neck-o-the-woods, I'll take ash all day. We have lots, thanks to the Emerald ash borer. It's straight grained, light relative to its btu content, very resistant to ground rot, and people say it will even burn well green, though I've never had to test that claim.

Yea, I'm not sure that split is the correct word for that. Tear comes to mind in my woodpile. I collect my own mesquite but supplement with loads of mixed mesquite and oak. I'm pretty sure that I would not want to be trying to split that stuff.

shiftyandquick said:

---

1. Cottonwood. Trash wood. Stringy, hard to split when green. Smells terrible. Give this wood away to people you don't like.

2. Live oak. My goodness, when God made the Live Oak he was playing a practical joke on all men who create firewood. It's like each bit of it was made with a twist, such that nothing will split, ever. It's like iron.

---

Sweet gum is also very stringy

snowaggie said:

---

Up in my neck-o-the-woods, I'll take ash all day. We have lots, thanks to the Emerald ash borer. It's straight grained, light relative to its btu content, very resistant to ground rot, and people say it will even burn well green, though I've never had to test that claim.

---

I have burned green ash on a campout. My neighbor had some large limbs down a week before the trip, so we decided to give it a shot. I'd do it again in the same situation (free green ash vs. market rate seasoned stuff when camping).

would love to have some post oak, but there isn't really any up here. I just get white oak, red oak, live oak, mulberry.

I've got some thick pecan logs that I can't split with splitting wedges and an 8 lb sledge.

Big tree fell about a year ago. Cut trunk into logs right away with chain saw. Couldn't split then and still can't split now.

I got some large pieces of Pecan when I had some major cleanup off my giant native Pecan trees. Let season for 3-4 months and with a 25 T rented splitter, it was more like live oak and tore more than split.
Don't get me wrong those tears are great for fire starting.

oh no said:

---

I've got some thick pecan logs that I can't split with splitting wedges and an 8 lb sledge.

Big tree fell about a year ago. Cut trunk into logs right away with chain saw. Couldn't split then and still can't split now.

---

They're probably still too wet. Give them another year.

As an aside, I have a Ryobi 40v kinetic log splitter. It has been pretty good so far. Runs on battery. And will split quite a lot on just one battery.

Does sometimes require more than one attempt, if bigger piece or knots. Won't split live oak very well (or sometimes at all). Live oak will require very small logs.

The best thing about it is how fast it is. No waiting for the hydraulic to reset and move. Like 2 seconds between splits.

CS78 said:

---

You should try blackjack oak. It's like a smaller and meaner post oak. Not sure if it can be split by hand. Sometimes you just gotta save the tough stuff for the outdoor firepit and burn it whole.

---

X1000. If I ever come across another blackjack that needs to come down I'm just strapping C4 all over it.

CS78 said:

---

You should try blackjack oak. It's like a smaller and meaner post oak. Not sure if it can be split by hand. Sometimes you just gotta save the tough stuff for the outdoor firepit and burn it whole.

---

I've got some blackjack oak. I'm assuming it would be a close substitute for post oak bbq wood?

TylerAg98 said:

---

CS78 said:

---

You should try blackjack oak. It's like a smaller and meaner post oak. Not sure if it can be split by hand. Sometimes you just gotta save the tough stuff for the outdoor firepit and burn it whole.

---

X1000. If I ever come across another blackjack that needs to come down I'm just strapping C4 all over it.

---

My 145 acres in OK is about 80% mixed blackjack and post oak. Blackjack sucks...

Splitting dried post oak is very enjoyable. You just have to let it dry. Once it starts developing splits inside along the grain from contracting, it is ready to be split up. If you set aside the very knotty bits where major limbs come together, it's really easy to split if you keep the logs short. In fact, you best be wearing shin protrction if you do it with an axe or mail like I do, because it will shatter apart sometimes along its own internal splits.

I finished splitting almost all of the remaining live oak. Had to make the rounds short. Multiple hits from the kinetic splitter usually for each split. And then sometimes even having to finish it off with the maul (because short pieces don't work great on the splitter, sometimes only split part way, but difficult still to pull apart). I hope that today was the last day in my life that I ever split live oak.

I always thought the worst firewood was hackberry

TX_AG_10 said:

---

CS78 said:

---

You should try blackjack oak. It's like a smaller and meaner post oak. Not sure if it can be split by hand. Sometimes you just gotta save the tough stuff for the outdoor firepit and burn it whole.

---

I've got some blackjack oak. I'm assuming it would be a close substitute for post oak bbq wood?

---

Blackjack is great for smoking meat. In my opinion.

CactusThomas said:

---

TX_AG_10 said:

---

CS78 said:

---

You should try blackjack oak. It's like a smaller and meaner post oak. Not sure if it can be split by hand. Sometimes you just gotta save the tough stuff for the outdoor firepit and burn it whole.

---

I've got some blackjack oak. I'm assuming it would be a close substitute for post oak bbq wood?

---

Blackjack is great for smoking meat. In my opinion.

---

So is Live Oak bark.

I love black jack for the fire place. Man she burns hot!

Burdizzo said:

---

I always thought the worst firewood was hackberry

---

Chimney sweeps tell me it is the worst for creating fire hazard in the chimney.

Elm is the only species of tree that my 27ton splitter can't bust. Stringy, twisted wood, like sweet gum, but worse. It'll split every kind of tree we have up here, but the elm, especially the trunk logs, nope.