Which Woods Do You Find Tough To Chop?

panella

panella

Joined
Sep 2, 2003
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I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to processing wood. I have no refined technique which, I am SURE, makes things a lot harder for me when chopping. However, I've used an axe occasionally to take down the odd tree in my yard. Mostly pine, eucalyptus, oak once, and some small unknown species. But last week I found it necessary to limb a branch from an old Western Dogwood tree that was getting unruly, and wow, it was giving me a lot more trouble than I had bargained for. The bark was like thick squares of armor and the wood itself seemed to require a lot more energy and chops on my part. So much so that I discovered the Janka hardness scale while searching online, and found that dogwood has a hardness rating of 2150. Pretty high and maybe a good reason, among many, that it was kicking my a** for awhile. In the future I'll stick with pine. :)

My question to those experienced members here is: do you also find that some woods are noticeably more difficult to process? Tougher on you or your axe? Maybe require a specific profile?
 
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The toughest wood to split in my experience has been the box elder trees that are in excess of three feet in diameter and if the trunk is partially rotted out don't let it fool you as it become gnarly ... hard ... and uncooperative.. The box elder is a cousin of the maple and burns rather nicely with abundant heat generated with fairly long burns although not as long as the oaks available for heating.

Many of the trees I have seen discussed in the Ax forum are trees we do not have on the southern Minnesota prairie and we are somewhat limited in the varieties available for heating.
 
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London plane!!!!

Nasty stuff! It has a coarse intertwined grain that will not admit an axe or maul. Looks kind of like white oak and has similar hardness. It lights easily needing almost no kindling. Burns hot and silent and long. Very good firewood. Anything with a coarse intertwined grain will be tough to split. Elm is another good example. Not quite as hard as London plane and it burns great, too. I ran into some black cottonwood that was badly twisted. That stuff split tough.

Hairy Clipper said:
The box elder is a cousin of the maple and burns rather nicely with abundant heat generated with fairly long burns although not as long as the oaks available for heating.
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I recall splitting some box elder as a young man. It was similar to elm. Tough stuff. And like its maple cousin it can be tapped for syrup.
 
Square_peg: My Great Uncle Fred was a WWI Veteran and survived a couple of mustard gas attacks in France. When I was about 7 years old I was deemed old enough to go to Fred's farm and help with the maple syrup, although I suspect I may have been in the way more than any substantial help. Once the fire was started under the copper boiler it was my duty to find dead wood on the woodlot floor and keep the boiler fire going while the adults were hauling the drippings from the trees to the copper boiler. There was still snow on the ground of the woodlot and the north side of the fences, trees and hills thus pulling some of the larger tree limbs created quite a challenge to stay upright while my boots slid on the snow. I am sure it would have been somewhat different as an adult with my 6'4" frame and 300 pounds of ballast! Eventually as the sun was setting the boiler was emptied and the syrup placed in large crocks for filtering and bottling. I still remember Fred mentioning the box elders sap would go in with the maple. As I recall there were three or four box elders in use then and 50-60 maples. It was at this time that Fred mentioned something that has always been in the back of my mind when watching the Cowboy & Indian shootouts in the movies of my youth. Fred said that when he returned from France to the family homestead there still were several families of native Americans living in that woodlot year around. I have always wanted to tap a few box elders and make syrup from it to see how much different it might taste from pure maple. Fred said the box elder is slightly bitter. But, like other projects that have not been finished or even started I have yet to find out first hand.

Even though he suffered lung damage from the mustard gas Fred spent his life on the farm he was born on in 1895 farming, hunting, fishing, playing cards and amusing his nephews and nieces by wiggling his ears until he was 91 years old. He was also designated the holder of the three sided "pinch" bottle of cognac for the WWI Last Man's Club, they chose wisely as he turned out to be the last man. The bottle in the photograph is very similar to the one Fred had been entrusted with although I remember the glass being somewhat green.

https://s16-us2.startpage.com/cgi-b...10a3f12e3dab6c59c56d202c076f&anticache=612500
 
Great story, Hairy! I love hearing that kind of stuff. And I would have love to learn what those Native Americans knew about living on tht wood lot. So much knowledge lost.

Hairy Clipper said:
I have always wanted to tap a few box elders and make syrup from it to see how much different it might taste from pure maple. Fred said the box elder is slightly bitter. But, like other projects that have not been finished or even started I have yet to find out first hand.
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It's not too late to make your box elder syrup. You can buy maple spiles (taps) for a small operation online. I've been doing it for about 10 years. I make just 2-3 quarts/year on average. That's more than I can eat. It's fun to do and it get's me outdoors in the wintertime. I can give you the lowdown if you're interested.
 
Square_peg: I would love hear about your process! This is the first place I have lived that does not have box elder trees, however, I do have 9 maple trees in the yard. One looks like a perfect sphere on a stick with leaves almost the size of my hand. It must be rather unusual or impressive as I periodically have someone stop at the house and ask to look at it close up. The foliage is so thick it restricts the sunlight to my sugar maple and it barely gets enough sun to make leaves to keep it alive. The rest are silver maple that are big and majestic but very messy. Every time the wind comes up small branches come down. The trees have stayed erect in some very heavy winds though, 70 mph+ while fully leafed out in the summer ... a bit of a surprise to me. Every one of those maples have roots that have found their way to the surface of the ground. I have been thinking I should gets some dirt hauled in and cover those roots up. I am glad you liked the story.
 
9 trees is enough to make syrup for 1 family. That one with the big round canopy will be a 'sap cow'! Silver maples aren't as good as sugar maples but they'll make syrup. I'm mostly tapping big leaf maple.
 
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