Hardest Wood to Split

[scbk]

There's a lot of dead elm round here at the minute

 

Was splitting some fresh copper beach last week (garden tree so knarly), that was a harder than I thought it would be

Edited October 24, 2018 by scbk

[slim reaper]

No wonder this eucalyptus  is so tough judging by way the fibres look like a zip?

slim

[Rough Hewn]

No wonder this eucalyptus  is so tough judging by way the fibres look like a zip?
slim

I came across some logs like that years ago, always wondered what they were.

Wish I could mill some.
[emoji106]

[se7enthdevil]

35 minutes ago, slim reaper said:

No wonder this eucalyptus  is so tough judging by way the fibres look like a zip?

slim

this would be called rippled eucalyptus and the figure is fantastic in that lump. such a shame it all goes on the fire.

[se7enthdevil]

2 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Never knew either of those things.

 

Hornbeam is also used for skittles for the same reason.

 

Interesting also that the Romans used to use Elm for water pipes

hornbeam is only use for one sort of skittles. it's called old english skittles or london skittles and there is only one pub left (possibly in the world) that still plays the game. the freemasons arms next to hampstead heath in the cellar.

 

other timbers used for skittles are beech, sycamore and boxwood.

[Billhook]

Well blow me down, (just like the Hornbeam)  the amount of interesting facts I have just learned from a fairly innocent post about a very hard lump of wood.

And I thought that I was old enough not to discover many new facts about the woods.!

 

Just shows what a great site Arbtalk is,  a veritable fountain of knowledge.  Thank y'all

[lewiswood]

hornbeam is only use for one sort of skittles. it's called old english skittles or london skittles and there is only one pub left (possibly in the world) that still plays the game. the freemasons arms next to hampstead heath in the cellar.
 
other timbers used for skittles are beech, sycamore and boxwood.

Playing skittles many people try and tell me that the pins are made of apple wood. Even whenI’ve told them I cut sycamore timber for skittles they don’t believe me.

[Billhook]

21 hours ago, sime42 said:

Hornbeam was used to make the teeth on gear wheels in mill machinery, because of its hardness and strength. Before iron was readily available.
Whilst Elm was traditionally used for the hubs on cartwheels, due to its toughness and resistance to splitting.
The old craftsmen were certainly far more in touch with the prcoperties of natural materials.

Just found this site where it states that not only Hornbeam , but Cherry and  Apple were also used in making gears inside a cast iron frame. particularly in Mills.  They are much quieter too.

http://www.newhallmill.org.uk/gears.htm

[Rough Hewn]

If you coppice hornbeam,
It grows very straight like s.chestnut, splits easily.
[emoji106]

[sime42]

Just found this site where it states that not only Hornbeam , but Cherry and  Apple were also used in making gears inside a cast iron frame. particularly in Mills.  They are much quieter too.
http://www.newhallmill.org.uk/gears.htm

Interesting. So I wasn't quite right, they were using wood for gears at the same time as iron. It was more for quietness and easy of replacement.
It shows how hard the wood is anyway if it was rubbing against iron.