Where does American Elm belong?

[TreePointer]

I know from personal experience that splitting American Elm by hand is pretty much a waste of time and energy. Since there seems to be a lot of it available from disease, is there anyone who mixes it into their burns? Is there any trick to using it, or is it too much of a bother.

The reason I'm asking is that right now I don't have a need to burn it, but I hate to waste any wood.

 

[timberwolf]

Hydrolic splitter...

Small piecies ~4-5 inch season ok in the round

 

[Ax-man]

It really isn't that bad for firewood. Rating it on a scale of 1to 10. I would give it a 5.

The only trouble with A. elm is it holds moisture because of it's cross grain and has to be split and dried for a long time for it to burn decent. If you can get past this point it makes a good wood for mixing in with other higher value woods.

Splitting it can be hard even with a hydraulic splitter. Instead of trying to go down the middle on the first split. It is easier to work from the sides then try to split the round in two or four pieces. Some pieces are near impossible to split because the grain is dumb like in a crow'sfoot piece. Then you have to get the chainsaw out and rip cut it.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I'll burn American Elm. I split by hand and my door opening is about 10" wide. Any Elm I take will be under this size after the bark falls off. I have beter wood to get rather than spend all day on an Elm stump. If it doesn't fit in the stove door I don't want it.

This wood holds a lot of moisture and is never quite ready to burn the first year it is cut, not for me anyway. The second winter in the stack the bark is falling off which is a good indicator that its dry enough to go in the stove. It won't last long if it isn't kept dry. So get it off the ground and under a roof or tarp.

 

[abohac]

I burn a ton of it. It's dead all over the place here in Michigan so I use it. I really like it when the bark falls off. Clean and nice to handle. And yes, get a splitter if you don't have an outdoor stove.

 

[Rookie1]

I have a stand of elm behind the house and begin to drool when I see dutchelm taking hold of one. I let it season while it stands,they are tough as hell in a wind storm,then cut it down and borrow BIL hyd, splitter. I then look forward to cold weather and burning some hot elm.

 

[Butch(OH)]

I burn a ton of it. It's dead all over the place here in Michigan so I use it. I really like it when the bark falls off. Clean and nice to handle. And yes, get a splitter if you don't have an outdoor stove.

Yessiree, no easier cutting than a dead elm. everything gets cut and thrown into the truck. Kinda spoils a guy for cutting normal brushy things, LOL.

Treepointer, if not for Elm we wouldnt have enough dead trees to keep us in firewood. We have often over the years used 100% white Elm, aka pi$$ elm. The trick to splitting by hand is to do it when it isnt fit for man nor beast outside, the colder the better and use a heavy maul and chainsaw the crotches. Otherwise hydraulics is the way to go (and why I built my first splitter 35 years ago)

 

[AOD]

I know where theres one that has to be at least 5 feet across at the base and probably 60+ feet high, it towers over the smaller trees around it, but it's in a park and kind of in the open, and looks healthy, for now, but likes dropping bark.

 

[NDtreehugger]

Good firewood I split by hand with a wedge sometimes 2, around here I call those that don't burn elm,, wood snobs, it keeps me warm in the winter, some years thats all I have to burn.

As a matter of fact I will be cutting 1 down this weekend and will use it all,, from the twigs to the trunk.

 

[TreePointer]

Well, since so much of it is readily available in my cutting area, I think I'll just cut, stack, and cover for now. Thanks for the replies.

 

[Mike Van]

Fresh cut [live] is the worst to split. If you can let it lay in the pile 'till the next season, it's not as bad. Bitter cold helps too, work around the outsides of the chunk, then split the centers. That helps a little too.

 

[savageactor7]

Been burning it for 30 years and if it wasn't so hard to split I be real pleased with it. For the last couple 3 weeks we logged about 4 full cords of standing dead and weather permitting will process it over the winter.

As far as rating it for burning in our situation it would belong on the preferred end of the scale cause our only other source of real hard wood is ash and maple. For us it would be a 7 out of 10.

 

[Marc]

Meh, I split elm by hand. PITA, yes, but not impossible. I don't even attempt to split it until I'm sure the wood is frozen through though. Good exercise.

 

[jonny2bad]

Elem is my favorite wood to burn and makes up nearly 100 % of my 6 cord burnt each season. It will burn with a ferocious intensity. There are not many independent thinkers around these parts and if one guy says them trees aint no good to burn then they all think that way. So they are all over the place standing dead with no bark on them and easy to access and ready to burn.

 

[iowawoodcutter]

I burn everything, even my pallets after all the wood on top of them is gone.

 

[David Wayne]

Save all that stringy "waste" from around the splitter, put it in a paper bag, it makes an exellent fire starter.

 

[Thunder]

I agree with what most people are saying. Leave it stand till the bark comes off and then cut and split it when it's below freezing. The water in the wood is frozen and it splits much easier. Also, if you can leave as standing dead wood until the wood splits on it's own then splitting is much easier.

 

[Coldfront]

I burned it one year when I lived in Illinois lots of it down there. The only draw back was it stunk so bad we couldn't keep it in the house until we burned it.

 

[Joshlaugh]

I burn a lot of it right now. I split it by hand and although it is hard to do it isn't impossible. It makes everything else look easy to split. I like to split some elm and than start into some oak and hickory which than looks easy. I get most of the elm, standing dead, so I can burn it the day I cut it which I think is a bonus.

 

[Wood Doctor]

I burned it one year when I lived in Illinois lots of it down there. The only draw back was it stunk so bad we couldn't keep it in the house until we burned it.

That means you haven't collected and tried to burn box elder yet. :monkey: