elm

[Dan_IN_MN]

OH Yes...ELM.....lots of it around here.....I've had to cut a few off of my fils splitter......Couldn't get it off of the wedge...and could push it any further! I've found it works best to start at the edge and work in....even knowing this....I still try to split the 'unsplittlable' ones and have to start the saw to cut them off.

One time...when I just started burning wood...I had arranged for a friend to bring over his splitter and a couple of other guys to help out......well... the splitter guy didn't show up! I had two other guys waiting....they grabbed a splitting maul and started swinging.....I don't think they know what they were up against! LoL!.....we didn't get very much wood split that day....

What do you guys think a suppersplit would do with Elm? :hmm3grin2orange:

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

have to agree with Hedge on this one put about a cord and a half in my stack for next year. I heard some were that it is a cousin to osage orange.:msp_thumbup:

 

[Hedgerow]

OH Yes...ELM.....lots of it around here.....I've had to cut a few off of my fils splitter......Couldn't get it off of the wedge...and could push it any further! I've found it works best to start at the edge and work in....even knowing this....I still try to split the 'unsplittlable' ones and have to start the saw to cut them off.

One time...when I just started burning wood...I had arranged for a friend to bring over his splitter and a couple of other guys to help out......well... the splitter guy didn't show up! I had two other guys waiting....they grabbed a splitting maul and started swinging.....I don't think they know what they were up against! LoL!.....we didn't get very much wood split that day....

What do you guys think a suppersplit would do with Elm? :hmm3grin2orange:

They split it better than you would think... The super nasties are miserable for all splitters though...

 

[Hedgerow]

have to agree with Hedge on this one put about a cord and a half in my stack for next year. I heard some were that it is a cousin to osage orange.:msp_thumbup:

I think you're gonna like it... Doesn't coal like hedge, but lights much faster though... It'll dry to a lighter weight too... Good stuff...

 

[haveawoody]

Mulberry for sure from that last picture.

Real nice high btu wood but loves to snap crackle and pop.

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

I've used it before just not this much atone time. I like what my dad calls red elm it is the realy good n ot much around.

 

[haveawoody]

manyhobies,

Elm for me is always a powered splitter and even then it's one piece follows another to clear the first.
Just way to much work to maul it.

I'm pretty sure Popeye looked the way he did from splitting elm with a maul

 

[Nosmo]

Back Up Piece

If you have a splitter without the wedge on the shoe end (then it is on the ram) use a piece about 4" wide between the shoe and the end of the round so the ram will push the wedge completely through the round.

Nosmo

 

[timusp40]

have to agree with Hedge on this one put about a cord and a half in my stack for next year. I heard some were that it is a cousin to osage orange.:msp_thumbup:

WKEND & Hedge,
Mulberry it is! I split all of it including the larger 20" Dia. pieces with a X27. I couple of solid hits and it pops cleanly, no strings. Doubt very much that I would have been able to do that if it was Elm.
Tim

 

[WKEND LUMBERJAK]

You wood be correct if you spit it with out a wedge and a lot of cussing it is not elm.:yoyo:

 

[bert the turtle]

I thought it was a cherry until I cut down a small elm today. After multiple wedges and some cutting, I split one round. It is getting cut to length and stacked in the round in my (open sided) barn- fortunately it isn't that big in diameter. I'll use it for overnight logs in 3 or 4 years unless it gets easy to split like sweet gum once it dries.

 

[zogger]

I thought it was a cherry until I cut down a small elm today. After multiple wedges and some cutting, I split one round. It is getting cut to length and stacked in the round in my (open sided) barn- fortunately it isn't that big in diameter. I'll use it for overnight logs in 3 or 4 years unless it gets easy to split like sweet gum once it dries.

That's what I am doing with my elm and sweetgum anymore, cut it half size and let it sit. If it will drop in the top of the stove, good enough for me. If it still needs splitting, half length makes it a lot easier.

 

[blades]

Letting elm sit for awhile in the round will make it much easier to split. Helps to get the bark off also when leaving sit. Splits much easier when partly dry

 

[BillNole]

I've had great success with elm over the years and actually prefer to split it before it dries too much if possible. I have the best success by "calving" off splits around the edges. I look for a likely starting point in the end grain and once I find the first successful blow, I go around in a circle, getting pieces off as I go around. It took a little while to figure out how to read the grain, but I have pretty good success at it now.

If I try to just blow down the middle with a haymaker type swing-for-the-fences strike, I often get a mixed bag of results that run between a nice stuck maul to a bounce that probably looks hilarious to anyone watching. I can get the smaller ones to split down the middle sometimes, but I generally just work the edges toward the middle...

The strings can sometimes be annoying, but you learn to deal with them too.

I jump through hoops as needed when someone offers me free downed elm!

To each his own...

 

[Whitespider]

It is getting cut to length and stacked in the round in my (open sided) barn- fortunately it isn't that big in diameter. I'll use it for overnight logs in 3 or 4 years...

Three or four years??
Stack it in the sun and you might even be burning it this mid-winter.
Stack it under a roof and it'll be junk long before it's dry... likely by spring.
I split a big elm using nothing but muscle power once... once... many years ago... once... never again.
Power splittin' equipment was invented just because of dead elm trees.
*

 

[Hedgerow]

Three or four years??
Stack it in the sun and you might even be burning it this mid-winter.
Stack it under a roof and it'll be junk long before it's dry... likely by spring.
I split a big elm using nothing but muscle power once... once... many years ago... once... never again.
Power splittin' equipment was invented just because of dead elm trees.
*

That's funny **** right there...

 

[haveawoody]

I seem to remember leaving American elm rounds for about a year.
Yes they were dry when it came time to split them but even the hydro suffered that day.
Elm brick is what I think elm rounds become after even a few months, about 3 months for me is max I will leave them.

Most of us elmo's tend to split rounds as soon as it starts to check, seems to be about as easy as it gets splitting elm, if that works out to happen on a cold day below freezing then it tends to be quite an easy wood to split.
Funny standing dead elm can sit for ages and not turn to elm brick, but once you make it into rounds it's not long before it's a tough day even for the hydro.

 

[CRThomas]

Set aside your nasty, stringy wood. Then find a place that rents a splitter on Saturday and allows you to return it on Monday, yet only be charged for one day. There are two places around here that do that.

You really want to hand split some hard wood Rock Cherry and Gum. I have a 50 ton with my 4 way it makes it stand up and take notice not one piece splits straight they are stringy light good and burn good I got a semi load of rock cherry and 16 gum logs run around 4 ft thru the big end

 

[blades]

Split a bunch of Elm yesterday really stringy stuff- not sure what kind cept is wasn't what is locally referred to a piss Elm- bark falling off on some sections ( not all silmy under the bark). Also splitting a bunch of Ash lately, even that is a bit stringy ( totally green) not wanting to just pop apart like the Maples and such. Hickory is another that can be fairy stringy.

 

[stihly dan]

I seem to remember leaving American elm rounds for about a year.
Yes they were dry when it came time to split them but even the hydro suffered that day.
Elm brick is what I think elm rounds become after even a few months, about 3 months for me is max I will leave them.

Most of us elmo's tend to split rounds as soon as it starts to check, seems to be about as easy as it gets splitting elm, if that works out to happen on a cold day below freezing then it tends to be quite an easy wood to split.
Funny standing dead elm can sit for ages and not turn to elm brick, but once you make it into rounds it's not long before it's a tough day even for the hydro.

As you know I got some standing dead a weak ago. The rounds are starting to check already. Can I wait till Jan or Feb? Or will that be screwing myself? I hate doing that.