Anyone burn Elm?

[Maldeney]

I will definitely agree you should leave the maple and pick the Elm! When I first fired my boiler this fall I was burning soft maple..... Faster than I could cut it! Then I found some Red Elm and wow what a difference. I went from 6-8 hr burn times up to 10-12 hr. The only thing I have noticed is that American (white) Elm has a very pungent smell when burning. My father in law calls it "Piss" Elm!

 

[JONSEREDFAN6069]

i like half seasoned elm, mix that with some spruce at nite and get a good 7 hours outa it and man it throw's off alot of heat. i agree it gives off alot of ash but i can live with that over getting up every 3 to 4 hours with str8 pine.

 

[carvinmark]

I burn all of the Elm I can get with no problems.

 

[savageactor7]

We've been burning elm for years, it's a pita to split but it's here and don't cost me anything but my time. If I didn't have a gas splitter I wouldn't bother with it though.

 

[Raymond]

I can get some hackberry, soft maple, and elm firewood for free. I was wondering if I should even bother with the elm. I heard it doesn't burn very good at all. I've never burned it before, so is it worthwhile to cut, split, and haul it home? Or should I just grab the soft maple and hackberry? There's plenty for me to get. There's enough to last us almost 3 winters I'd say, so I can be picky.

Sure got alot of post giving a thumbs up for the elm.

Elm has a bad rap from the past. From the guys who walk 10 miles to school, in the snow up hill both ways. Back when they had to split wood by hand. Instead of admitting it was just to hard to split, they'd just talked #### on it.

The silver maple is the junk wood but really easy to split..See a patten here?

 

[JBinKC]

All three woods burn fine especially if you own or access to a mechanical splitter.

The only deterrent from using Elm is processing it by hand. It is usually a bear to split thus takes much more time to process. Anything too big you either have to disc it with a saw or hit the round until you are blue in the face.
If you are burning a stove thus have size limitations and don't want to deal with the processing, keep it down to a diameter you know that your stove can handle.

 

[mowoodchopper]

LOL!!

It all burns once seasoned.

I'm sitting here burning a mix of dead standing Elm, half green Sassafrass, and Cherry. All started this afternoon with Willow.

Elm is good stuff. Better when free!

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

:agree2: Good point! You see alot of tree bashing going on but if you try and experiment you can burn about anything. And it cheaper than gas or electric!

 

[JAM]

Elm

Good stuff. Had some dead standing in a cutting we were doing.I didn't have a splitter then and it was quite a workout to split it but well worth it. I'm told it burns about as well as snowballs green so dry it real good.

 

[tomtrees58]

:hmm3grin2orange:

We've been burning elm for years, it's a pita to split but it's here and don't cost me anything but my time. If I didn't have a gas splitter I wouldn't bother with it though.

?? is it hard to split:hmm3grin2orange: tom trees

 

[burroak]

Thanks everyone! I guess I'll be grabbing that first on the next trip I make.

 

[bowtechmadman]

Hell if it's free I'd be taking everything, elm, hack and the maple.

 

[Beefie]

I love to burn ELM , Dutch elm disease has pretty much all the elms taken care of around here. Bark is off on most of the trees or you can de-husk out in the woods and leave the the mess there. Also when it drys ,the remaining bark falls right off and less mess in the house. My friend and I just cut two cords yesterday . 3-4 more cords to go and I can start cutting for 2010/11.

 

[Turkeyslayer]

Elm was the reason I invested in a splitter, had to clear a fencerow of all 24" plus elm. Split the first tree by hand, then went and bought a splitter. I called that fencerow "Nightmare on elm street".LOL. Elm burns good, burn some every year, I prefer the standing dead because the bark stays in the woods, but its all good.

TS

 

[Rookie1]

Elm is my wood of choice. I am eyeing up 2 that died from dutch elm this past year. Bark is falling off and is going straight down my basement. I cant wait.

 

[Joshlaugh]

I burn elm every year, right around 1 cord. There are plenty of standing dead trees without any bark or limbs to worry about around me. I just drop them, buck em and go home to throw them in the fire. I do split everything with a maul and found for larger elm that I will noodle them in half or quarters which makes the splitting much easier.
Currently I am burning cherry and hackberry. The hackberry was stringy when splitting green last march but it burns much better than the cherry currently is(although not nearly as pretty)

 

[muleman51]

Just cut an elm this afternoon. This one had been tagged so I had to take it down, about a 20" tree. Only problem is that it hasn't been dead long enough to slough the bark yet so I have to peel the bark off. Luckily the bark is starting to loosen so it wasn't too difficult. I like those nice bare elms that have a lot of the small branches already trimmed by the wind. I probably burn 80% elm. But the big stuff can sure be miserable to split at least I only have to split the stuff over 14".

 

[avalancher]

I wouldnt call Elm my choice wood due to the hard splitting, but as far as heat goes it seems to produce in the same neighborhood as red oak.Got a bunch of it the other day from a tree service, and have been weeding my way through the pile as I have time.

 

[BriGuy89]

Thanks everyone! I guess I'll be grabbing that first on the next trip I make.

I concur with the others that elm is quite nice for burning once seasoned well but can be a bear to split.

In addition, one other point to keep in mind is that elm should be kept off the ground -- it can get real punky real fast if left on the ground.

I got some elm a few years back (in the middle of winter) from a neighbor but did not have any more off-the-ground storage space, so I left the big rounds stacked on the ground. By the time I ended up processing it the following summer, a lot of the wood that was in contact with the ground had turned punky and rotted (core was still good, so I worked with that).

Also, I now have half a dozen extra railroad ties around so that I'll always have a "reserve" of base material for keeping any "bluebird" (surprise) wood hauls off the ground.

 

[KD57]

I like elm too, but the hackberry is way down on my list, gets pithy too fast. Don't know about maple.

 

[jerryw66]

Here's a little elm I split up this weekend, they were fairly dead trees and I don't think I'll burn it next winter, probably won't be quite dry even then. Guys are always talking about getting a cord of wood on an 8' pickup bed, I think this is close, of course I didn't stack it. I don't have to go down the road with this either.