Elm Suprise

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Cambium

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Oct 6, 2009
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Location
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Tree guy calls me and said "I have White Oak". I said sure, bring on over! Excited. As he dumped a whole truck load I came out and noticed something else was mixed in. I said thanks and he left. After a closer look my jaw dropped. :-(

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Not White Oak obviously but I was wondering what it was at this point....then..........

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I noticed the leaf and that's when I was like No, No, No!

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So I started splitting one to confirm...Yup.... SMH . I had Elm 10 yrs ago and promised myself I would never do it again. It burns hot in the stove but it takes 1 day to split 1 log and they don't stack well.

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Ridiculous. LOL
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I will take any Elm you guys want to get rid of, especially Slippery (red), it one of my favorite woods to burn, splitting is a pain if its wet though. I am not at all picky about what I burn though so what the heck. this time of year its soft maple and cottonwood, I sort a little and use the stuff that might be a little punky for summer burns, even in the winter I use what the pile gives me though.
 
So the tree guy said he would come pick them up. What a guy. I told him to pick up a few not the entire load and meanwhile prune my trees so he can make some money off me. I want to be fair and this Elm is not worth my time splitting and for my stacking OCD. lol

I did find a better way to split BTW in case anyone wants to try..
DONT Split through the core.

Make cuts like this...

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It splits a little better but still a pain to pull apart.

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Yep, set that stuff aside and let it dry out 6 to 12 months. It will be much easier to split.
Can't complain too much, it was free (I assume).
Kyle's right.
Stack it up off the ground, cover tops and let 'er dry out some, like say 6 months to a year.
Then it splits WAY easier.
There are some Elms that are not like that at all though.
I have burned some Red Elms that are great splitters and very dense.
When seasoned two years, the splits are still like picking up a block of concrete.
Nice burning stuff.
 
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