Split elm on a cold day

[haveawoody]

I've split very little Red Elm but for me the stuff I did it split real nice as soon as the bark was lifting and ends were checking much like rock elm.
American elm is another story, if you catch it at just the right time it splits pretty well but splitting on a cold day makes for a huge difference.
Even on cold days though American elm can be a bear so for me when it's American elm time I feed one piece in and if it splits all the way through great, if not a fresh piece goes in and finishes the first piece for me.
Splitting American elm that way and it seems to go pretty smooth, a sharp wedge and a cold day both have quite an impact on American elm.

 

[farmer steve]

I leave it in the woods,a lot less aggravation.

 

[rancher2]

Around here I usually pile elm on the burn piles. once in a while we will cut and split some up for firewood best to split when it is cold out.

 

[haveawoody]

Another good trick for American elm is to cut it all at the 8" length if it's for personal use, wont look good as sales wood.
Then unless it's a giant round it's one split per piece and you have two chunky night blocks.
8" American elm splits about 10 times easier than 16" American elm and even possible to hand split 8" pieces.
American elm is way up on the btu list so worth a bit of effort to keep it, just got to be creative to make it as little work as possible.

 

[1project2many]

just got to be creative to make it as little work as possible.

Lessee.... Auger, powder, packing, fuse.... and two kids to pick up the pieces. Should be set!

 

[AIM]

My 35 ton splitter doesn't care how cold it is.

 

[BillLion]

Here's how it split. Very satisfying compared to how it shredded in August.

View attachment 319884

I shredded mine over the summer. I like to split by hand but had to borrow a splitter to process the elm. Did you use a splitter?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dwasifar]

Yes, but it split easy enough that it could have been done by hand.

 

[A.S.Woodchucker]

I was waiting for someone to mention a Fiskars! hahaha

 

[zogger]

Another good trick for American elm is to cut it all at the 8" length if it's for personal use, wont look good as sales wood.
Then unless it's a giant round it's one split per piece and you have two chunky night blocks.
8" American elm splits about 10 times easier than 16" American elm and even possible to hand split 8" pieces.
American elm is way up on the btu list so worth a bit of effort to keep it, just got to be creative to make it as little work as possible.

You can cut to normal length and just noodle to quarters or whatever as well..although I like your idea of real short blocks. I might start doing that with elm and sweetgum.

 

[haveawoody]

Zogger,
Yeah sure makes short work of even the nastiest American elm.
Short rounds are nice of the hydro also since you can just keep putting a new one on and not worry to much about what the first one did.
I keep most of the American elm I get for personal use and just keep it in big block format for the nights, to much work to make it pretty looking for sales piles anyway.
I figure as soon as it's a size that just fits in the stove it's split
I'm glad we don't have sweet gum here, I understand it's even worse than American elm.

 

[zogger]

Zogger,
Yeah sure makes short work of even the nastiest American elm.
Short rounds are nice of the hydro also since you can just keep putting a new one on and not worry to much about what the first one did.
I keep most of the American elm I get for personal use and just keep it in big block format for the nights, to much work to make it pretty looking for sales piles anyway.
I figure as soon as it's a size that just fits in the stove it's split
I'm glad we don't have sweet gum here, I understand it's even worse than American elm.

I wind up doing all sorts of creative things to get that sweetgum into burnable sizes..but ya, I stop when it will fit into the stove. Mostly, it sits in the round until the bark falls off easy, then I whack at it some...then eventually noodle what is left over.

 

[haveawoody]

Hey Zogger I'm just wondering if standing dead or cured in round sweet gum becomes better firewood than cut and split green?
Always wondered why Elm becomes better firewood treated that way and maybe it's stringy wood compacting that is the key to that mystery.

You can keep the sweet gum, American elm if enough fun for me LOL

 

[zogger]

Hey Zogger I'm just wondering if standing dead or cured in round sweet gum becomes better firewood than cut and split green?
Always wondered why Elm becomes better firewood treated that way and maybe it's stringy wood compacting that is the key to that mystery.

You can keep the sweet gum, American elm if enough fun for me LOL

I don't know really. From what I remember it is about the same. It splits a lot easier once the rounds have sat up a long time and the ends get deep checked and the bark is falling off. Small rounds, if they can fit in the stove, that's it, I stack them just like that.

I can hand split some, but not all the sweetgum and elm I get. Some I just noodle. I'll give a round some whacks, see how much I can get off, but if it is a crotch, forget it, cut with the saw.

 

[HuskStihl]

That actually looks a lot like live oak inside. I had some fresh 16" rounds (heavy!) and decided to split them to dry. I have sharpening OCD so I put a nice edge on my 5lb axe, hit it hard, and I swear it just bounced off. I got one of those 4 sided wedges into it and eventually got one round split with about 1000 hits with the 8lb sledge. That was enough for me, put the 20" and the 8 pin on the 385 and made quarters and a bag of noodles. Dried it a year and a half, and it burns great. It will burn for hours. I should have waited for 10 degrees, but in Houston, that could be a long wait.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Just thought I would add an addendum to this thread. I cut, split, and delivered at least 20 cords of elm--American and red--this year. All of it is gone and every buyer has told me one way or the other that it's excellent firewood. Most was cut last April or May and stored stacked in the round until August. Then I split it and stored it stacked another month before delivery. Once the bark started falling off, it split beautifully.

Today, I am sold out of elm firewood. Elm is money in the bank.

 

[haveawoody]

Zogger,

So sweet gum pretty much the same split green or dead.
Guess the stringy wood compressing for elm isn't the reason it gets better as dead before split, or gum is pretty stringy but pretty compressed already.

 

[1project2many]

Always wondered why Elm becomes better firewood treated that way and maybe it's stringy wood compacting that is the key to that mystery.

Yeah... that is an interesting question. Elm really seems to hold onto moisture. I think that's why it needs to season quite a bit before burning. Especially here where it's fairly humid. I've got a theory that the top of standing dead elm, especially when the bark falls off, dries faster as the wind really pulls moisture out of it. I know one of the tricks from long ago was to girdle an Oak and leave it standing so it would "temper" faster. After a couple of years dead when the wood decays some and the stringiness is gone Elm will split easily. It's the green stuff that likes to fight.

Today, I am sold out of elm firewood. Elm is money in the bank.

See, this is the difference I'm talking about. Here in New England seems like the majority of people don't want to waste time with Elm. Prolly too many other species around that provide the same or more BTUs for less work. If I advertised a cord of Elm for the same price as "mixed hardwood" (which could be a large of percentage Gray Birch and other low BTU species) I don't believe I'd get calls anywhere near as quickly. Oh, well. I'm still working out the how's and why's in this area but if it hadn't been for so many people saying they like this species, I would have bailed out after my first time burning it.

 

[Wood Doctor]

See, this is the difference I'm talking about. Here in New England seems like the majority of people don't want to waste time with Elm. Prolly too many other species around that provide the same or more BTUs for less work. If I advertised a cord of Elm for the same price as "mixed hardwood" (which could be a large of percentage Gray Birch and other low BTU species) I don't believe I'd get calls anywhere near as quickly. Oh, well. I'm still working out the how's and why's in this area but if it hadn't been for so many people saying they like this species, I would have bailed out after my first time burning it.

Agreed about the New England market, having lived in Connecticut years ago. Elm was downgraded by everyone there and nobody fooled with it. I doubt I would either without a power splitter. There isn't really enough red elm left to hand split. Most is American or Chinese. Whenever I run into red elm that someone wants cleared, I pounce on it.

On the other hand, elm makes a very safe fire and burns with no sparks. It also burns to completion without leaving any cinders. On occasion, you run unto a spiral grain elm that defies spitting by anything, regardless if green or dry. The stuff will check up in a circular pattern. I throw that in bonfires.

 

[Buckethead]

I just finished splitting about 1.5 cords of Elm a few weeks ago. It had been down for 3 years but is still plenty wet. The trick I use to split Elm in warm weather is to split slabs off of the outside and spiral your way to the center. Never had a problem using this technique. Trying to split it down the center like other wood species results in lots of bad words and heavy stuff flying through the air.