# elm as firewood



## bombdude (Sep 4, 2008)

Lost an elm this week thanks to Gustov. Any of y'all ever burn it as firewood?? Is it hard to split??


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## mga (Sep 4, 2008)

here's a web site that rates many varieties of wood and if they are easy to split or not.....

http://mb-soft.com/juca/print/firewood.html


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## logbutcher (Sep 4, 2008)

*Slab Split Elm*



bombdude said:


> Lost an elm this week thanks to Gustov. Any of y'all ever burn it as firewood?? Is it hard to split??



Not the greatest burn but better than most softwoods.
It can be a b___ch to split. Semtex is a possibility :censored: . 

"Slab split" it by spliting along or tangential to the rings. Elm is like apple that grows heliotopically following the sun, so there's not a straight grain like oaks or pines. Start the splits from the outside in, then work your way around the butt. Large elm butts can stop a 22 ton in its tracks if you split from the center. Forget about elm crotches ( or not  )

We burnt 10's of cords in the 70's in a NW Boston suburb, when 1000's of elms were killed by the Dutch Elm Disease ( beetles carried it ). We'd get tons of elm logs dumped by tree crews in the yard. It took me a year of fighting it with normal monster maul and wedges splitting to figure it out. They got chuckles out of it.  

American Elm is great for carving or turning because of the tight grain. Think Henry Moore's nudes for those of you artistes.


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## olyman (Sep 4, 2008)

stringy stuff to split--burns real good when dry---one of the hardwoods---not as good as oak, but then who gets only oak----very few----


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## Wood Doctor (Sep 4, 2008)

bombdude said:


> Lost an elm this week thanks to Gustav. Any of y'all ever burn it as firewood?? Is it hard to split??


I burn three to four cords of it per year. Great firewood. Burns completely and with no sparks. Safest stuff you can throw into the stove.

It ranks near the top as one of the toughest wood species to split that there is. The grain sprirals as it grows to provide sufficient strength to support the tree's enormous crown and umbrella shape. Internal stresses are huge. Elm has done a great job selling lots of powered logsplitters.

It also has good bending strength and toughness. I have often wondered why it isn't harvested and used to make baseball bats--perhaps because it tends to move out of shape as it dries due to the internal stresses from the grain.


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## Ole Farmerbuck (Sep 4, 2008)

Elm is all we have here. I hear about being hard to split but have never had any trouble except if it isnt dry. Just because the bark is off doesnt mean its dry. I only have a 22 ton splitter and have had NO trouble. If you try to split it green, it does seem like the grains are twisted but give it some time and it will split just fine. If it was that hard to split, believe me, i wouldnt mess with it.


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## chainsawaddict (Sep 4, 2008)

logbutcher said:


> Not the greatest burn but better than most softwoods.
> It can be a b___ch to split. Semtex is a possibility :censored: .
> 
> "Slab split" it by spliting along or tangential to the rings. Elm is like apple that grows heliotopically following the sun, so there's not a straight grain like oaks or pines. Start the splits from the outside in, then work your way around the butt. Large elm butts can stop a 22 ton in its tracks if you split from the center. Forget about elm crotches ( or not  )
> ...




great splitting method. I burn quite a bit of elm. It is hard to split(stringy) and does leave some ash behind, but the btus/cord are right up there with ash.


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## timberwolf (Sep 4, 2008)

If cut green and left on the ground it will soak up water like a sponge.

Splits best dry, like has been stated.

I never pass up a standing dead elm, as long as it's safe to cut anyway. It makes instant fire wood, most often bone dry and ready to burn, maybe about equal heat wise to ash or white birch.


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## Ole Farmerbuck (Sep 4, 2008)

timberwolf said:


> If cut green and left on the ground it will soak up water like a sponge.
> 
> Splits best dry, like has been stated.
> 
> I never pass up a standing dead elm, as long as it's safe to cut anyway. It makes instant fire wood, most often bone dry and ready to burn, maybe about equal heat wise to ash or white birch.



Yep Personally i like the elm better than ash. Elm makes a good coal bed where the ash ashes are so fluffy and lite, they just fall through the grate.


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## WSJchester (Sep 4, 2008)

I've cut and (eventually) split quite a bit of it in years past in central Ohio. It burns OK once split and well dried but you've got to want to split it! I used it because I was scrapping up anything that'd burn and standing dead elms were common. Seems to me it split a bit better after things had frozen up for the winter. -WSJ


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## coog (Sep 4, 2008)

Back in the 70's, that's all anybody had in MN to burn.I saw fistfights in the woods when a dead oak was discovered.We never had a splitter, so we would do all of our splitting when it got around 20 below zero.I remember splitting in shirtsleeves and frozen eyelashes! In high school I discovered a farm that was covered in Red Elm, which unlike American Elm, dries hard on the stem and splits as easily as ash.You can tell the difference because all of the bark falls off at the same time and even the small branches stay attached.I made a lot of cash with my '62 Ford and 041 Farm Boss selling dry firewood that had never been stacked.I used it later in life as a furniture wood.Pretty grain, but it does like to twist.


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## mga (Sep 4, 2008)

> Large elm butts can stop a 22 ton in its tracks if you split from the center. Forget about elm crotches ( or not )



amen to that. i blew a coupling spyder trying to split a crotch.

lesson learned.


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## wdchuck (Sep 4, 2008)

Quite a few cords have come through here, all varieties too, American Elm, white, with a dark core, very stringy due to cross grain, use a gas splitter. Burns, and heats just fine, medium btu's, as with most wood used for heating, allow plenty of time for seasoning.

THe other varieties of elm, will split easily whether wet or dry, using a gas splitter.


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## Joshlaugh (Sep 4, 2008)

I agree with everyone else. Burns good but really tough to split. I split my rounds with a maul and had the toughest time with elm. I get several trees a year from folks who have them standing dead in their yard and want them removed.


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## cmetalbend (Sep 4, 2008)

The other way is to let it freeze but, It becomes explosive(to split) if it hasn't dried. I was spliting elm one winter with at least a 35ton splitter and a Wedge after the splitter stoped in the wood. I hit the wedge and the block exploded. Needless to say the wedge landed 12-15 foot behind me leaving my new Carhart coat with a slice down to my shirt over my left shoulder.


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## logbutcher (Sep 5, 2008)

Wood Doctor said:


> ....It ranks near the top as one of the toughest wood species to split that there is. The grain sprirals as it grows to provide sufficient strength to support the tree's enormous crown and umbrella shape. Internal stresses are huge. *Elm has done a great job selling lots of powered logsplitters.*
> It also has good bending strength and toughness. I have often wondered *why it isn't harvested and used to make baseball bats--perhaps because it tends to move out of shape as it dries due to the internal stresses *from the grain.



Right on Ed. :agree2: 
I once sliced up elm butts as tables and stools for sale; they dried out in all kinds of shapes. For bats: elm is not a very dense wood like ash and hickory....and too stringy to smooth for bats and handles.
FYI: in Castine, Maine the town pays $$$$$ to inject the 25-30 full American Elm trees each year. Some just can't be saved. Beautiful classic New England treescape gone from 1000's of small towns here.


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## Wood Doctor (Sep 5, 2008)

logbutcher said:


> Right on Ed. :agree2:
> I once sliced up elm butts as tables and stools for sale; they dried out in all kinds of shapes. For bats: elm is not a very dense wood like ash and hickory....and too stringy to smooth for bats and handles.
> FYI: in Castine, Maine the town pays $$$$$ to inject the 25-30 full American Elm trees each year. Some just can't be saved. Beautiful classic New England treescape gone from 1000's of small towns here.


Talk about movement aftyer drying. I once made a gorgeous plaque shield using laminated red elm cut to 1" x 1-1/2" thicknesses and 16" long--about 12 boards glued up flat. The elm tree was standing dead for three years.

Within six months the plaque had warped every which direction out of shape. So, I ran it through the thickness planer again to flatten it. That worked for six more months and now it's starting to warp out of shape again.

So much for using elm for butcher blocks. :monkey:


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## Ole Farmerbuck (Sep 5, 2008)

Wood Doctor said:


> Talk about movement aftyer drying. I once made a gorgeous plaque shield using laminated red elm cut to 1" x 1-1/2" thicknesses and 16" long--about 12 boards glued up flat. The elm tree was standing dead for three years.
> 
> Within six months the plaque had warped every which direction out of shape. So, I ran it through the thickness planer again to flatten it. That worked for six more months and now it's starting to warp out of shape again.
> 
> So much for using elm for butcher blocks. :monkey:


The elm trees around here have been dead for 6 to 8 years, prob more. Still very good wood. Some isnt really dry enough to split very easy so i have to pick which ones to get. But yes, if used before it gets completly dry it will sure move on you. I was told that elm absorbs more water than about any other tree so i guess thats why it takes so long to dry.


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## Ole Farmerbuck (Sep 5, 2008)

bombdude said:


> Lost an elm this week thanks to Gustov. Any of y'all ever burn it as firewood?? Is it hard to split??


If the tree was alive, you might have to give it a few years then it will split nice.


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## coog (Sep 5, 2008)

logbutcher said:


> Right on Ed. :agree2:
> .
> FYI: in Castine, Maine the town pays $$$$$ to inject the 25-30 full American Elm trees each year. Some just can't be saved. Beautiful classic New England treescape gone from 1000's of small towns here.



I learned a lesson as a kid: trees grow faster than you think.I was watching a crew take yet another huge Elm (48">dbh) down on our street.My Great Uncle John walked over to where I was and told me he, along with his brothers, had planted all of the Elms on our city's streets around 1905.They were paid a nickel apiece to dig them up down by the river, haul them around in their wagon and plant them.A lot of growth in 70 some years.I sure hope they come up with a good looking, disease resistant strain. The city has since planted a mish-mash of Ash and Maple that look terrible and tear up the sidewalks.


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## jags (Sep 5, 2008)

May I present exhibit A:


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## Wood Doctor (Sep 5, 2008)

jags said:


> May I present exhibit A:


Long live exhibit A! Not sure if it's elm or cottonwood, but I'll trust your judgment. Green cottonwood splits exactly the same way. :censored:


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## jags (Sep 5, 2008)

Wood Doctor said:


> Long live exhibit A! Not sure if it's elm or cottonwood, but I'll trust your judgment. Green cottonwood splits exactly the same way. :censored:



Oh, thats Elm all right.

Edit: I have never had the "pleasure" of bucking and splitting a cottonwood.


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## Wood Doctor (Sep 5, 2008)

jags said:


> Oh, thats Elm all right.
> 
> Edit: I have never had the "pleasure" of bucking and splitting a cottonwood.


Cottonwood is the greatest tree of deception there is. You buck it green and you think it's wonderful. The saw buzzes right through it, and when green, it actually feels solid.

Then you say, "well, let's split it," and it looks like exhibit A. So, you let it dry a few months. Now it feels and looks like linden (basswood), but it still won't split worth a :censored: . So, you give up and throw it in the stove--one log every two hours. Yep, it burns hot.


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## coog (Sep 5, 2008)

I have a friend with a mill that thinks Cottonwood is one of the best woods for dimensional lumber.Not good for anything else.


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## Rookie1 (Sep 5, 2008)

I know im late but I love elm. I have a stand of them in my back yard. Every year dutchelm claims one or two and I cut down, borrow hyd splitter and enjoy nice hot fire.


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## Ole Farmerbuck (Sep 5, 2008)

jags said:


> May I present exhibit A:


I think that needs a couple of years drying time. This will split real nice and is still heavy. Been dead for 6 or more years.


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## Rookie1 (Sep 5, 2008)

jags said:


> May I present exhibit A:



That is F'ing hilarious.I missed that earlier. I think I peed my pants.


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## abohac (Sep 6, 2008)

bombdude said:


> Lost an elm this week thanks to Gustov. Any of y'all ever burn it as firewood?? Is it hard to split??



gotta assume it's like ours pretty tough with a maul easy with a splitter


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## Wirenut2266 (Sep 6, 2008)

Elm is about half my woodpile. I like it, long burn, purtty hot, but yes.....Pain to split. I wait till below zero, no problems then, splits like a dream!!!


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## jags (Sep 8, 2008)

Buck, I can assure you that additional time would not have made that any easier to split. It was a long dead, standing, barkless, grayed out tree that measured at 21% mc when I split it. It was ready to burn.


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