# Elm any good for firewood?



## rob066 (May 24, 2014)

I had found a few blown over Elms. I was wandering if they are any good for firewood? I heard that Elm smells like whiz if you burn it I dont know. Thanks in advance ROB.


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## philoshop (May 24, 2014)

There are several different kinds of elm. Some can be a little stinky, especially when green. It's great firewood though IMO, one of the best for BTU per pound and it coals up well for long overnight burns. Definitely grab it!


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## 460magman (May 24, 2014)

good heating wood but not good splitting wood


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## zogger (May 24, 2014)

Good to burn, may or may not suck to split. Depends on the tree. If it won't split, noodle it.

I mostly just cut to size and let it sit long enough I don't bother with splitting, unless it is absolutely too large to fit in the stove, but around here, aren't many elms that big, usually much smaller, like maybe up to ten inches or so. Most seem to croak around 6-8 inches diameter, perfect stove size just cut to length..


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## haveawoody (May 24, 2014)

rob066,

In Pennsylvania the elm will be one of two species.
American elm a decent firewood that IMO is better than white ash for heat, just lots more work to split it and without a splitter most people pass on American elm.
Or it's Rock elm #2 of the list of best firewood in NA, not to crazy stringy to split but tough on the splitters itself getting it to split.

The chainsaw will tell you what one you have, American elm is tough hardwood to chainsaw, but rock elm is more like sawing stone with occasional sparks as you saw and a dull chain much sooner than expected.


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## mallardman (May 24, 2014)

I always ran into more slippery and American elm than rock elm in Pennsylvania. I like all 3 though. Some of my favorite firewood to burn. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Gravedigger (May 24, 2014)

Good firewood but you need a splitter. Really won't split with an axe.


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## Jeremy102579 (May 24, 2014)

i split some rock elm freshly cut.....pain the the butt. let some rounds sit for a couple months and it split better. better to let it sit in rounds for months......wont be as stringy.


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## blades (May 25, 2014)

Slippery elm ( aka piss elm) that's the stinky stuff when green or if burned before totally dry( 18%) looses at least 1/2 or more of its weight green to dry. Burns good reasonable coaling. Thin splitter wedge is best for stringy wood such as Elm. I never turn it down. Hint let it sit in the round for a few months or until the back starts separating, I use a spud and get the bark off at that point, split and stack dries much faster that way.


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## firebrick43 (May 25, 2014)

I have slit several slippery elms that were quite dry(dead standing trees) and split very well by hand. At least the trunk did, crotches not so much. Decent fire wood, comparable to cherry. Never had a rock elm throw sparks or be exceptionally hard to saw (not like Osage orange, aka hedge, and black locust will) but it very tough and stringy to split.


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## Whitespider (May 25, 2014)

@blades ,
Slippery Elm is Red Elm. If it lost ½ its weight drying from green down to 18% moisture... that would mean it would have to have something like 125-150% green moisture content. The Red Elm (Slippery Elm) I cut 'round here ain't near that wet, it don't have the "pizz" smell, and it splits a whole lot easier than American Elm. Red Elm has a green moisture content of about 50%... and looses less than 25% of its weight during seasoning.

It sounds like you're describing Siberian Elm... or maybe American Elm.
*


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## Deleted member 83629 (May 25, 2014)

I will offer my honest answer of yes and it sure beats a snowball.


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## Red Elm (May 25, 2014)

Dead standing red elm (slippery) is very good, live cut and seasoned I dont think is quite as good, cant explain that. 

American or white elm is okay if sound, gets punky fast if left out in my experience. 

Chinese and siberian, both introduced cultivars, arent worth the effort to start the saw. BUT, dont take my word for it, I've been told since I have hedge and locust available I'm "a wood snob and out of touch with firewood reality"!


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## MGoBlue (May 25, 2014)

After one run in with a large elm, I will forever pass. The ash left in my Baker stove (w/ grates) clumped horrible and darn near put out my fires. I had to mix the elm with other woods to get good burns. It was well seasoned too. In all honesty, I've been getting really good woods to choose from so I have no need to take it.


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## firebrick43 (May 25, 2014)

Yea, it does make good clinkers! My stove doesn't matter but one with a grate and ash pan elm could throw a wrench in the works. I could tell where I dumped the elm ashes in my garden this year when I tilled after thaw out


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## BillNole (May 26, 2014)

Elm is my all time absolute favorite firewood, with the exception of shagbark hickory, which I got a load of a couple of years ago. WOW, that nearly chased us out of the living room, it was so hot!

I've cut, split and burned several different elm species and have yet to run into anything I found objectionable to burn. What I call "spaghetti-elm" for obvious reasons, was tough splitting, but burned just fine. I've run into some elm that actually threw sparks as previously mentioned and dulled my chain very quickly, while other cuts almost like it's warm butter. 

I've never run into any that I couldn't split by hand and I enjoy the challenge of the spaghetti elm. I bought a splitter last year as I'm getting older by the day and will probably run anymore of that I come across to the splitter instead of hand splitting.

I'll take elm all day. Any sort too!


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## stihlfanboy (May 26, 2014)

I just ran into two big elms. One was so dead its just camp firewood but was still vary stringy. The other was dead but made good firewood and spit great witch surprised me.


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## sunfish (May 26, 2014)

I cut a fair bit of dead standing Red Elm, very good stuff!

I leave the piss elm to rot in the woods...


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## Dirtboy (May 26, 2014)

I'm not sure which elm I have, but it burns great when dry. Stringy to split, bark peels itself off when splitting, and yes-leaves me some clinkers in the box. But I will take all I can get my hands on.


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## Red Elm (May 26, 2014)

I would guess red (or slippery) elm dirtboy. Never heard of any leaving clinkers but that one. It is good wood for sure.


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## GVS (May 27, 2014)

Almost all elm is tough to split but makes lots of heat!


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## svk (May 27, 2014)

sunfish said:


> I leave the piss elm to rot in the woods...


How do you tell the difference?

The few elms up here died 25 years ago. I've never dealt with it.


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## dwasifar (May 27, 2014)

I just split up a bunch of American elm collected from a Craigslist ad. Trunk sections mostly, been lying out behind the guy's garage for three years. It's really nice wood after all that time, even aging in rounds that size. Burns hot and lasts long. Does leave a lot of ash. I'm glad to have it, but I would NOT want to have tackled it without a splitter.

Last August I collected some red elm, still green and pee-smelling. I tried to split it then, but there was just no way, so I went out and split it in January when it was below zero. It splits up much nicer when frozen.


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## sunfish (May 27, 2014)

svk said:


> How do you tell the difference?
> 
> The few elms up here died 25 years ago. I've never dealt with it.


Red Elm is redish brown inside, bark will fall off standing dead and the tree will take years to rot, or fall. Piss Elm is mostly white inside, bark does falls off, but it will rot fairly quick.


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## Red Elm (May 27, 2014)

Sunfish is dead on with his description. Also, red elm lacks big buttress roots. The trunk will look like a big pipe stuck in the ground. American elm has normal sized buttress roots.

Also the winter silhouette of american elm is like that of a flower vase or martini glass, spreading top from upstretched limbs.


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## svk (May 27, 2014)

So American and piss elm are one and the same?


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## sunfish (May 27, 2014)

svk said:


> So American and piss elm are one and the same?


Yes, as far as I know.


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## Whitespider (May 27, 2014)

Originally the nickname "Piss Elm" was giving to Winged Elm (or Wahoo) because of the strong smell of urine when standing down-wind of a stand.
Depending on local or regional custom the nickname can be attached to near any Elm species... sometimes because of odor, sometimes because certain species can actually "piss" water when young and cut during spring awakening.

So no, American Elm and Piss Elm are not necessarily one-and-the-same... it just depends on who's doing the labeling.
I've taken to ignoring the name "Piss Elm"... it mostly means nothing past local custom.
'Round here young (like less than 10-inches diameter) Siberian Elm is often called Piss Elm because it tends to "piss" out water when cut, and it stinks (but, to me anyway, it don't stink like piss).
*


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## 1project2many (May 28, 2014)

> Chinese and siberian, both introduced cultivars, arent worth the effort to start the saw.



IME Siberian Elm will rot while sitting in the round waiting to dry. If dry, it has very little heat to offer. Learn to recognize that if you scrounge because it's one to avoid. Chinese Elm OTOH is a decent medium heat wood that splits fairly easily. I let it dry for two years before burning and split nearly every piece before stacking in the wood shed. The sticky sap that oozes out of larger pieces when green is a PITA but it washes off fairly easily so it sits in the outside pile for the first year.



> Also the winter silhouette of american elm is like that of a flower vase or martini glass, spreading top from upstretched limbs.


Once you learn to recognize AE it's easy to see it, especially standing dead. After a year or two dead most of the stringiness is gone but there's usually plenty of heat left. I've cut and split a large green AE and it took three years of waiting before the wood was dry enough to burn well. Although I recognize why it's earned a bad reputation with the old northeast yankees, I do not turn down AE as a firewood. Piss Elm? Haven't found it in a tree book yet.


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## svk (May 28, 2014)

I'm thinking the stuff up by us must have been American as it rotted away while standing and slowly all of the limbs fell off. The bark also fell off in huge sheets.


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