Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[marcy-m]

Do you always pass on elm? If not, how do you process it? Are all elms hard to split? I think this is American Elm, but not sure. The lighter colored round is Arizona Ash.

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[MustangMike]

Congratulations to you too Mountain, that is good news.

 

[MountainHigh]

anyone hear from Mainewoods yet?

 

[CTYank]

Do you always pass on elm? If not, how do you process it? Are all elms hard to split? I think this is American Elm, but not sure. The lighter colored round is Arizona Ash.

Try partway noodling. Noodle a slot about as deep as the bar is wide. Drive a wedge at the far end, hit with maul at the near end. If insufficient progress with first wedge, knock it out and noodle deeper. Minimizing noodling preserves wood.

American elm is not worth lying, cheating and stealing for. Air-dry density is only about 35 lb/ft^3. Properly dry it will burn, better than hauling it to the dump. Reportedly it splits more readily when dry, but then it dries much better when split.

Rock elm & slippery elm have much higher fiber density- about 44 lb/ft^3, but rock elm has reputation as being difficult to split. Don't get much call to process any of the three around here. Big thing is to get all wood properly dry, and splitting helps that a lot.

 

[MustangMike]

Straight grained Ash is usually the easiest wood to split.

I split almost everything with my Fiskars Splitting Axe, but if it is too tough I will either break out wedges and a 16 lb sledge, or just noodle it.

I only rented a splitter once (for myself), because I had Elm that I could not split, and the rented splitter would not split it either! Ended up noodling it.

 

[MustangMike]

anyone hear from Mainewoods yet?

No. I sent a PM to a staff member asking if there was any way they could check on him, but got no reply.

I'm concerned.

 

[marcy-m]

Try partway noodling. Noodle a slot about as deep as the bar is wide. Drive a wedge at the far end, hit with maul at the near end. If insufficient progress with first wedge, knock it out and noodle deeper. Minimizing noodling preserves wood.

American elm is not worth lying, cheating and stealing for. Air-dry density is only about 35 lb/ft^3. Properly dry it will burn

Thank you. Sounds like a plan. Since it gets really hot here (Tx), I was hoping wood would dry quicker here. How can you tell when it's dry enough?

Thanks again for the elm strategy!


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[marcy-m]

Straight grained Ash is usually the easiest wood to split.

The little bit we tried to split last night was nice. The wood is so creamy and smooth compared to the fruitless mulberry and sycamore we've been working with.

By the way, all I see on firewood tables is mulberry. Is fruitless mulberry just as good? They are all over the place here. (We have an EPA wood burning stove. I'm aware of the fireworks.)

Sorry for all the questions. I've got a ton that I've googled / haven't found specific answers. Kept ending up on this forum, so I joined.


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[dancan]

Ask the questions , that's how we learn .

 

[amateur hour]

Try partway noodling. Noodle a slot about as deep as the bar is wide. Drive a wedge at the far end, hit with maul at the near end. If insufficient progress with first wedge, knock it out and noodle deeper. Minimizing noodling preserves wood.

American elm is not worth lying, cheating and stealing for. Air-dry density is only about 35 lb/ft^3. Properly dry it will burn, better than hauling it to the dump. Reportedly it splits more readily when dry, but then it dries much better when split.

Rock elm & slippery elm have much higher fiber density- about 44 lb/ft^3, but rock elm has reputation as being difficult to split. Don't get much call to process any of the three around here. Big thing is to get all wood properly dry, and splitting helps that a lot.

I picked up some elm 2 years ago on the side of the road, I couldn't split it with the maul so I tried a wedge and a sledge hammer. The wedge went all the way in and just engulfed the wedge. I hit a wedge in from the other side then cut the fibers still holding the wood together. The pieces are only 8 inches around. The other 10 pieces are still stacked in the corner, I will just burn them as rounds outside or borrow a splitter.

 

[zogger]

I picked up some elm 2 years ago on the side of the road, I couldn't split it with the maul so I tried a wedge and a sledge hammer. The wedge went all the way in and just engulfed the wedge. I hit a wedge in from the other side then cut the fibers still holding the wood together. The pieces are only 8 inches around. The other 10 pieces are still stacked in the corner, I will just burn them as rounds outside or borrow a splitter.

Just 10 pieces, just noodle them to size and stack.

 

[MustangMike]

I agree with Zogger, when I rented a splitter to split Elm it did not do it. Ended up noodling them. Why would the splitter work any better than your buried wedge?

 

[marcy-m]

Do you noodle on the ground or is there something like a crib pile for noodling? My back doesn't like staying bent over too long.

Saw worked great Zogger! I did have chain break right. I thought for sure I did. It doesn't work though.

Do you let the saw run out of gas each time? Also everyone around here sits the saw down when it's running. The Stihl video said to shut it off each time. I did this time, and got a lot better at starting it again ha

I think I'll only get the small stuff when I see Elm again. Lol lesson learned.

Here are the gloves I wear - not leather and is that bottom piece Elm? We thought the homeowner said sycamore. Now I'm thinking it could be elm

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[MountainHigh]

How can you tell when it's dry enough?
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For those who have been at this a while, you can usually tell if your wood is dry enough to burn well by simply clanking 2 pieces of wood together - dry wood gives a more hollow sound versus a softer thunk mushier sound for wet wood. - lol - not a very scientific approach, but you'll hear the difference after you've done it a few times.

Also, for most species in my neck of the woods, you can see it on the end of the pieces. A nice dry piece will have checking and cracks in the wood, most wet wood won't have any checking.

Iif you can bake your wood in the hot sun it can be usable after even a few weeks to months. If it dries in the shade however, it will take longer. I dry mine in a shaded shed with lots of air flow and it needs minimum 10 months to season in our moist west coast climate. Also during cold snaps in winter if the air is very dry, wood can freeze dry quite quickly.

• Split a piece of wood. If the exposed surface feels damp, the wood is too wet to burn.
• If in doubt, burn some. Dry wood ignites and burns easily; wet wood is hard to light and hisses in the fire.
• Checks or cracks in the end grain can be an indication of dryness, but may not be a reliable indicator. Some wet wood has checks and some dry wood has no checks.
• The wood (depending on species) tends to darken from white or cream colour to grey or yellow as it dries.
• Two dry pieces banged together sound hollow; wet pieces sound solid and dull.
• Dry wood weighs much less than wet wood.

http://www.woodheat.org/good-firewood.html

~ I use thick leather gloves - best hand protection. Kevlar chaps, ear/eye protection, steel toes.
~ I will only idle my saw for a brief minute if necessary. Like nomad says, these 2 strokes like to run at full throttle to keep from getting gummed up.
~ Always have chain brake engaged when walking with a running saw in hand.
~ Careful when adding gas - let saw cool down a bit so any spills don't ignite.
~ I usually work until gas tank is empty and then take break, letting saw cool down while I sharpen chain, then lastly add fuel mix and bar oil, and get back to work.
~ I usually empty saw gas after each major outing if it will be more than a few days apart. Ethanol in the fuel these days can gum a saw up quickly if you leave it for some weeks. I am less fussy when I run high octane 93 gas mix or better, which in Canada, does not have ethanol. That is the only fuel I will leave in the tank between work sessions.

.

 

[nomad_archer]

Im not sure what kind of wood you have there marcy but I would burn it. I always put the chain brake on when I am moving between cuts or walking and carrying the saw since it doesnt take much to slip accidentally activate the throttle and hurt yourself. I shut my saws off when I set them down unless it is only very briefly to say roll a log even then I usually shut it down. Again for me it is saftey reasons as it is easy to have an accident with a running saw when not actively cutting. Plus I figure saws are designed to run at wide open throttle not sit around and idle. My saw doesn't like to sit and idle for minutes on end. It gets a little boggy for a second when I open it up after it idles for several minutes.

 

[Deleted member 83629]

some of the elm i split you need dynamite to blast it apart.

 

[nomad_archer]

Marcy for the rest of your questions.

1. I just noodle on the ground but if you want to make a noodling crib go for it. Be creative you can probably come up with something the suits your needs.
2. If your saw has a chain brake that doesn't work I would definitely get that looked at. Its a safety thing.
3. I try not to let my saw run out of gas. But sometimes it does. I fill the bar oil and gas at the same time. I usually need a break before the saw runs out of gas.

 

[Philbert]

Here are the gloves I wear - not leather

Those are OK for reducing some vibration exposure when running the saw. But they will not hold up for handling wood. OK for times when you are running a saw steady, and someone else is moving/handling the wood.

Philbert

 

[nomad_archer]

View attachment 358570
Those are OK for reducing some vibration exposure when running the saw. But they will not hold up for handling wood. OK for times when you are running a saw steady, and someone else is moving/handling the wood.

Philbert

I use leather when running the saw and change gloves to rubber palmed work gloves I get at the local discount grocery store for $3 to handle the firewood. They out last the leather gloves I wear when running the saw.

 

[marcy-m]

Thanks for all the answers and link y'all. I've learned a bunch, and hopefully i can start establishing some good habits and break the bad ones I already started.

I've noticed the saw bogs down after idling, too, Nomad. So I'll be shutting it off more.

MountainHigh, It's 93 here today, and that's about 7- 10 degrees below normal. We have one of those round holz hausen piles that is uncovered other than the bark. The other wood has clear plastic stapled on the top logs, and those piles are stacked against a wooden fence on top of pallets. I'm hoping the TX heat will do it 's thing and the wood will be dry enough to burn this November. That study by the Alaskan dept of something gave me the idea it might be dry enough. I'll come back and insert the link, though I'm sure y'all probably already know about it.

Taking care of 94 year old mother-in-law and almost forgot to come back with this link: http://cchrc.org/docs/snapshots/curing_firewood.pdf

I have one of those little moisture meter cheapie things, but I have serious doubts about it. The electrodes are supposed to be 5 mm in the wood for it to read right. Sometimes, it does appear to be working right, based on what I know about the wood. I'm going to go bang some that I'm pretty sure are dry to see how they sound.

When the regular crib pile is full, it works pretty well for me to noodle on top of it. I did that today. Man, that little saw is so much better than the electric one. Going to see if I can figure out why chain break isn't working, though.

I use those gloves for the saw and dollar tree grip type gloves for handling the wood. I almost always have a kid or two helping, too.

And oh hey, I always, always seem to over fill the gas tank no matter how careful I am. Even if it's just a little bit, i always seem to do it. i even got one of those indicator funnels, but the opening was too big. Any other ideas? I definitely have to fuel a ways from the starting place or kaboom.


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