Major Excitement Turns to Major Bummer!

I hear my phone chirp text message this afternoon so i check to see who its from. Guy who's given me several PU fulls of rounds the last 2-3 years. Lives five minutes from me. In my excitement i open the text.
"Hey Brad, im having an ELM taken down. Do you want the wood?" Ill take a look anyhow as he said 2-3 weeks before theyre coming to take it down.

 

No interest even with your hydro splitter?

 

More than likely no. Have you seen how green elm splits even with a hydro? If it was dead maybe. I still have a small pile of elm logs right down the street from me cut over a year ago. buzz-saw and i grabbed some last spring for him. Once the undergrowth dies off i might take it. Most is off the ground.

 

Hey buZZsaw BRAD I know a guy with a very strange mental twist that would willingly drive all the way down there for a couple loads of that ELM

 

Probably better saying no. I hate the feeling of getting there, being bummed out and then feeling obligated to take at least some.

 

Gotta stop and see if its actually an elm to begin with. I didnt give him a yes or no. He said its next to the road and i dont recall an elm being there as i go by the house on a regular basis. He has given me red maple and ash.

 

If it’s free I’ll take it. Unless it’s sweet gum. You can’t split sweet gum with dynamite. That’s why the old timers used it for sled runners.


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I'm kinda the outlier around here I guess. I'll always take Elm, especially in log form. Leave it lay in 16' lengths for a year & it splits fine.

 

Ifn it’s standing dead elm grab it! If it’s green I would pass with all the varieties you have readily available.

 

Same here. If you got room to keep it in rounds for a year or two, it’ll split decent and it’s good stuff

 

Yep. My hydro eats dry elm like Garfield eats lasagna. Burns hot and clean too.

 

you need dynamite to split green elm. I have access to plenty of other easy splitting hardwoods.

 

Will you buck and leave round to burn it AC? Ive heard that OWB can take wood in big chunks.

 

I don't think it's that people think it's no good. It's just really annoying to split and it smells absolutely horrendous (at least to me it does). It's not straight grained and puts more stress on your equipment (hydro or otherwise). I'm sure it burns just awesomely as many people have mentioned. I have a tiny bit that I will maybe burn this year but probably not until next. I'm not even sure where it is at this point.

If you are short and need wood and free elm comes up and you have the ability to split it, then go for it. If you are lucky enough to be able to pick and choose the wood you bring home then do whatever you feel like doing.

I, too, hate to see any resource wasted so I pretty much always take what I am offered. That said I turned down 5 yards of pin oak yesterday because it's too heavy, takes too long to dry, and the last load of pin oak I got was impossible to split by hand. I'd rather not have an entire load that requires the hydro. The load I got back in Mar-2020 is still at 30%+ MC and won't be ready until 2022 or even 2023.

My tree guy also mentioned he had some white birch logs sitting in his secret parking spot area so that I said I would take no problem.

 

You're dating yourself with the Garfield reference. Shockingly my 13 year old daughter just said "Yeah I know Garfield - he's that big fat cat who likes to eat lasagna" hahahahahahah. My 12 year old had no clue.

 

Ha ha. My favorite cartoon as a kid!

 

Pass...