After almost 8 hours of about a 3/4 full stove of almost gone punky elm, I came home yesterday morning to an awesome bed of coals. I was under the impression that elm is more or less a shoulder season wood.
Elm is a contender for sure. Most just overlook it due to its bad reputation as a nightmare splitting wood.
I love elm, I have burned a ton of dead standing elm and actively look for it. It burns hot and leaves a ton of coals, I save it for the dead of winter.
I burn a lot of dead standing Elm. It's a great firewood and ,yes, it coals very nicely. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
Indeed elm is not for shoulder season unless it is getting some punk. It is a great winter wood. Those who do not like elm simply do not understand how to handle it so that it will make excellent firewood.
Yeah... we had about 1.5 cord of it last year. Sustained us nicely during a couple pretty good cold snaps. But yes, challenging to split. The big elm that we burned was the trigger for us to get our splitter.
Open up the air a little and watch it simmer to ash.... Elm is a great firewood. Love a good coal bed!!
Twice elm caused huge clinkers/clunkers for me. So big my shaker grates wouldn't break it up. Had to stab away with a poker to get them to a size that would fit through to the ash pan. Total pita.
I haven't tried Elm that I can recall. I did get some last year that was standing dead. Looking forward to trying it out as well as the Black Locust in this dead of winter season.
I’ve burned elm and ash for a winter here. Great firewood, Dutch elm disease and EAB keep putting more in my stacks
I have no qualms with burning American & Slippery Elm, I have had a few clinkers from Slippery Elm but no big deal to clean them out. I have never had any clinkers from American Elm. I am not a fan of Siberian Elm though it seems to produce a lot more ash & less heat. As other have stated let it die standing & lose its bark then it’s generally pretty good stuff. The American Elm I cut & split from a live tree didn’t throw near the heat as the stuff from dead without the bark; split or unsplit.
I've gotten relights at 48 hours with elm. I put a chunk in the back corner and cover it in ash. Dig it out when its time for a relight.
I’ve always felt like Elm is one of the best coaling hardwoods. I think it coals better than Ash, which I love. I split up about a half cord of Elm yesterday. It all split super straight and easily. I’ve never, ever had any trouble with it being stringy. Here’s a pic from yesterday. It all split like this. It was basically popping in half the second my hydro wedge touched it.
I love elm but I get clinkers from American, Slippery, and Siberian. Its odd but whatever it coals awesome.
I like Elm best.Just get it real dry and it'll burn so hot you'll think your stove is going to melt.I keep mine covered with rubber roofing which keeps it bone dry.Don't let it get wet.This wood sucks up moisture like a sponge.
Yup, Elm is known for its coaling...not the best in the coldest weather if your stove is a little on the small side and you need to be able to keep the stove at max temps all the time (loading frequently) I like to load a stick in the bottom during shoulder season for matchless relights when you are not loading frequently and you'd normally have to start from totally cold....sure wish I had some Elm right now!
