There is bound to be a thread for this but I cannot find one! The search function doesn't seem to work for me. I suppose the common elm here is American elm? Whatever is native. Quite common trees here, actually. Very nice, attractive shade/yard trees with straight stems with few limbs. I seem to recall that people have said that if you are going to split green elm, you need to do it at a certain time. Thinking it must be to let it sit awhile? For the uninitiated, elm is hard to split! I did do it one time, though, and, yes, it was stringy. After seasoning, it burned well. I also spotted a couple of larger dead standing elm recently. Might be easier! So, what is good about elm? Calling Horkn !
Elm can be nasty but if handled right can be great firewood. I've said it over and over that to make elm great you need to have patience. Wait until the tree dies...then wait some more. When all or at least most of the bark falls off, that is the time to cut it. At that time there could be as much as 2/3 of the tree ready to burn but sometimes only the top half. Let that bottom part dry for another year. But how does it split? If you don't wait for the required time you may learn some words you wouldn't want to use around mother. But if you wait, many times you can split the wood by hand. Here is one elm I cut several years ago. It was super firewood and yes, I could split it by hand. However, due to my hurting body I did most of it with hydraulics. And the video: Splitting 4 29 15a - YouTube One other point: If it is a yard tree or grown in a fence line (or just in the open) it, along with most trees, will be difficult as they will usually be twisted.
I love elm. Great firewood. I find when it is about half dry and frozen is the best time to split it. I only split by hand so impossible pieces get turned into shorts.
I have a stack of rounds that are elm. It was from a fresh cut tree. The rounds are out of the way. Once the bark begins to loosen, in a few years, I'll cover it and let it age. If I get bored and have a place to stack it, I'll go ahead and noodle it.
I CSS a LOT of elm when I lived at home. It was only stringy if it wasn't dry, if it was really dry (dead standing, no bark) it would pop right apart with enough force that you better watch your "boys"! It burned hot, and left no ash, BUT it interestingly did leave some "clinkers" in my parents VC stoves. I think I cut it all off their property years ago, only because it was all dead
I use to generally avoid them unless it was a paying job. I have had a few in the last couple years on my property that died and fell on their own. Thought what the heck, I second that the standing dead with no bark are very manageable and worth the time.
The two that I can get now were cut green so I have no choice on these unless I just want to let them go but the owner will just burn them and I hate waste. I guess I will haul and let them dry until I'm too old to split!
Elm has been been discussed many times here. Basically you either love it or hate it. I love it. The variety of hardwood trees is very limited in my area and elm is as good as it gets in my opinion. As Backwoods Savage said standing dead with the bark falling off is best, most of the upper part will be pretty much stove ready when you get it and will split pretty well. One that was taken alive is a whole nuther story. If’n you try to split it right away, even with a splitter it will be a frustrating experience as it will shred and tare into a stringy mess. And you will probably swear off elm for life. However if you have the space to store it in rounds cut to your desired length it can be a totally different outcome. Let it sit for a year or so and the ends will check and crack and the bark will fall off in sheets. At this point it’ll split pretty well. Stack it and give it at least another year, preferably 2 and you will have a good supply of wood which will provide plenty of heat, burns nicely and produces a great bed of coals. It is also prone to producing clinkers in the stove but for me and my setup those are a nonissue. I’m in pretty open county and many of mine come from yard trees or pretty sizable ones that grew out in the open. They can be pretty twisty and have pretty sizable limbs. This adds to the difficulty in splitting (crotches are tough). I really like it when I get some from old shelter belts that grew taller and straighter with less branches. I pretty much started my wood burning career with elm, don’t have to many other trees available, and use a 35 ton splitter. I’ll take any elm I can get and it makes up probably 75% of my wood. Just my experience…. Your mileage may vary
The more the haters bloviate on and on about it, the deeper my affection grows for it. Some have experienced clinkers in their stove after burning it, that by their accounts look like this: I haven't experienced that myself. I like it, and I'll take all the elm I can get.
Love standing dead Elm and I burn a lot of it. Splitting the bigger stuff can certainly be challenging. It coals nice, lights up nicely and I have never had the clinker issue. The big ones go in Dad's or brothers boiler. Sent from my SM-G930VL using Tapatalk
Poor Elm gets a bad rap because if green it splits hard with the stringy wood fibers. I will say I've processed White Oak and Hickory that weren't much better, but those get all kinds of love.
It seems almost every fall we do a large, barkless, rock-solid dead elm removal and I usually haul it home, split it in the driveway, and haul it right into the garage stoop. I love burning it, puts off a great heat (just a nice, steady flame too), but you wouldn't believe the clink I get from it. I've had some clink that on single piece would completely cover the ash shovel. That probably has alot to do with the minerals in the ground here where we live. I get clink from maple alot too, but nothing like the elm clink.... Most of the elm I've cut wasn't too bad to split, but I've ran into a few chunks that were stubborn as heck and yes, that was green wood....
I've hand split white oak and hickory. Neither throws the x27 head back at me like fresh elm does. I'll see if it gets better in a few years.
Thanks, but I gots lots of other wood to split, before attacking the elm. I'm happy to let it rest. I'll try splitting a piece if'n I get bored.
This is a splitting comparison of elm that had died and was standing dead about a year +/- a couple months, versus a live one I split that the rounds were only sitting for about 3 months. Bear in mind, the standing dead one pictured I split with my monster maul, although it wasn't easy. The live one I used hydraulics for. I think by next winter the elm you have should be much easier to work with. Have your wheaties, head outside on a very cold day and have a go at it. If it's still not bending to your will, wait longer or noodle it like you mentioned.
