I tried with this load before, but got no definitive answer. I got it a few months back from my tree guy. Smelled a little funny when cutting and splitting, like a horse pasture. It was BRIGHT reddish orange when fresh cut, and had dried to a dull mahogany color. Bark came off easy and was slimy/milky underneath. No leaves in the load Anyone have any ideas?
I'd love to get my hands on a nice saw log of that. It's not the easiest lumber to find, probably due to Dutch elm disease. Gorgeous stuff though.
The thing that made me doubt elm, is that it was pretty easy to split. Elm has a bit of a reputation as being tough to split
It's also known as "slippery" elm, due to that slimness you noticed under the bark. I think it's wetness that makes certain species harder to split. I hand split some white recently that was standing dead, with the bark falling off, and didnt have any problem. Fresh aspen poplar is about the toughest I've ever split. It's so wet that the axe just sinks into it instead of popping open. You usually need to strike a line across it before making any progress.
Another vote for red elm... Good stuff! I hand split the last one I cut. It splits ok, not like red oak, but not too bad. Beautiful wood.. Aspen is a pain to split...
Surely looks like an elm here. But we don't have any red elm so I'm just going by pictures that I've seen in the past.
