Thought it might be a good day to split some elm (if there is such a thing). The below zero temps were just the edge I needed to put a hurtin' on some of them rounds. Still got about 24 rounds to go, but I did some damage, for sure.
If there is a more miserable wood to split on this earth, I hope I never see it. The larger rounds just laughed at me.
Am I remembering right that you only split with an Axe, no hydro's? That looks like straight grained elm compared to the stringy grained elm I burn a lot of.
No hydros for me, yet. I split some ash yesterday and it was a pleasure. Elm is no pleasure, it is work. If I ever do get a splitter, it will be because of elm. And I assure you, it is all stringy!
What kind of an ax are you using. I've got a regular maul, and it just bounces off even straight rounds. I don't own hydro's yet, but my parents took theirs up north 2 years ago. My buddy and I borrow an old splitter from another buddy from time to time until we either build the one he has partially started, or buy one. Lots of elm around here, and it's tough to split. Cherry isn't much fun either, hickory and oak not so fun either.
I've just got a cheapo maul. I've had good luck with cherry and ash. Haven't split much oak. The elm is tough, but hitting it while frozen helped some. One of these days I would like to try a high end maul or splitting axe to see how it does against devil's wood, I mean elm.
That looks to be some standing dead elm? Usually splits pretty nice iffn its froze. The closer you get to the stump the harder it seems to split for me. I use a splitter any more but when I was splitting by hand I got 1 of them mauls with the bevel on the sides and it made a heck of a difference.
I saw a fiskars at the Family Farm and Home store last night, but it didn't seem to have a model number on it. It just said " Fiskars Splitting Axe". It was $42.
Just a cheapo true temper from Menards. Pretty pathetic piece of tool but I am no big drinker of the Fiskers kool aid.
The X-25 will have a 30" handle I believe.....................while the X-27 will have a 36" handle. Both are the real deal.
I just hauled off a load of elm and dumped it in holler. It was given to me and wasnt cut in fire wood lengths and was in my way of stacking a bunch of ash I had worked up. It wasn't worth all the pain in the arse to work it up to burn. Bigger fish to fry
I like the Fiskars but it's not the holy grail for splitting either. It's great on straight grained stuff but I still go to either a regular 8 lber or wedges to split knotty or stringy pieces. I prefer to use my splitter for them but sometimes enjoy splitting by hand and get a little hard headed when a piece won't split by hand.
I hear elm is good stuff..ive also heard that its under rated on the btu charts..either way nice work
