I lucked out and got hooked up with a tree service right before I went bear hunting. He called me tonight and asked if I wanted a load of elm delivered. WELL YEAh !!!!!
I smells red elm. Gooder stuff and splits easier than it's white brother, burns better too. Smells bad when cut though.
Looks like a lot of nice straight pieces. That should help in splitting it up. Nice score on the wood. Free BTU's
He is supposed to be bringing me a few loads of hickory when they get them taken down. In the next few weeks they are going to be cutting down 40 to 50 ash trees 4 miles from my house. He said that I can have as many of those as I want and he will deliver those also.
Lets see.......I pick ALL. Jeesh. Elm, Hickory, Ash.............Jeesh. Just keep bringin' it.....I'll sort it out later.
LOL. I told my wife tonight I'm glad I won't have to be out cutting, splitting and hauling when it's snowing and 5 degrees this winter !!
Elm's a pretty nice burning wood. It gets a bad rap because it's near impossible to split much by axes or mauls. Note if you have a gas splitter, then that's a moot point. Now, hickory, that's the best stuff there is. Ash is good too. Best of all it's free and delivered.
I split about a cord and a half last year by hand. I hope you've got power tools or enjoy exercise. Elm is a challenge to split.
Sounds like I may be in the minority here... I'd pass on any elm. I took on a huge elm free from a friend of a friend who was an arborist. It was a learning experience for sure. When I did burn it, it left large brick like chunks of ash which wouldn't go through my grates easily and it also needed much more draft. It sat for a good 1.5 years and was seasoned. I think I have some pictures, maybe someone could id what kind of elm it was.
20 ton usually is plenty large enough to split that stuff. That's what we have and have no problems with it.
