you earned every BTU you have with that wood. That is a lot of work and heavy lifting. The reward is a couple years down the road. You questioned if elm. Since you saw the tree while it was standing. Think about what the top looked like. Elm is sort of like a bunch of broccoli, long truck with a bushy top. Not likely to be elm as most of them never make it to maturity because of the Dutch elm disease. Also Elm does not split easy at all. The bark I saw looks to be Ash as bogydave said. Good job well done.
I agree that looks like ash not elm and that's a very good thing! Elm is a biatch to split unlike ash and ash seasons fast too.. Good stuff!
I've noticed that Green Ash will have that darker heartwood, but White is like they're saying, light in color all through it. White Ash is a much better wood for BTU's. It doesn't weigh as much as the other woods since it's not holding so much water. Great score there. I would love to run into something that good.
This is what I collected and put into the driveway today. I will split all this first and store it on the racks in the backyard.
For sure that is not elm but some very nice white ash. You'll for sure notice it too when splitting. It splits very easy. Using hydraulics, most times you just hit the log with the wedge and the stuff splits. Saves a lot of time splitting for sure.
This picture, less about 10 big rounds, was 1.8 cords. I know I said I was going to wait until March to split but today was such a nice day and I was off. 4 fuel fillups on the splitter later I had it all piled, and BTW this was just horizontal splitting. The vert splitting is this weekend. And Dennis, I have to say (and I'm sorry I am) that vertical splitting saves your back so much, I felt good after 8 hours vs. being sore while sitting all day.
Tha thanks PB, everything I collected off the lot was cut green. I think my other pile has the last two species I didn't photograph yet. I know one is the same kind of birch but it has whitish bark and the second is oak, not sure if it's red or white. Pics to follow soon
Paper my guess. Looks similar to the stuff here. Is the upper part of the tree & limbs white looking bark? Tested at the university of Fairbanks 23.6 mil BTU/cord, similar to yellow birch for btu. My only hardwood. Good stuff !
