I cut a few of these trees to clear a trail and cut and split it for firewood. I'm not sure what it is and it seems to be fast growing with it getting to a 10"-12" diameter at the base with 18 rings. I was a bear to split. It was more like tearing it instead of splitting it. I have a couple more of them down by the road that are going to get in the wires in a year or two and I was gonna drop them, but wow is this tought splitting. Any thoughts on what it is and if it is good firewood? Not that I would just let it lay and rot... but did I mention how hard it was to split???
Thanks guys, I was kinda thinking that, but have just never been around it much. I used to know most of the common stuff in our area back in the Boy Scout days, but that's been a few moons ago... We never had any Elm in the woods I grew up in, that woods was mostly sugar maple, shagbark hickory, beech, oaks, ironwood, and silver maple back by the swamp. I HAVE to take a couple more of these out by some overhead lines, but I will keep an eye out for these and try to avoid taking them out back in the woods. I will for sure avoid it for firewood cuz that stuff will wear my splitter OUT!!! Yes, Robin, we'll have to take a split back to the Bat Cave for analysis on the Bat Computer. I was amazed at the growth rate on that tree for being so tough. Maybe chief O'Harrah or commisioner Gordon can tell us who planted it there. Good thing we had a Bat saw and a Bat splitter with us...
Yup. thats definitely elm MAF143 I split by hand and will avoid it like the plague. Decent firewood. Have your referenced the BTU chart on the forum?
It is fast growing MAF143 Seems to grow roadside and is common in urban areas around here. A couple in my woods. I scrounged what turned out to be red elm (i didnt know what it was at the time) a couple winters ago and it was killer to split by hand. It was frozen so that made it easier...i think!
buZZsaw, I have peeked at the chart a time or two and it looks like it is decent firewood, but even if it had 6,000 btu I would avoid it cuz it is such a strain on the splitter. We have tons of good firewood here that I can pretty much pick whatever I want to use. I'm working on getting on the 3 year plan featuring ironwood and honey locust for the cold months. Ironwood can be knarly splitting but not nearly as tough as this elm. I used to split with an axe and maul, but when I hit 50 a while back I started looking for a machine... The wood in the pictures was roadside down front in a little clump I need to clean out. It got lots of sun there and those two elm trees in that clump grew FAST.
I agree it is Elm! What kind of splitter do you have? The elm should not wear it out I have split much of it for over thirty years with an old home built splitter before I got my DHT splitter and although it is difficult to split it will. Makes for some good firewood!
I'm not sure what brand the splitter is but I'm thinking my brother got it a Lowe's many years ago, probably in the ninetys. I'm sure it was the smallest, least expensive one available at that time. It works well, and I'm sure it can handle it, but with all the other kinds of wood available here, I will not seek it out. I will avoid it because the cycle time splitting it is way longer that Ash, Maple, or Beech. Most wood just pops apart and I only have to run the wedge in 1/4 to 1/3 of the way and it falls apart unless there is a knot there. Not this Elm. The splitter is ssllloooowww the whole way through it and I have to run it full cycle all the way throght the split, then I have to flex it apart by hand to separate the fibers on the last inch where the wedge doesn't completely close on the anvil. It is more like tearing a cotton swab apart the whole way instead of like most other wood I have that just pops apart with a fairly clean split. The maple you can see in the last picture behind the elm had just been split moments before and it just pops apart. I enjoy splitting wood, but I enjoy being done much better. I'm OK with my splitter being on the whimpey side and I'm not really looking to replace it as long as it keeps working. Maybe the pump is waring out after all these years, but it still splits most everything else just fine. I'd just rather not put the strain on it and deal with the slow splitting when I can split other wood that is much easier to deal with. Sorry I got a little over the top about it being so hard to split, I'm just not used to this tough of wood. Sorry to be a whiner about it... LOL Thanks for all your feedback. That's why I like it here so much.
For the elm by the road, contact your local power company. Often times they are willing to take them down for free. They'll also do the clean up.
MAF143 , if they are around that size, I'd buck them to length and keep a pile for a fire pit/ring. Then there is no need to split it at all.
I love elm. However, as I've posted many times, we don't cut it until it had died and most of the bark has fallen off. Most times then you can even split it by hand if you wish. I've posted a video I made but I'll be darned if I can find it. I have no luck using search on this forum nor on youtube. I do know that Eric VW is able to find it as he has in the past but God only knows how he does it.
