A belated welcome to the FHC William Moore even though i see you joined a few years back. Ive considered doing that if i hoarded elm as im a hand splitter. Its great firewood. Burns the same regardless of its shape. Maybe even the The Wood Wolverine would approve?!!!
I'm still dealing with random splits causing huge clinkers/clunkers. I hate it! Can't wait till it's out of my life for good.
Sorry Jason. I forgot about your burning dilemmas with it! Still like to kid you about it though. If its any consolation, i hate the stuff too!
William Moore Registered in '13 and this is your 1st post?!? I'd say welcome but ya been here longer than me! Just a back story, I'm the sites #1 elm hater. And I have good reason.
Short lengths is what I do with elm. still end up nailing them to the splitting block with the wedge half the time, but such is the life of someone who hand splits elm.
One pick up for me was a winged elm about 2 years back. To my inexperienced eye it looked like pine every time I saw it. Smelled funny. It’s a bear to split by hand, much less by machine but you can feel it working. It hardly dried. I don’t mind that it’s good wood to burn but best left to die standing up than doing it green. Elm doesn’t usually grow here naturally, likely landscape. Hope that won’t happen again but if it does, I will want to know about it beforehand.
Okay Jason, I guess I must then be the sites #1 elm lover. This load is all elm and could be split by hand. Cut at 16". Had been standing dead for a few years and very little bark on it. Burned great too.
The Wood Wolverine , in thought I'd let you know that I'm getting sizeable klinkers, as large as the ones I get from elm, from box elder as well. I'll still burn both wood species, and while the elder splits easier, the elm is cleaner with no bark and had more BTU's and burns longer. Just an observation. Do you even have box elder in your area?
Hand split a cord 2 years ago. Cut it 12-16" long in November. Left it until we had a week of temperatures that never broke the freezing point. What a difference! I tried a couple pieces every day but once it had the week in the deep freezer, it was like someone flipped a switch easier. Years ago I also came across standing dead barkless and sun bleached elm that split easier but have no idea how long it had been dead. It wasn't punky but maybe I luckily got it at the perfect time of starting to break down but not rotting, kinda like letting a side of beef hang and age at the butcher shop.
Backwoods Savage and Horkn does this mean I have to take spot #3?? Elm is a great burning wood. I've been picking off the dead standing Elm on my property since I bought it.
Looks like we might have to start the old "Take a number and wait," on this one. Good to see another elm lover.
Guess I should ad the asterisk, whatever variety elm I’ve tried here in south central PA. Yes sir! Truth be told I’ve never burned any though. I processed all this and gave it to my parents.
