I’ve seen lots of guys in here talking about how bad elm is to split and last year when I got 4-6 cords of it, I got concerned. But it went easily. I cut some more the other day (it’s been here for a year so all bark is just peeling off) and it splits easily as well. I am aware there are different varieties and I’m not sure what variety this is but I have zero issues with splitting it.
Well, it is nothing beyond slightly annoying with a powered wood splitter. But try it with some wedges and a maul or sledgehammer- that stuff has woven fabric where the wood fibers should be. I have had three large wedges in the same long, all buried and the log no closer to split than when I started. Also fun to start a wedge 'cause that first strike tends to bounce the wedge off into another time zone. Truly nasty wood to split and honestly, I would pass on any amount of that stuff without a powered splitter. Brian
I’ve had it go both ways but mostly it’s a lot of work to split. Elm is the reason I saved up to buy a hydro when I was 19. From my experience the harder to split the hotter it burns
When it’s green, I’ve put rounds through the splitter that I’ve literally compress into a round ball of spaghetti. I was too aggravated to take pictures that day. The stuff you have is premo, not bad to split and will burn hot. I used the majority of that learning lesson as kindling. It was scrounged wood, and I later tried what Backwoods Savage recommends of not messing with it unless standing dead with the bark gone like you have which is great firewood.
Elm for you lovers of the beast is like sex. It is often easy, but more often not. I take tips for this philosophy and consult.
Gum is usually pretty terrible even with a hydo splitter and I can rarely keep the 4 way on. This stuff splits on par with white oak. Most pieces push though pretty easily but every now and then you get one that’s a tad stringy
Im wondering if the sitting for a years lessens the stringiness factor? The pile i posted the thread about the other day still sits right up the street. Maybe ill buck a couple and split for chits and giggles.
If you let it sit in rounds for a year it’ll dry some & split a little easier but probably still be a pain by hand
The only time id attempt to hand split it would be standing dead or very fresh cut. I did hand split fresh cut frozen rounds years back and i was pleasantly surprised how easy and straight the splits were. I did hand split some red elm May of last year. The biggest round was maybe 12" and it was the day after scrounged it.
I'll tell you what, im burning the chord or so of seasoned elm that I have in my fire pit outside. It is a PITA. Im done with elm, maybe when I get a bigger better splitter I will give it a try again. But for now I'm avoiding elm like box elder.
Maybe 1/3 of my firewood is elm and I have yet to be grumpy with it. Crotch wood is the only part that really put up a fight and a little noodling can knock those down to chunks that fit the boiler door. Only small complaint would be the clinkers that form in the boiler but I have an old clinker claw to pull them out so things are OK. For me the hardest part of elm is getting out to the woods to stick a chainsaw into it.
My splitter that I use down here in all the elm it's a small size unit at 14 tons or so. It's a push through splitter, so it's ideal for elm. Splitting elm with our horizontal/ vertical MTD that is 20 tons or so, the wedge will get stuck on the splits and then that sets up a whole other level of PITA. When the log gets stuck on the push through Didier splitter, you simply put the next log on the beam and it will push the stuck piece through.
The elm I have has the bark coming off. It's about like the stringy hickory. I added some blocks to the foot, so the blade goes past the end of the wood.
