Standing dead elm is my staple firewood. Green/live elm can be good, just needs dealt with differently in my experience. Buck it into rounds then let it sit for a year or so until the ends have dried and checked pretty good and the bark is falling off. Then it should split pretty decent with hydro power, stack it and give it another 2 years. Being on at least a 3 year plan is the key for green elm!
I cut up a standing live American white Elm two years ago and split most of it. It looks like the picture Dennis posted above. Caught fire easily though like he said. So that part was nice for building fires. I was cleaning up the yard and noticed there were still some pieces in the log pile that I had not split yet. It was about half has bad trying to split it after being in log form for two years. I bet in another year or two it would’ve popped right apart
I love Elm.SPLIT IT IN THE COLD AND COVER WITH RUBBER ROOFING IF YOU HAVE ANY AND DON'T LEAVE IT UNCOVERED.IT SUCKS UP MOISTURE LIKE NOBODYS BUSINESS.
We burned elm much of this past season. I got a large elm from my work site (free of course) in Spring 2019. Was able to split most of the small stuff by hand, but ended up getting my splitter deal from Lowes to do the big stuff. Some stringy pieces, but most were not... and it dried / seasoned really well also. The tree produced about a cord and a third, so it did a good share of the heating for us this year. I would take the same tree again for sure.
Red/slippery elm is not difficult to split at all. Burned a lot this past Winter that I'd split 2 years prior with my Fiskars.
Are we getting any closer to being done with the elm debate? Ford/Chevy, Husky/Stihl, Kubota/Kioti....
Elm is great, in my experience American is a pain to split but Siberian splits easily. My only complaint about elm is the clinkers it leaves in the stove.
As others have already stated dry elm doesn’t have the smell so many talk about. If it stinks it’s not dry yet. It’s still green. I had some green elm I tried to hand split a few years ago. It was like trying to split a tire. My ax would either bounce right off or sink in an inch and stick. So I waited a year and tried again. This time I got it split but quite a chore. Now I have a hydraulic splitter so that issue is gone. I love how elm burns though and like to watch the flames it produces—slow motion blue ghost flames with orange sparks emanating from the tips. Awesome. It does produce more ash than I like but beggars can’t be choosers. I will gladly take whatever elm I can get.
Well I am on the fence on this. I cut some dead Elm with BRAD maybe 4 or so months ago and had mixed results when splitting. Used the hydro - hatchet and some split very easy and other pieces not so well. Can't report on how it burns since it has been stacked to dry for a year or so. I wouldn't put it down as my favorite to split but the price was right and I got to work with BRAD so we had some fun working together anyway. Can't complain too loud ; free wood and fun .
Some pieces showed no knots were straight and still stringy when split. Others were easy to split and no strings in them. With the hydraulics it was do-able. If I was strictly hand splitting I would think twice about it. A little extra work but free wood.
DANG! And i thought The Wood Wolverine's elm was stringy. Sorry Jason he beat you and i seriously doubt to want to try and do better. Maybe we need a "stringiest elm pics" thread?
