Stuff like this, and elm that is taken alive are 2 totally different beasts. I don’t know why but there’s no question about it. I have always wondered if other tree species are similar in the difference between taken alive or dead.
The only thing I can compare is black locust. I have almost no experience with barkless dead elm that's solid like bowling pins, but am familiar with it. I have used some elm for my bundles.
That is really nice firewood. Do you guys ever find stands of dead elm, not just one tree? I actually don't find many dead here.
I split up what little was left in the pickup. Ran the MM into a handful of splits, all readings were between 10-13%! Maybe a dozen rounds. The majority of the load was cut to 24” for my native friend’s ceremony. So not a lot to split in this load. But it is dry and ready to go
Made it back out to my ongoing score today. It’s so dry around here we’re starting to make Phoenix Arizona look like a rain forest. I feel one tree and by the time I got it all bucked up, I could hear it creaking and cracking. Maybe 70f and light and variable breeze. Not sure what the humidity was, didn’t check. It had to be in the 0% - 2% range. here is a couple before and after pictures of how much a couple of rounds checked it 3 1/2 hours in the back of my pickup. Round #1 before And after 3 1/2 hours Round #2 before And after
Awesome work, my friend. Nice loads of farwood. I believe what you heard was the drying and cracking, just think about trees when they freeze and explode, really makes noise. Glad you shared your experience
That zero/2% crack was just tongue in cheek, kinda, but it is just terrible dry here. There’s enough humidity this morning to put frost on the car. 31*f and 62%
I live in the East, next to the Great Lakes little cousin lake Champlain, average humidity in Vermont is 72% higher in the summer generally
I have had many a load crack while driving home. Some years I can cut wood and it will be burnable by winter. Some trees just dry really fast once you cut em up.
Pretty cool being able to hear that drying real time. I’m sure there’s probably not a lot of people that can say they’ve heard it.
I wish I could hear stuff like that. Too many days of running chainsaws and too many thousands of rounds fired with no hearing protection. Protect your ears guys and gals, the ringing gets really annoying and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Agree with alive vs dead elm. IMHO an elm tree taken alive is pretty pizz poor firewood no matter how long it seasons, but dead, standing, barkless will go up against any oak I have ever burned.
I agree 100% on all subjects, elm, live vs standing dead, chainsaws, gunshots, ringing ears. But let’s not forget loud heavy equipment, and double knock down ultra boogie stereos during the college days!!
