Yes, my old splitter just acts as a shear and cuts through whatever nastiness there is. It burns great though. That alone is reason to get as much of it as you can.
I agree, buddy. I see people complaining about elm all the time. But my hydro splitter goes right through it. I haven’t experienced any of the stringyness that others talk about. Burns great too. I take all I can get. Sometimes I think that the way a wood seasons and splits might have something to do with the environment around it?
Absolutely. There's no way 2 trees of the same species in separate climates can have the same characteristics. Each has evolved and adapted separately to its own environment. Temperature, rainfall and humidity play a huge part. I read somewhere recently that even the conifers are different from where you're at to the east coast. That the ones out west are naturally drier inside because of less rainfall. I'll bet if you were to come out here and scope out some fresh cut spruce you could tell for sure. So I wouldn't doubt that the Elm out there is less of a bear to work with. Maybe its cell structure is totally different. Just spitballing here.
Thats why i wont go near elm. Beech yes. Ive seen wavy grain like that before. Maybe more common in yard trees.
Definitely the environment does affect how it seasons and splits. Just like grapes for making wine, each grape variety grows and actually can taste different depending on nutrients in the soil in the area it is grown in. For grapes it's called terroir, but it's really the same thing in trees. Well, aside from the fact that if you make wood alcohol, you better not drink it. Definition of terroir | Dictionary.com.
Most of the beech I've processed is wavy, and the only beech I've made firewood from came from a forest. Now ash? Yard ash around here especially away from the main trunk in a yard tree is pretty stringy. I've got ash that I just stacked in my shed that is stringier than any of the elm that I put up.
That all makes sense. I keep thinking that I’m going to eventually run into one of these stringy elm trees that everyone dreads. But I’ve just never had any trouble splitting or burning any of it. Ive processed hundreds of American, Chinese and Siberian elms at this point. No problems with any of it. I totally believe these other guys that have struggled with it. I’ve seen the pictures. I just think the climate is well suited for processing elm here. PS - If you make wood alcohol, I’ll give it a whirl! I’ve probably had worse
Ha ha. I didn’t even know there really was such a thing. I was just thinking about the times in my twenties, when I’d drink whatever was put in front of me at the bar. No questions asked... until the next morning.
now when it comes to splitting beech for me its been usually pretty easy unless its super knotty then i guess like most woods its going to be a pain
Ive had ash thats very stringy and hard to split. Probably was green ash not white. Ive noticed a difference.
