I'm not sure what kind of tree this is

Although White Elm, which is what we have around here, is not my favorite. I'll grab it when I can, I burned a half to three quarters of a cord this past late winter that I didn't even realize I had. Some years I have a couple of cords in my stacks. It burns good and gives good heat. Like Backwoods Savage said, when it's old it splits better. My 25 ton hydro likes the challenge.

 

That's what we should have done with the black gum.

 

I took a walk last evening looking for Morels (didn't see a one ). I noticed several of the Elm trees thoughout the one section behind the old Mailpouch barn both live and dead with the bark peeling. I will have to drop a couple of the dead ones and cut them up for firewood and see how they split. I'm sure it will be easier than the freshly cut live ones. The standing dead ones seem pretty solid, not punky at all.

 

I've never had any luck finding them on our property, but I look every year anyway, hoping... We have a lot of deer and turkey here to compete with. Kinda like Lucy with the football, and me as Charlie...

My wife is hearing lots of reports on facebook around us of folks finding them. She showed me a picture of a whole kitchen table covered with them. That's when I jumped up and got my boots on and ran off to the woods... LOL

We usually get puffballs in the fall, they are good, but I miss getting the Morels we used to find in our woods when I was a kid.

 

that is american elm, an easy way to spot it its the alternating layers of reddish-brown and creamy white.

 

Elm.

 

Had two elm trees to drop today. I cut and split them both. I'm assuming the one is red (slippery) elm. When the cut or split is fresh and still wet, there is a bright red in it. As it dries it loses the bright red and turns a brown with a pink tint.?.? hard for me to describe it. The other I'm assuming is the white elm that is tough to split. It's all in the drying area now for next year.


After it dries for a while the red areas fade out.


This is right after the piece was split. Half an hour or so later the red fades away. This red elm splits OK. But this tree was ant INFESTED... LOL I moved the splitter twice while woking this tree cuz they were crawling all over... Knocked whatever I could out of the splits and what's left will go away as it dries out. I should have gotten a picture of the ants. I felt like I was in a 50's sci-fi movie for a while... LOL They were all up the hollow trunk and into some of the branches as well. Up in the corner of the picture is a split from a few minutes before and the red has all faded out.


White Elm, I think... It splits, but is way slower that most other woods in the splitter.

 

The pieces with the red in it looks like box elder. It is in the maple family and it is very heavy when green but dries down to a very light weight. Good for shoulder season

 

Yep, the red stuff is box elder. Decent wood too. I like elder and elm. Your splitter shouldn't have any worries of breaking due to splitting elm. Granted, we haven't seen the splitter yet..

 

Box elder for sure...dries and burns much like silver maple...I like it for spring/fall fires as mentioned

 

Thanks for the ID on the Box Elder. I had no idea we had that here. The dry dead branches are very light as you say. The green wood holds a lot of moisture. It oozes when starting the split.

I'm not really worried about the splitter failing. It's more just the ssslllloooowwww cycle times while splitting it. I'm used to splitting lots of EAB Ash that just pops with a 3"-6" cycle (except in larger knots) and I'm spoiled. I took a video of splitting a 10" round on my iPhone but I'm having trouble getting it to youtube or onto here. I also own saws with screws on the carbs cuz I'm not exactly Mr. Tech... LOL. I'll try to remember to get a pic of the splitter today. I have a few more ash to drop and get into the basement racks while it is super dry right now.

 

MAF143 If you have any friends who are into wood turning, box elder makes some nice turned pieces.

 

Cool, that's nice to know.

I got 2 Ash dropped, limbed, and cut up, but never got to the barn to get the splitter out today. Off to a picnic.

 

Pix of the splitter. Does a fine job on most everything. Due for a full tune-up, but it has kept the house warm for many winters. I keep good oil in the motor, chaning it at least 2 times a year and change the hydraulic oil every few seasons. I'm thinking it probably has the original plug and air filter though. Always starts and does it's job.

 

Yeah, you won't kill that splitter on elm. That's pretty comparable to the one we have up north. Split away.

 

Yes, turners like box elder.

Ive been using sycamore also.