Amen!! I'm lucky, I also know most of the Politicians around here! So far, nobody has ever bothered me except a cop, years back asked me; "What am I doing with all that wood in front of your house"? Do I need to say what I told him? (Here's YOUR sign).....
WeldrDave have you ever burned sweetgum? Notice any offensive odor? Some make that claim. As for elm, I have found it to be stringy, yes, but it really hasn't been that bad for me but I let the logs sit for a year (because of what I read on this site) to when the bark fell off. I actually find that elm burns fine and would do it again. I actually looked at an elm just yesterday that is dead standing but I noticed two big holes up top and decided to leave it alone. It's impossible to tell if it's just woodpecker holes or if bats are using it. The last elm I got was dead standing and it had big knotholes up the trunk. Those knots were where limbs joined the trunk, different from a woodpecker hole cuz these went on into the trunk, providing a cavity. It was full of bats! I have no idea if bats gnaw more wood out to make a cavity bigger. A neighbor pushed it over and he showed me a video... when the tree hit the ground, it was a scene from a horror movie, including mama bats with baby bats on their back. Felt bad about it but the neighbor didn't know they were there. Not that it would stop them! But I'd leave bats alone if I could, what with the bazillion skeeters we have per square mile! Once the dozens of bats flew out, I wonder where they lit. They'd have to, somehow, find a home. A mama bat with babies, that could present problems. I don't know if they are communal feeders of the young. I assume that the mama would have to leave them in the nest to go feed. Reminds me... I bought a bat house that I need to put up.
We have bats around at work...decided to put up a bathouse, read all the directions for best placement...no bats yet, been over a year too. Guess it's more of a fly-by (drive-thru) neighborhood than a bedroom community...
Tupelo is harder to split that sweet gum. I have to take off the 4-way wedge to split tupelo but sweet gum I can usually split with it on. Tupelo burns with a bright yellow flame and we call it 'bomb wood' because of how it burns. Another mid weight wood like sweet gum. When I take off the 4-way the ram stops about an inch from the two way wedge and I can not tear the two pieces apart by hand with just an inch holding. What I do it push it through that inch with the next round. Forgot splitting a large crotch. I leave it in our 'slow compost' pile, meaning along one of our roadways in the woods. I get satisfaction seeing the microbes digest it over the years and feeding the woods.
I think tupelo to most folks is what we call black gum. I refuse to split that one! I am amazed that you do! We have lakes here that are chocked full of what is called tupelo. I need to research that and see if those tree are what we call black gum because those tupelo live in the water several feet deep. Checked it with google prior to posting... ah, they are different species. The one in the lakes is water tupelo, Nyssa aquatica, and the common black gum here is Nyssa sylvatica. These make interesting bass fishing lakes because there are dense populations of these tupelo trees in water from 1ft to several feet deep and each one looks like it is the perfect home for a bass. You just chunk a thousand times as you move through the trees and every once in awhile find Mr. Bass. They stocked Florida bass in these lakes and they grow 'em big. Like, 16 lbs big so far.
Yes! I've split and burn't a few cord over the years, and yes it does "Stink" on the order of Cat Urine, that's my take on it. With that said, it's not a bad burning wood and it leaves a real fine ash. It's somewhere in the middle of the BTU chart and is good for "shoulder" season wood. I would classify it as a middle of the road wood, not wonderful but get's the job done.
I only have Nyssa sylvatica here now. I had a large Nyssa aquatica years ago but it died. I did split and burn it but don't remember the splitting difficulty. I bet it was tough. I don't seek out Nyssa sylvatica as firewood but if one dies or is knocked down by another tree I'll use it. I prefer rounds that will fit in the stove without splitting!
There is a picture of a 100 ton electric splitter under "everything else' 'funny pictures'. That could take care of the gum.
The best is the stuff you don't have to split! I like the limbs of the tree, and the rounds no bigger than about 10". I've had lots of that over the years and it's a OK wood to burn, It's not Oak or Hickory, but will do the job. I'm not real picky except for pine. the sap and handling it is , Some use it and lots of folks around here sell it cheap for campgrounds. Pine is really plentyful down here.
You and Chrissy will have to come for a visit; when we split we got a burn pile, bad behavior from splits get bonfire treatment. This helps to accomplish the mandatory and BS session when finished
I would have left them for him to just that, had I known what it was...but I "split" it and burnt it in the rotation.
