Back in the 1960s , Dad would cut the wood and it was my job to split it. He had convinced me it would be good conditioning for football and baseball. I believed him and went about the job with vigor. He brought up several pieces of elm in Oct or Nov. I went to split it. Now that was with sledge and wedge. I went in and told him I am not going to split that stuff. He giggled and said we'll wait until Jan. to split it when it has frozen solid. In Jan.,it split fine. In my short time here, I have seen several references to elm, but have never seen anyone suggest to let it freeze. Myth or legend? Worked for us.
WHEN I used to split with a maul I believed pine, cherry and oak split easier once it was frozen. Got a big freezer to experiment this coming July ?
I think the frozen cell structure is more amenable to fracture so it splits better. That was my experience when I used to do it in the winter.
I'd wait for around -10f to split spruce here Frozen was the best way for me back then But Now Hydraulics & I still split vertical , http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/forums/attachments/2bsplit-2-jpg.3846/ But don't wait for -10
Even at -20° it's a not cold enough to make elm easy to split. I burn a lot of American elm. There's a reason I only use hydraulics to split it.
Dry typically is what helps. Not really with elm. However, elm might be a tad easier to split when it's drier, as in dead standing after the bark has fallen off and it splits vertically naturally before you even cut the tree down. Elm's just tough to split due to the interlocking cell structure.
Don't know about frozen but split some American elm yard tree last spring that put my hydro splitter through some struggling.
I think there's something to the frozen theory/myth. I've found several tougher to split species seem to do better at low temps. I assume like most things, the wood gets more brittle when frozen.
I know I have hydraulics, but I've split a lot of elm that just pops when the ram touches it. Seems like I have more trouble with ash and a good old twisted maple. But, I do agree that some elm stinks a lot.
Nearly every single American elm log that I've split with the hydros takes all, if not more than a full stroke of the ram. Many times the previous split stays on the splitter, and a new piece that needs to be split is placed right next to the previous piece. That's the only way to actually split it sometimes.
When it gets really cold steel splits/breaks easier, that's a fact. Just watch what happens when metal is dipped in liquid nitogen. Your problem is you have to have an extended freeze that would allow it to freeze completely through for the most ease.
Several years ago when I had my one and only run in w an elm tree, I too looked for more info about it's difficulties. Read the same thing, either split it bone dry or wet and totally frozen. It took the full stroke of my hydo splitter and slowed down my production. After that, I vowed to pass on all elm in the future. Didn't think I'd ever experience it again, then I helped MikeB split some gum.
Extreme I know, but gets the point across. Had a friend who worked in the far north where the only time they can get the wood out for pulp is when everything was on long freeze. I'm talking about driving across lakes with loaded semis cold. He told of how stuff would crack out and break all the time from the weakness the temps would relay to the steels. One interesting fact for you. I do metal grinding for a living. Total tolerance on most stuff is .0002 total. We have in house heat treat and nitrogen freeze capability. If you undersize a part by less than a .001, you sometimes can freeze in nitrogen and when it comes back to room temp it will be oversize to where you have to regrind to size. Problem is, you have to do everything. Different tool steels act different just like some holes and threads have to be over or under when done before heat treating. Some shrink, some grow.
