If you dont find the time to season your wood, don't expect stellar results. Years ago, My buddy and I delivered firewood to a customer and he had us dump it 200' from the house in front of a little old out building. I asked my buddy, why would this guy have us put this wood over there? "He's not going to burn it till next year"... wha? .... Now i know....And I'm 4 years ahead. Thank you FHC Another funny story. My FIL and i talk about cutting firewood often the last 6-7 years. He's 70ish and has been burning all his life. When he retired a couple years ago he had lots of time on his hands and starting getting ahead on firewood. (Just because he had the time). He was c/s/s'ing all over...Whenever, wherever he found dead wood on the property. So last year i asked if he got all his firewood cut. He replied, nah, haven't really been cutting as much, i dont seem to be using as much wood. At the time, i didn't think much of it, but, He's been burning the same old octopus smoke dragon furnace for 30-40 years. But lately its using less wood?!? Of course i had mentioned many times about getting years ahead (because oak takes so long....blah blah, blah....), and i don't think he took my advice when he's been doing it that way so long. I dont even think he knows why he's using less wood. They are there 24/7 now and stoking the fire often. So should be using more wood. I thought about his comments later and realized... that his wood is stacked 2-3 years in advance.... he's using less wood... because it's now... properly seasoned.....
I have a lot of Elm on my property. I’ve always heard the same things mentioned here. Will have to give it a try. I’ll post back in a couple years and let you know how it goes ;-)
Agreed 100%. The elm I'm cutting now is at least 4 years from burning. It's always been fairly high moisture when I cut it. Even this batch was down (hung up in a tree/off the ground) for at least three years prior to cutting. It burns great once it dries. However, getting there takes up a lot of woodpile realestate. It can be a real problem to work and there is no way I would harvest this stuff without a hydraulic splitter.
Yeah, that old hag was wrong. I actually seek out dead standing elm, as I know I can literally cut and split it and burn it in the same day if I want. It's super clean too, as the bark has already fallen off in the woods. My old 15 or so ton splitter doesn't have an issue with it, except that it needs a full stroke from the splitter, unlike maple or oak that splits basically as soon as the wedge hits a round. Now, don't try to split it with an axe or maul. You'll go insane, and have no splits.
Find a dead standing barkless elm, preferably one that is starting to crack lengthwise. That's good stuff. My wife loves burning elm, I think that's because it is not messy, it smells great, and the ghost flames are epic from it. I also cut branch pieces down to about 2" diameter. There's always a lot of small pieces that don't need to be split that are easy for her to load.
Oh ya i just found a bunch of big elms mixed in with my new honey hole and if i didnt have a splitter id be in trouble. They are big to i might have to noodle and i hate noodling
Elm: if hand splitting do it by "slabs". Split along the rings around the outside. Elms grow tough following the sun, never straight grained like oaks, birch, or maples. Bill is in the mail.
I burned a fair bit of elm this year. Routinely getting relights at 24 hours and more than once at 48 hours. Great wood for a low and long burn. Burned some oak recently and I had a cold stove several times at way less than 24 hours. I still like to keep pine on hand to get a cold stove hot quickly. Oak is fine in the pizza oven and it's ok in the stove, but elm is almost perfect for my particular circumstances.
As a New Englander I know from what you speak. Many people here wouldn’t buy wood that wasn’t “fresh looking”. I call them the designer firewood people. They’re more interested in how it looks than how it works. They wouldnt want any nasty grey wood.
