Eckie, I don't know much about red elm but have cut a whole lot of american or white elm. Most folks will indeed curse elm and definitely will not cut it. The reason is something like this: What happens is the fibers just do not want to separate. When the splitter wedge tries to break the log apart, first you will see the wood just start to compress rather than allow the wedge to enter the wood. But something has to give and when it does you can end up with a mess like in the picture. Now imagine when you get that apart, the wood will dry rather quickly and when you burn it, it will burn super fast, like good kindling wood. This is why all the ratings for elm give low btu results. Also, most know just how difficult green elm can be to split by hand! On the other hand, if the tree dies and you just let it stand, soon the bark will separate and fall to the ground. Still continue letting the tree stand until all or at least 75% or more of the bark has fallen and then cut. In this case the wood will be much different as it will be hard and brittle and you can even do lots of splitting by hand. Of course crotches can still pose problems the same as with most hard wood. Also, if the tree is a yard tree or in a fence row or that type of situation, all bets are off. The reason is the twisting the tree will get from wind as it was growing. In my opinion, if elm is handles correctly it can make excellent firewood; one of the best! If it were possible, I would even take it before oak. I hope this helps. Also you may have seen a video I've posted of some dead elm that I have split. If not, let me know and I'll post it again.
Thanks Backwoods Savage for the explanation. I misunderstood and thought there was something "chemically" going on in the piece of wood....didn't realize it was from the structural aspect ("fluffiness") resulting from splitting . In regards to a living Elm that comes down from storm damage....if you were to buck it and let it dry some prior to splitting, would that help? It's down and available, would rather use it than it go to waste. Any other steps that would make it better firewood (before someone even comes up with the best scenario ..... I can't change it to oak, hickory, ash etc.... ).
I remember trying that once a long time ago but do not recall it helping. Perhaps though letting it dry a long time along with waiting until after a long cold spell of really cold temps might be a big help or at least that is something I might experiment with just out of curiosity.
I forgot to mention that I am not sure which Elm this is..... when I get down there again I will try to look and see if the stump end has sent any shoots and post a pic for help identifying.
