Hello fellow firewood hoarders! I just had a solid delivery from the local tree guy and hoping you all would be kind enough to ID these for me. It is 2 different trees in this load and location is North East PA. Thanks in advance! Tree 1: Tree 2:
Tree one is white oak. Great btu's, splits pretty easily, but needs multiple years to dry to optimal moisture content. It can be burned after a year of drying as many do, but you will more pleased with results if you can wait 2-3 years. Sniff a fresh split and it will have a pleasant whiskey aroma. Tree two is elm, maybe American elm. (my elm ID's aren't that good) Its good firewood, but turning it into firewood could pose a problem as it can be extremely frustrating to split. Incredibly stringy. If I were you I'd buck the elm ASAP and split. Fresh cut and frozen make it easier IME. Do you hand split or have a hydro splitter aw1137?
Thank you! I stubbornly 100% split by hand with my trusty 8lb maul, I have a desk job so I need every bit of exercise that I can get to avoid obesity! I'll get to working this fast while we are in this cold snap. The tree guy thought tree 2 might be ash but I wasn't sure, thank you for correcting!
I love both oak and elm for firewood, I also split exclusively by hand with the fiskars iso core. Oak splits wonderfully by hand, elm on the other hand will definitely give you your exercise for the day along with stress and frustration Sometimes for elm I have to break down and use the saw to cut part way through the log to get your first initial split in then usually you can chunk it apart after that, there has been more than a few elm rounds that have gone directly into my OWB in full form because I gave up on them
Thank you! I 100% split by hand with my trusty 8lb maul, I have a desk job so I need every bit if exercise that I can get to avoid obesity! I'll get to working this fast while we are in this cold snap. Thank you for the tips, luckily the white oak makes up the majority of the load
I split a 2 rounds of the elm, wasn't easy but found it to be only a bit harder to split than the pignut hickory I got last load. I must have lucked out. The white oak was as easy to split as expected.
Same here, desk job and hand split everything. I actually broke a box store maul on a load of elm last year. Got an isocore and much better time. I agree with the advice from buZZsaw BRAD....take care of it now. White Oak can be a little stringy, but not bad. It is quite heavy though, so pace yourself .moving it all around.
You definitely lucked out with the elm splitting for you. This is the mess I typically get with live elm: I leave live elm in rounds until the following year and then split it. That seems to take a lot of the stringiness out. But there are exceptions to the rule, and many members here have lucked out like you did. I just haven't come across any like that myself. Dead and barkless elm that hasn't gone past it's prime yet is the highly coveted variety.
Up until 3.5 years ago I stubbornly too split by hand until a full time hydro splitter became available to me. I do use the Isocore maul to section up rounds at a score. Hoard on, cut safe and keep splittin'
#2 might be American elm. If it’s green it will be stringy and give you fits. It’s easier after it sits a year or 2. It also looks a little bit like ash. Maybe a green, black or blue variety? The bark isn’t right but the end cut is
The thought of ash crossed my mind. Couldn't tell if there is a center pith or not. Does either the black or blue variety have the center pith?
