Anyone Burn Elm ...

[scott_vt]

Good Mornin Guys,
I had a neighbor that had a large elm come down, and he asked me if I wanted it. I usually dont walk away from a free load of wood, so I said yes and split the load with another fellow...

Im not sure which type of elm it is, but I did split a bunch of it allready and without a splitter your not going to get much done ! This stuff is really stringy.

Looking at the BTU chart, it looks to be fairly decent, not white oak category but not bad...

Im kind of wondering about the seasoning characteristics, because I have next winters wood 2011/2012 put up allready. Do I need to burn this stuff next year or will it still be good the following year ? I try to stay a good year in advance, which works well for some oak that seasons slowly...

I have never burned this stuff before and am just curious...

Which Firewood Give the Most Heat Firewood Guide BTU Rating Chart

 

[s78wingrider]

I'm thinking it will dry much faster than oak. Not the best wood but good fall and spring

 

[greasemonkeyok]

As to some varieties, there is a reason it is called piss elm. Check it out before you burn it inside.

 

[clemsonfor]

Good Mornin Guys,
I had a neighbor that had a large elm come down, and he asked me if I wanted it. I usually dont walk away from a free load of wood, so I said yes and split the load with another fellow...

Im not sure which type of elm it is, but I did split a bunch of it allready and without a splitter your not going to get much done ! This stuff is really stringy.

Looking at the BTU chart, it looks to be fairly decent, not white oak category but not bad...

Im kind of wondering about the seasoning characteristics, because I have next winters wood 2011/2012 put up allready. Do I need to burn this stuff next year or will it still be good the following year ? I try to stay a good year in advance, which works well for some oak that seasons slowly...

I have never burned this stuff before and am just curious...

Which Firewood Give the Most Heat Firewood Guide BTU Rating Chart

i burn small ones i cut in the less than 8" size. its the devil to split with a maul cause of the twisted grain. It should last forever as far as btus unless you leave it out in the open and allow it to get wet and rot. Think about it, the oak in your house or dest has the same btu's that it did the day it was dried they dont dissappear unless the wood is broken down, which the only was is by moisture to rot it.

I even will cut sweetgun that dosent need splitting and will cut red maple and poplar as its fast growing and is a trash tree. I hunt deer abd turkey and love oaks so i leave my oaks as crop trees, unless im thinning the suppressed trees (oaks) from around the "crop" trees.

EDIT:

Loggers hate the stuff, when they back it through the limbing gate the branches dont really break off they just bend back and get all stringy. Then they hardly get cut off with the knives when pulled through the stroke delimber on the loader.

 

[RobertN]

No, but I grew up just off Elm St. My Grandmother, grew up at Pine and S. Jefferson(her 96 year old brother lives in the house the were born in, that my great grandparents built of hand made brick. She'll be 98 next month).

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

Scott
Many moons ago, when I was not yet a teenager all my father used one winter was elm, This was when elms were being taken down due to Dutch Elm Disese, most of the chunks were cut to size with a chain saw. Can't be the old guy we bought it from had a splitter I belive if you let it dry one season you will be ok.

TOM in Vermont​

 

[jbooth]

I like elm for burning. There are other woods that I think are better. 1 good point about elm is the low ash content, at least it leaves fewer ashes in my wood stove. Bad point is it seems to draw moisture more than some other woods when not kept under cover. I would burn it sooner rather than later, if possible. I rarely cut wood for the next season as here in KS we seem to have a lot of critters that like to live/bore in the wood. Even if you wait for a hard freeze they sure wake up when you bring it inside for burning.

 

[LD1]

Does the tree still have its bark on it?? If it is green (live) it will be a PITA to split, but most likely OK. It the barks is off or peeling???? It depends if its American or RED elm.

From my experience, american (white) elm will rot standing up. The majority will rot all but the smaller peices.

The red elm (which is almost as red as cherry) will NOT rot even if it is down for several years.

Both are a bear to split dry, and even worse green. A splitter is a MUST to make it even worth cutting IMO.

Both burn well, and even though they show a lower BTU, They just seem to coal up and hold the coals longer than other.

 

[Ductape]

I take all the free wood I can get my paws on......... including Elm. I would never spend my time trying to split it by hand. Splitting it with my hydraulic splitter is no big deal, but i do find it's easier to let it dry out a bit first, and split it starting on the outside and take off chuinks while working your way to the center. Splitting it right down the center is tougher than working your way around the outside.

 

[DJ4wd]

White Elm is great stuff, and I look for it in the woods. Im burning stuff that I split up 2 summers ago, and its still good. I think it burns super hot, long, and leaves me with giant red coals in the morning. The picture shows my a piece from a Elm that stalled my splitter.

 

[dodge man]

I burn it all the time. The bigger pieces do seem to rot. I like it because it's easy to get a fire going with it.

 

[beenthere]

Elm burns different than other woods (more hot coals) but is a good wood to burn.

 

[clemsonfor]

It rots cause it holds moisture like some have said i guess so it stays moist, which is what causes rot. I once cut up 2 entire 18" dbh sweetgum trees with my cainsaw (used it to split the pieces small enough to burn) it took a while but was in the yard already and i was in school so i had a good bit of time and little money, Provided a lot of heat that winter when i heated the trailer almost entirely by a fireplace. Id put sweetgum and oak in it.

 

[scott_vt]

No, but I grew up just off Elm St. My Grandmother, grew up at Pine and S. Jefferson(her 96 year old brother lives in the house the were born in, that my great grandparents built of hand made brick. She'll be 98 next month).

Good Afternoon Robert,
Thanks for adding some humor to an otherwise boring topic !

Thanks guys for all your comments, it sounds like its not bad for heating, and for free its even better !

Boy that stuff really gives the old splitter a workout ! Darn near stalled a 27 ton unit .....

Here are a couple of pics of this knarly stuff...

 

[forgeblast]

It does a number on your chainsaw blades too. I have a lot of dead elm, from the dutch elm disease. Even dead its nasty to cut.

 

[foggy1111]

In time gone by we cut allot of elm...due to dutch elm disease. The red elm was highly favored for our wood heating purposes.....albeit hard to split as has been said. Generally, you can tell the btu's your going to get by the weight of the wood.....heavier wood gives more btu's.

When our elm trees were dying.....we would hunt mushrooms around the standing dead elms. The best morrel finds were near the dead elms. :thumbsup: Our elms are pretty much gone now.....and also the easy mushroom pickings.

 

[radioman]

I burn elm all the time. We only cut the dead stuff thats been dead within couple years or less. If it more then 2 years, I just cut it down and let it rot where it is since it will become a widow maker if I don't. I do find that it shouldn't be covered up or stacked closely as it likes to suck on water. I find that burning it as soon its cut down works best esp. when it died that year. I get the most heat out of it. I feel its great burning wood as it catches like pine over hot coals and has lots of heat. Granted it not hickory or maplee wood, but its worth the time to cut and burn.

It is stringy when green, I rather cut and split when its dead.

 

[jimmyj]

The best morrel finds were near the dead elms. :thumbsup: Our elms are pretty much gone now.....and also the easy mushroom pickings.

Amen to that!

We burn elm all the time. I love it because it is a very fast growing hardwood. The dutch elm kills 'em once they get over 20 years old but by then you have a pretty big tree. Like everyone says, it's a bear to split, all stringy and all.

We season ours the same way we do our other wood, about 1 year or 2 if I have the luxury. If it's free it's a bonus! :thumbsup:

 

[RobertN]

Sadly, the big elms that were on the streets where my Grandmother grew up in Modesto, Ca, are all gone. Disease hit some; the city took them all out. The front yard of the old family home looks naked without the big old tress I remember. I used to go with my Grandmother, to visit my great Grandmother frequently when I was a kid.

My wife and I were talking about it. Too bad so many cities created a monoculture along the streets and sidewalks, planting just one species of trees in a lot of cases.

I have not had the oppotunity to cut any. I can tell you though, the Gray Pine we have in the central Sierra foothils(called the gray pine belt...) are aweful to cut, and worse to split. And, worse to burn. Soft wood, but yucky grain and sap.

I did grow up at Elm and Hazel. In Orangevale, Ca, when founded, it was very agricultural. Many of the streets were named for trees; Elm, Hazel, Pecan, Chestnut, Almond...

Good Afternoon Robert,
Thanks for adding some humor to an otherwise boring topic !

 

[clemsonfor]

It does a number on your chainsaw blades too. I have a lot of dead elm, from the dutch elm disease. Even dead its nasty to cut.

dead and dry wood is the worst for your saw, there is no moisture to help cool and lube the cut.