Anyone Burn Elm ...

[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.