Dead Elm for firewood?

[Alan L.]

We have cedar elms on our place and I have burned quite a bit of it. Makes a good flame but burns down quicker than oak.

 

[Brokermike]

Elm trees root graft, which is how DED spreads so quickly. If you want to protect an elm on your property cut down all of the elm around it. There are also tree companies that can spray a fungicide to slow the progress of DED, but it's awfully spendy

 

[Cliff_Johns]

When I was a kid in Mass. we tried to burn elm from a few trees that died in our yard. I swear they were endothermic (used more heat than was generated). We now have siberian elm in our yard which constantly drops big branches or just falls over, and that stuff burns great. From that experience, I'd say it depends on the type.

Cliff

 

[The Haymaker]

I did come across some box alder a few months ago, cleaned it out of a neighbors yard in return for a pretty large amount of wood. Now there is one mistake I won't make again. GARBAGE!

 

[MikeD74T]

Over a few years I had to cut 4 large, 32"-40" diameter, elms that were dead/dying. Averaged well over 2 cord each. Cut at least 10 cord of smaller elms from a swampy area behind my house. Every bit burned well, not oak, cherry, or hickory, but good wood. Only oddity was the ashes seemed to clump with a crystal like structure in the stove. I'd never refuse elm firewood.

Once cleared a lot for 12 cord of locust. Now that will spoil you for any other firewood. MikeD74T

 

[fatfish]

The 14" Elm that was healthy last year on my property had died this year. Always thought it had escaped the disease but sadly it had not. My homemade wood splitter with a 5hp engine and an old Cat dozer hydraulic system and two stage pump will not split the larger pieces. The largest piece it will handle is 5" and still VERY TOUGH. The wood has no grain . Simply a twisted mess of stringy wood fiber. A 50 ton splitter would do the job; but the wood will not split, more like slice it. The larger pieces will be left under cover to season for a year and then burnt whole in my OWB. I couldn't imagine trying to split this wood by hand.

 

[Avondale]

I have taken many fence-line elms out, burns good when dry, ONCE you get it split. Can be very "stringy" if not dry and very hard to split, no clean edges at all. Cold or warm, the can be tough splitting. I have cut a starter slot with chain saw and then split with my hyd splitter, helps with big chunks.

 

[SPYDERLK]

... "Settler's Ellum" :

The Deacon's Masterpiece
or, the Wonderful "One-hoss Shay":
A Logical Story
by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894)

Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay,
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then, of a sudden, it ah, but stay,
I'll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits,
Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus was then alive,
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
That was the year when Lisbon-town
Saw the earth open and gulp her down,
And Braddock's army was done so brown,
Left without a scalp to its crown.
It was on the terrible Earthquake-day
That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay.

Now in building of chaises, I tell you what,
There is always somewhere a weakest spot,
In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill,
In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill,
In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, lurking still,
Find it somewhere you must and will,
Above or below, or within or without,
And that's the reason, beyond a doubt,
A chaise breaks down, but doesn't wear out.

But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do,
With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou")
He would build one shay to beat the taown
'N' the keounty 'n' all the kentry raoun';
It should be so built that it couldn break daown:
"Fur," said the Deacon, '"tis mighty plain
Thut the weakes' place mus' stan' the strain;
'N' the way t' fix it, uz I maintain,
Is only jest
T' make that place uz strong uz the rest."

So the Deacon inquired of the village folk
Where he could find the strongest oak,
That couldn't be split nor bent nor broke,
That was for spokes and floor and sills;
He sent for lancewood to make the thills;
The crossbars were ash, from the straightest trees,
The panels of white-wood, that cuts like cheese,
But lasts like iron for things like these;
The hubs of logs from the "Settler's ellum," --
Last of its timber, they couldn't sell 'em,
Never an axe had seen their chips,
And the wedges flew from between their lips,
Their blunt ends frizzled like celery-tips;
Step and prop-iron, bolt and screw,
Spring, tire, axle, and linchpin too,
Steel of the finest, bright and blue;
Thoroughbrace bison-skin, thick and wide;
Boot, top, dasher, from tough old hide
Found in the pit when the tanner died.
That was the way he "put her through."
"There!" said the Deacon, "Naow she'll dew!"

Do! I tell you, I rather guess
She was a wonder, and nothing less!
Colts grew horses, beards turned gray,
Deacon and deaconess dropped away,
Children and grandchildren where were they?
But there stood the stout old one-hoss shay
As fresh as on Lisbon-earthquake-day!

EIGHTEEN HUNDRED; it came and found
The Deacon's masterpiece strong and sound.
Eighteen hundred increased by ten;
"Hahnsum kerridge" they called it then.
Eighteen hundred and twenty came;
Running as usual; much the same.
Thirty and forty at last arrive,
And then come fifty, and FIFTY-FIVE.

Little of all we value here
Wakes on the morn of its hundreth year
Without both feeling and looking queer.
In fact, there's nothing that keeps its youth,
So far as I know, but a tree and truth.
(This is a moral that runs at large;
Take it. - You're welcome. - No extra charge.)

FIRST OF NOVEMBER, the Earthquake-day,
There are traces of age in the one-hoss shay,
A general flavor of mild decay,
But nothing local, as one may say.
There couldn't be, - for the Deacon's art
Had made it so like in every part
That there wasn't a chance for one to start.
For the wheels were just as strong as the thills,
And the floor was just as strong as the sills,
And the panels just as strong as the floor,
And the whipple-tree neither less nor more,
And the back crossbar as strong as the fore,
And spring and axle and hub encore.
And yet, as a whole, it is past a doubt
In another hour it will be worn out!

First of November, 'Fifty-five!
This morning the parson takes a drive.
Now, small boys, get out of the way!
Here comes the wonderful one-hoss shay,
Drawn by a rat-tailed, ewe-necked bay.
"Huddup!" said the parson. Off went they.
The parson was working his Sunday;s text,
Had got to fifthly, and stopped perplexed
At what the -- Moses -- was coming next.
All at once the horse stood still,
Close by the meet'n house on the hill.
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill,
And the parson was sitting upon a rock,
At half past nine by the meet'n -house clock,
Just the hour of the Earthquake shock!
What do you think the parson found,
When he got up and stared around?
The poor old chaise in a heap or mound,
As if it had been to the mill and ground!
You see, of course, if you're not a dunce,
How it went to pieces all at once,
All at once, and nothing first,
Just as bubbles do when they burst.

End of the wonderful one-hoss shay.
Logic is logic. That's all I say.

 

[the old grind]

T.J. Glover's 'Pocket Ref' lists elm as medium smoke, medium spark. My assessment is that it's one wood that can't catch itself on fire. Tough as any to split due to interlocking grain & for that it dies slowly as well. Some like the sweet, nutty aroma when burned and many don't appreciate the smokeyness or poor starting.

I have plenty here from last winter's ice storm.


Very much a YMMV thing for return on effort, and you might want to try it first. BTU/cu ft is somewhere between boxelder & maple, and I suggest mixing with either in the firebox. btw, I would think this burns best in a catalytic stove, where flame is suppressed & smoke feeds the catalyst.

Oh, and I was throwing the stuff onto the burn pile yesterday, 2" to 4" dia and it was all glow and no flame. Yippee ...

 

[LD1]

Bit of an old thread revived, but what the heck...

Elm is indeed a good wood. The key is, it needs to be dry. And pieces larger than about 6" will rot before they dry. So you need to cut it and split it green. And even then, the split pieces are still wet after a year. The stuff needs 2 or 3 years to season. But once seasoned, it coals up and holds nicely.

The 14" Elm that was healthy last year on my property had died this year. Always thought it had escaped the disease but sadly it had not. My homemade wood splitter with a 5hp engine and an old Cat dozer hydraulic system and two stage pump will not split the larger pieces. The largest piece it will handle is 5" and still VERY TOUGH. The wood has no grain . Simply a twisted mess of stringy wood fiber. A 50 ton splitter would do the job; but the wood will not split, more like slice it. The larger pieces will be left under cover to season for a year and then burnt whole in my OWB. I couldn't imagine trying to split this wood by hand.

Nice description of the splitter, but it really tells us nothing. How many tons you running? Need to know the cylinders diameter and the PSI of your system to figure. We have a TSC Huskee "27" ton with 4.5" cylinder. Only once has it been stopped in elm. ANd that was a ~20" diameter twisted crotch piece that was like 3 limbs into 1. It has split everything else just fine. Sure, it goes slow, and if splitting pieces bigger than the wedge, a hatchet helps, but its doable.

I wouldnt attempt elm by hand though.

Oh, and thats white elm I am talking. We also have red elm around here. Just as good of a firewood, but splits easier, and dead logs lying on the ground for years are still rock solid. They seem to be VERY rot resistant.