Pile of Elm Should I get it ?

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HDRock

HDRock

Minister of Fire
Oct 25, 2012
2,239
Grand Blanc, Mi
Driving down the road, saw a pile of real gray looking wood , I stopped and asked about it, the guy said I could have it, I didn't get a good look at it was three or 400 feet back, he said it was Elm 4 to 6 foot logs and he said he would load it with his little tractor.
On the way home I was thinking da ,if I get logs loaded in my trailer how do I get them out when I get home.
Also dumb me didn't ask any further when he mentioned some other wood, I think he has some other piles back there I can't see. The guy has no use for the wood.
The fact that I have a 7 ton HF splitter makes me wonder if I should even try to screw with it.
 
Got a maul? Take it and see if the stuff will pop open or not. If you can't do it with a maul, you sure as heck ain't gonna do it with a 7 ton splitter.

Obviously - if you need to cut a piece into a round - take your saw too.:p
 
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Elm can be relatively moderate splitting or it can be an absolute nightmare.....
I love burning elm, is a good burning wood, but most.of the elm I've cut over the years was an absolute b*tch to split......thankfully my 22 ton Swisher does the job......but I've stalled it out on a piece of elm or two, so that's how it goes. Is it red or American elm? American elm can be a PITA......
 
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Seems to me that the elm trees that grow in the woods aren't so bad. But the ones that grow big on fencerows or in yards where they get all twisty and knarly, well they are usually the nightmare trees....
 
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Scotty Overkill said:
Elm can be relatively moderate splitting or it can be an absolute nightmare.....
I love burning elm, is a good burning wood, but most.of the elm I've cut over the years was an absolute b*tch to split......thankfully my 22 ton Swisher does the job......but I've stalled it out on a piece of elm or two, so that's how it goes. Is it red or American elm? American elm can be a PITA......
Click to expand...


Totally agree with Mr. Overkill. I split some elm recently with an axe and I thought "what's all the hub bub about elm?" The next elm I split I quickly figured out what the hub bub was about.

I like the idea of cutting a piece and bringing your maul to split it on site if you can.
 
schlot said:
I like the idea of cutting a piece and bringing your maul to split it on site if you can.
Click to expand...
IDK , I would have to cut a chunk off with the saw then see if I can split it , if not, I take up the guys time and say
hell I don't want it this stuff.

Scotty Overkill said:
More than likely its American.........if you get it, be ready to totally EARN it!!
Click to expand...
I had some at Elm before most of it the only way I could get it split was to pop it open with a 10 ton manual splitter (that I no longer have) then finish up the 7 ton, and it struggled hard with that stuff , I still have a couple of rounds of that , 1 for a chopping block
 
HDRock said:
IDK , I would have to cut a chunk off with the saw then see if I can split it , if not, I take up the guys time and say
hell I don't want it this stuff.


I had some at Elm before most of it the only way I could get it split was to pop it open with a 10 ton manual splitter (that I no longer have) then finish up the 7 ton, and it struggled hard with that stuff , I still have a couple of rounds of that , 1 for a chopping block
Click to expand...


True...if it was me I just take and cut it when I get back on my property, then use my maul it it was decent to split or my hydraulics if it wasn't.

I don't like jacking around with people who have free wood, especially that has good BTU's like elm does.
 
My inclination is to always grab the wood, but it depends how bad you need it (sounds like it might be pretty dry already.) If one round is hard to split, maybe the others won't be as bad. Or you could leave it in rounds if it's not too big to fit in the stove door. Or you could cut 'em short and load the stove sideways (or they might be easier to split.) "No wood left behind." ==c
 
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HDRock said:
Driving down the road, saw a pile of real gray looking wood , I stopped and asked about it, the guy said I could have it,
Click to expand...
HD, My inclination is with woody, grab it! Free BTU's is Free BTU's, if you don't like it, put a free sign on it and let someone else wrestle with it;)

Woody Stover said:
My inclination is to always grab the wood,
Click to expand...
 
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I have burned a lot of it over the years. Fresh cut is really really wet. It is a pain in the but to deal with if you don't have hydraulics
like others have said.
 
I'd be getting it if it were me....I really like burning elm. If in doubt as to whether or not you can split it, just use the saw and noodle it......
Then save the noodles for tinder!
 
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I'd get it. If it is gray then most likely it will split a bit easier. Note that I did not say easy. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes you are the windshield, sometimes you are the bug.
 
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Most of what I cut is either red or white elm. We dont get to technical about proper names for it in my neck of the world. Red elm splits pretty good if you get it on the ground at the right time. When splitting by hand I would always dump trees while there was plenty of sap/moisture in them and leave them in logs till the temps got down below freezin for a month or so. Then buck them and start beatin on them. The wood actually spits pretty well then. Now what I call white elm is another story. I've got a stack of rounds that a 22 ton splitter just makes fuzz outta them this time of year so I leave them be for a year or so and then get after them. I like to wait till the bark peels of on it's own. Usually in the winter too. What works for me probably aint gonna work for you since we live in 2 different parts of the country and I have cut elm from the same woodlot that were 50 feet apart and they was all different cuz of the soil and moisture in the ground. I wouldnt stick my nose up at some free elm no matter what though. Burns good.
 
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I would most certainly take it if you have room. Elm is pretty good wood. If it doesn't split well you probably won't have to noodled it all the way through just a few inches and then hit it with maul or use your splitter.
 
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If yu cant spit it cut it short and burn cookies. Back before I bought my hyd. splitter I would cut the wood short and then split it, ended up with some nice pieces of wood that way.
 
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I took a free Elm (American) a few years ago. The stuff STINKS while drying, dirty feet musty. Thats said, once it was left in rounds for 6 months and the bark started to peel and was very slippery and wet, it split relitivly easy and with out the bark and all the bugs under it it dried out in no time. Burns different than other wood, not alot of yellow flame mostly blue alot like coal and the dancing blue ladies.

Free BTUs are free BTUs.............and he'll load it for you!

TS
 
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Free . . . grab it.


Best case: splits easily.

Worse case: you have to rent a larger hydraulic splitter or see if anyone will let you borrow one for a few hours.

Worse case: you have a bunch of wood for camping/fire pit.
 
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Get it now! Free wood loaded by hydraulics is good. Cut it short, rent a splitter, noodle it, do what you gotta do. Put a pallet in the bottom of the trailer, load the logs on top, chain the pallet to a tree & drive off to unload. Yes, some Elm is a pain to split, but it's very good firewood, & it's FREE with 1/2 the work done for you. A C
 
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