ID for a new guy

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dutch_ny

New Member
Sep 9, 2013
4
Central NY
Hi. New to wood burning, been picking up a lot of info from you all. Wondering if you could ID the tree below? (Central NY) Haven't had a chance to split it yet, was standing dead, no leaves. Thanks.
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Does look like elm. Surprised it still has the bark on?
 
Looks like American Elm to me. Around here ( central PA) there are lots of dying American Elms is all stages of death from mostly alive with leaves, thru dead standing with bark, to dead and barkless. Elm is a pretty nice firewood but can be hard to split sometimes.
 
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I forgot to add a welcome to the forum new guy!
 
Yep.....American elm......good stuff, but be prepared to earn it. Some of that can be a bear to split!

And welcome to the nuthouse!
 
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Elm was my guess too, but I wasn't confident enough to say so. Looks like it hasn't been dead for very long.
 
Thanks for the I'd and the welcome. Most of the bark was falling off pretty easily, I made sure to keep some on for ID.

Just built and moved into our home this past winter, trying to get as much wood processed for the future as I can.
 
Like with the sex of chickens its a 50-50 shot it will be straight grained and easy to split. But Elm doesnt usually go to the stove without a fight. The bark can be quite variable but the wood looks a little dark for me to put the 100% stamp.
Elm has easy identification on the microscopic level but looking for bug larvae under the inner bark is a quick field step.
If you can peal the bark anywhere and find etchings that look like ferns. And dark rust colored powder. Tunnels and exit holes.
Gypsy moths attack Ash and apple trees as well but that tree isnt any of those.
 
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Hi. New to wood burning, been picking up a lot of info from you all. Wondering if you could ID the tree below? (Central NY) Haven't had a chance to split it yet, was standing dead, no leaves. Thanks. View attachment 110924 View attachment 110925 View attachment 110924 View attachment 110925

I'm a newbie too -just started burning in fireplace insert a couple years ago and just started gathering/splitting my own wood over the past year.

That said, I got 2 batches of elm to split. MAN, was it tough!!! I had to use a wedge and had to drive it from top all the way to bottom on most rounds. Finally I borrowed a friend's hydraulic splitter and that made life much easier, but even then there was some elm that I almost couldn't split.

Good luck! I look forward to burning mine!!
 
Thanks for the I'd and the welcome. Most of the bark was falling off pretty easily, I made sure to keep some on for ID.

Just built and moved into our home this past winter, trying to get as much wood processed for the future as I can.


Another welcome to the forum dutch.

We've burned a lot of elm over the years and we've found that if we leave the trees until all or at least most of the bark has fallen from the dead tree, it will usually split easy enough that you can do it with a splitting maul if you have to. Hydraulics make it easier though. Good luck.

And for getting ahead, aim for 3 years ahead and you'll be very happy with the results.
 
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I agree with Dennis about waiting for the bark to fall off. It almost seems like you're splitting something other than elm.
Which is good!
 
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