Sycamore vs. Elm

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.
kestrel

kestrel

Member
Nov 17, 2009
89
Southcentral PA
Read through the preceding elm thread. I have been burning through some elm and sycamore in the early part of the season here. Both my sycamore and elm were split late winter last year and stacked in the open. Both are quite light but the elm is really light (almost balsa like). In my observations, the sycamore is a better buring wood as it will hold a fire longer and produce more sustained heat then the elm which burns up very fast. Funny that the elm is rated higher on btu charts. Sycamore seems to burn similar to soft maple as far as heat and burn times.

Bottom line: Sycamore is the hands-down winner.

By the way, I do not know the species of elm that I have.
 
Either you really don't have Elm or its some sort of species I've never heard of because Elm rates real high on the list of woods that burn hot and long. Hands down winner against Sycamore.
 
Siberian elm is worse than sycamore....but that's not saying a whole lot either.
 
Seems that if the Elm has been standing dead for toooo long it will get punky. The bottom few feet stay wet. Then the tree just tips over.
 
Never burned Sycamore, but the Elm I have burns longer than Silver Maple, which I've burned a lot of.
 
kestrel said:
Read through the preceding elm thread. I have been burning through some elm and sycamore in the early part of the season here. Both my sycamore and elm were split late winter last year and stacked in the open. Both are quite light but the elm is really light (almost balsa like). In my observations, the sycamore is a better buring wood as it will hold a fire longer and produce more sustained heat then the elm which burns up very fast. Funny that the elm is rated higher on btu charts. Sycamore seems to burn similar to soft maple as far as heat and burn times.

Bottom line: Sycamore is the hands-down winner.

By the way, I do not know the species of elm that I have.
Click to expand...

Kestrel, it all depends upon how you cut the elm. If it were cut when alive, then it will indeed burn up much faster. Most of the reason for this is that when you split it, or try to split it, it will spread the wood and will also tend to be stringy. It can be so stringy that the splits can be used for kindling a fire. If the tree is not cut until after it dies and all or most of the bark has fallen, then it will split and burn much, much better and will hold the fire a lot longer. So, if the elm were dead, I'd chose elm over the sycamore any day.
 
The elm had been cut down when I bucked it and hauled it home. It was very heavy initially. Some of it was left in the round a while as I couldn't immediately split it by hand. Later, after it had dried, I managed to split most of it. It has a yellowish color to it and the grain spirals through the round, making it impossible to get a clean fracture. I'm almost positive it's elm. I guess I could be mistaken.

Does Slippery Elm get big (12-18" dbh)?
 
Slippery Elm could be called Red Elm or Stink Elm. Don't know if it still gets big around here but I have seen it 30" at the base and have 16" wide 4/4 boards milled from it.
 
Sycamore = my nemesis. You must have a hydraulic splitter! I split by hand. Last year I had about a cord of it, at my house, cut to length (came as part of a large delivery). I got so sick of it, I gave it away in the rounds. That sh*t sucks! I don't care how well it burns either.
 
+1, I try to avoid both. IMHO, the elm we got over here is PA is a pita. Large sycamore is also a pain without a splitter. Small rounds of both are Ok if you don't need to process. Give me oak or locust any day of the week.
 
kestrel said:
Read through the preceding elm thread. I have been burning through some elm and sycamore in the early part of the season here. Both my sycamore and elm were split late winter last year and stacked in the open. Both are quite light but the elm is really light (almost balsa like). In my observations, the sycamore is a better buring wood as it will hold a fire longer and produce more sustained heat then the elm which burns up very fast. Funny that the elm is rated higher on btu charts. Sycamore seems to burn similar to soft maple as far as heat and burn times.

Bottom line: Sycamore is the hands-down winner.

By the way, I do not know the species of elm that I have.
Click to expand...
Was the bark on your elm?
 
I split all the sycamore by hand. Not near as hard to split as the elm. I still have a bunch of elm rounds that have many small divots in the ends where my maul failed to split them.

Yes, the bark was on the elm.
 
I have some slippery elm that I recently moved that was very light and I imagine it will burn right up. The log splitter just kind of ripped it apart when I split it. Thankfully I did not get too much just a few small 6 inch trees. total crap. I had no idea what it was until a half split piece snapped back together with my thumb in it. I nearly fainted. I never saw wood come apart like that.
 
Boom Stick said:
I have some slippery elm that I recently moved that was very light and I imagine it will burn right up. The log splitter just kind of ripped it apart when I split it. Thankfully I did not get too much just a few small 6 inch trees. total crap. I had no idea what it was until a half split piece snapped back together with my thumb in it. I nearly fainted. I never saw wood come apart like that.
Click to expand...
wkpoor said:
Slippery Elm could be called Red Elm
Click to expand...
Boom, are you sure about your ID on that wood? The dead standing Slippery (Red) Elm that I've been getting here isn't light. The moisture content is under 20%, and it seems at least as heavy as dry White Ash. The splits have a light red/pink color to them and aren't very stringy when splitting. It's tough to split by hand, but man this stuff burns great! Rounds are burning for a looong time.
 
I burned quite a lot of sycamore this fall, it burns a bit fast next to some wood, including Elm.

All the old advice about Elm being rubbish went out of the window here ince i got a wood stove, yes, it's rubbish on open fires, but far better in wood stoves with a controlled burn.

If I were offered a free cord of c/s wood tomorrow, I'd choose Elm over Sycamore :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
Most underrated firewood: my list
Replies
113
Views
14K
The Wood Shed
Wisco Shepherd
Wisco Shepherd
M
Blaze King Ashford 25 insert vs Hearthstone Clydesdale
Replies
8
Views
1K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
webby3650
webby3650
N
Damper and air supply experience and experiment - NC30
Replies
23
Views
2K
SBI: Century,Drolet,Osburn,Valcourt,Englander
weee123
weee123
F
Feedback on newbie observations - Flue vs SST; Air wash ignition, temp increase prior to coaling
Replies
2
Views
550
SBI: Century,Drolet,Osburn,Valcourt,Englander
begreen
begreen
T
Cold starting without kindling?
Replies
37
Views
5K
The Hearth Room - Wood Stoves and Fireplaces
BigJ273
BigJ273
Top Bottom
Back