Elm - The Other White Meat

[Jags]

For those of you that have never had the pleasure of splitting elm. This is the stuff that will curdle the oil of a 20 ton splitter, it will bounce a mall like a rubber ball, it will stick all but the meanest of splitters and tempt you with its defiance. The mother of all that is bad in wood splitting......I give you ELM::::: (warning, graphic pictures ahead)

 

[Ted69]

yes...I have had the joy of elm...but free wood is free wood.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

Nooo! Make it stop!

mommy

 

[Jags]

A couple more shots for your viewing pleasure. To be honest, I have split elm on many occasions, and this has got to be some of the toughest I have ever seen. My log splitter is set to 2500 psi with a 5" ram and it was groaning. This stuff simply does not split. The log splitter tears, squishes, or cuts it way through.

 

[Adios Pantalones]

The way that stuff is mashed- it's going to dry quick, and burn FAST.

 

[Jags]

The way that stuff is mashed- it's going to dry quick, and burn FAST.

Half of that hairy stuff will be on fire before I can set it down in the firebox. :ahhh:

 

[Todd]

Oh yeah, Natures cruel joke. Looks like the crap I split this spring.

 

[burntime]

You do not need paper to start it...just light the hair I am going this weekend to drop a few dead standing elm. The good part is there is no question if I will be able to burn them this fall

 

[mikeathens]

Elm sux! It makes me appreciate the fact that I can be picky about what I get and burn!

 

[Jags]

Elm sux! It makes me appreciate the fact that I can be picky about what I get and burn!

I don't hunt elm either. This is stuff that a tree guy dropped off. Gotta take the good with the occasional "bad". Heck, it was dropped off in my back yard, for free, so he won't hear a complaint from me.

 

[fossil]

Jags, I'm not exactly sure what I'd call what you're doing to that wood...but "splitting" is definitely not the term that comes immediately to mind. :lol: Rick

 

[Adios Pantalones]

It looks like the wood version of "pulled pork"

 

[fossil]

It looks like the wood version of "pulled pork"

:lol: That's it, Jags...smoke it, and have yerself some Elm Jerky! Rick

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Everyone who splits elm will get some of that junk sooner or later. But lest those who aren't accustomed to it think that every piece of elm is that bad, I assure you it is not. You will get some that are similar to the pictures and that will allow you to practice using some of those 4 letter words, but the stuff still burns too.

I also have a 20 ton splitter and so far over many, many moons I have only one piece that it would not split.

Also, for those who will be splitting more elm, try taking slabs off the sides first instead of splitting through the heart.

 

[Jags]

It looks like the wood version of "pulled pork"

:lol: That's it, Jags...smoke it, and have yerself some Elm Jerky! Rick

After making anywhere from 100-200 pounds of jerky per year, for many years, I can assure you it would be the stringy-ist, toughest crap you have ever tasted. :lol:

"splitting" would definitely not be the term I would use for this batch of elm.

I agree with Backwoods and am showing only the worst of the worst in the pics, but on the other hand this is absolutely the toughest batch of elm I have ever seen. The actual numbers of my splitter come out to be 49,000 pounds of pressure (or 24.5 tons) of spitting force, these are not advertised numbers, this is using a pressure gauge, and using the pi times R square formula, and it is pushing like hell to get through some of these pieces.

OT - just for fun, anybody that has one of those purchased splitters, advertised at 20, 25, etc. tons - slap a pressure gauge on it an use the formula for area, and do the calc. I am sure you will be surprised at the actual numbers. I am running 2500 psi (most splitter relief valves are set from the factory at 2250 psi) and a 5" ram to create 24.5 tons. Northstar rates their machines that have a 5" ram at 32 tons, but it don't come from the factory doing that (you have to raise the relief pressure to 3000 psi to do that). Most 20 ton machines come with a 4" ram and at the typical 2250 psi will create 28000# or 14 tons of pressure from the factory. Even maxing that to 3000 psi comes to 37680 or 18.8 tons. Go figure.

 

[Carl]

It looks like the wood version of "pulled pork"

:lol: That's it, Jags...smoke it, and have yerself some Elm Jerky! Rick

After making anywhere from 100-200 pounds of jerky per year, for many years, I can assure you it would be the stringy-ist, toughest crap you have ever tasted. :lol:

"splitting" would definitely not be the term I would use for this batch of elm.

I agree with Backwoods and am showing only the worst of the worst in the pics, but on the other hand this is absolutely the toughest batch of elm I have ever seen. The actual numbers of my splitter come out to be 49,000 pounds of pressure (or 24.5 tons) of spitting force, these are not advertised numbers, this is using a pressure gauge, and using the pi times R square formula, and it is pushing like hell to get through some of these pieces.

OT - just for fun, anybody that has one of those purchased splitters, advertised at 20, 25, etc. tons - slap a pressure gauge on it an use the formula for area, and do the calc. I am sure you will be surprised at the actual numbers. I am running 2500 psi (most splitter relief valves are set from the factory at 2250 psi) and a 5" ram to create 24.5 tons. Northstar rates their machines that have a 5" ram at 32 tons, but it don't come from the factory doing that (you have to raise the relief pressure to 3000 psi to do that). Most 20 ton machines come with a 4" ram and at the typical 2250 psi will create 28000# or 14 tons of pressure from the factory. Even maxing that to 3000 psi comes to 37680 or 18.8 tons. Go figure.

I just purchased a 27 ton Troy Built splitter and am very happy with it. No need to check the particulars on the pressure as it dose the job it was made for. I will leave that to the manufacturer to deal with.

I split quit a bit of elm this spring with it and it worked great. Only had a few really stringy pieces like you show out of about 3 face cords I cut on our lot and split for next year. Up to this spring I always split it by hand with a maul and there were a few tough pieces that I threw aside to rot because I couldn't split them. I think elm burns nicely and wouldn't be afraid to collect it for burning.

Any large wood with lots of knarls and knots will stop most splitters. Lots of Maple trunks of 3+ foot diamater laying around our area with no takers due to the tremondous job of even trying to split it. One person said I could have a large chuck he had laying in his yard. He finally gave it to a neighbor as it was about 8 feet long and 4 foot diamater. The neighbor was an off road enthusiast and was taking it to a meet were everyone could try their luck in climbing their big wheeled truck over it.

 

[BrotherBart]

Don't have any Elm but the Sweet Gum trees around here look just like that stuff. Like trying to shred steel belted truck tires.

 

[njtomatoguy]

I have elm from last year, and to me it seems like letting it sit in rounds for a year makes it easier to split.

 

[Ken45]

Hey, I recognize those photos! You been taking pictures of my wood? LOL

I don't think splitter pressure has anything to do with it. It won't split, it tears and strings. I keep an old hatchet handy.

I had some 20 inch crotches of this stuff. I used the chain saw instead of trying to split it.

Years ago, when I split by hand, I had one piece that I buried the maul, three wedges and maybe the chainsaw in it!

Ken

 

[Tfin]

Those pics are like a car wreck.....its a horrible catastrophy, but you somehow can't help looking at it.

 

[burntime]

You guys will get a kick out of this. I have a "deal" with the neighbor, if the power co drops any trees that we split the wood. I always take my half and get after him for sometimes 3 weeks...asking if he is going to get it or not. He likes to drink more than he likes life type. Well 3 big elm were dropped on the road and he had the city drop them in log length in his yard. He said that since he was home they are his? So much for the deal! Well now he wants to borrow my stihl and my splitter. It will be a cold day in haities when I go over there! So the elm is slowly drying...er turning to concrete, he can not get in and out of his drive, and of course none of his friends will borrow a saw to him. He was laid off a year ago and no one will hire you when you are more proof then a miller lite! He has basically burned all the bridges! He even made some nice remarks about my wife...she has a degenerative disease. Just a quality individual we have here. Just goes to show what comes around goes around!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Sounds like that word "friends" could be used pretty loosely. Best just to let him drown in his own bottle and for sure I would never loan him anything.

 

[burntime]

Thats where I am at. I loaned him the saw 1 time and he said it ran great for about 10 seconds and then it died. Turns out he filled the gas with oil and the oil with gas. When I dumped the stuff in his burning barrel and lit it he had a fit???? Borrowed the my lawn aerator and he brought it back with 2 spike missing? Too expensive to be a good neighbor him... Better to let the drunk get pickled in his own jar. The best part is I have 2 little guys and the giggling and laughing and he hates noise. The jungle gym is going in soon so my guess is that he will be looking to move, or at least hide in his own home this summer

 

[savageactor7]

Yeah Elm sure can be stringey ...the only wood I don't even bother to split by hand anymore. I'm surprised to see it's not considered a hard wood...I always considered a hard wood and have burned it for years with very good results. Then again compared to ash and maple it is hard and that's what I mostly cut. I've never had the opportunity to burn any of the Oaks or Hickory.

Elm is mostly the only wood I harvest in the winter cause I put green or white engineer tape on all my standing dead trees...for me it's hard to see a dead tree in the winter. I don't really make any production as it's mostly an excuse for an outdoor activity...but in a good winter that's cold cold with little snow I can probably get 8 FC's over a season. My dead maple I split in the field but the Elm I have to stockpile by the house when I get a decent amount I put the kerosene heater on the splitter for a half hr or so start it up and split the elm with that. For some reason our Ash trees are bullet proof...they only die when I cut them down.

I just found out yesterday that we burn 40 FC's a year...I questioned that but the XO said we'll burn in Sep if it's cold enough and we were burning this AM...so what do I know? A face cord a week is SOP.

Back when we had our oil burner we were more willing to let that touch off every now and then this time of year because it warmed us up. But when I got activated back a few years ago the wife swapped out our old oil burner with a new LP stove and it just doesn't warm the house up like the oil stove does. There was a minor problem with the stove but over the years I cobbed it up and even adapted a neon sign starter to fire it up. So this guy looks at it and...cause I'm not around convinces her the house could blow it...hell it only came on when we turned it on...but what's done is done and now we have to live with LP heat. If you have oil heat I advise not to go to propane if you want to be warm.

 

[Jags]

Savage - years ago I went from a 120,000 btu oil burner to an 80,000 propane. I immediately noticed the difference in the temp of the blowing air. The oil burner sent out HOT air and the propane sent out warm air. Questioned my hvac guy and he said it is more efficient to do it the way the propane does it. I also questioned going from a 120 to an 80,000 btu burner. Again he assured me of its ability to heat. Never had a problem keeping the house at its set point, but it runs alot longer per cycle (warm vs hot air), on the other hand, it consumes FAR less fuel than the furnace it replaced.

Now back to your regularly scheduled "Nightmare on ELM street".