Elm vs Pine... wow!

[johnstra]

I live in Colorado, so it takes effort to find hardwood. Today I scored a truck load of well seasoned elm. Man oh man does it make a difference. I get good burns and decent heat from the pine, but the elm is a different beast altogether. The behavior of the secondary burn is completely different. I can dial the air back further, maintain a strong secondary burn, and maintain higher heat with much less wood.

It's not like I didn't know all of the above is true, but seeing it play out before my eyes really drives the point home.

I also have about 1/4 cord of perfectly seasoned red oak. Can't wait to see how that burns.

I'll hoard my elm, ash, and oak for those extra cold days and nights.

-john

 

[Beowulf]

Yes sir... I finally ran though most of my borer donated pine and switched over to mainly red oak, this year. Huge difference in volume of wood consumed and burn times!

 

[DanCorcoran]

Are you guys talking pine or pinion? I thought pinion had an extremely high heat content per pound. Pine, I don't know.

 

[moosetrek]

Yep - definitely a difference. I noticed a big difference, but sometimes actually like the pine better. I can load a few splits and it'll heat up the house, works good in warmer seasons. Also seems to leave less ash to clean out.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

John, there are many folks in the west that would really be amazed at how much heat they get from good hardwoods. Glad you found some.

 

[fishingpol]

Elm is nice when you can get it. Nice and hot burn. It is tough to hand split. It burns easier than locust, which I think may be a little denser than elm.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

fishingpol, you are correct. Locust is really dense wood. As for the elm, if you cut the tree when it is still alive, it is about the toughest wood to split there is. It also will have a tendency to tear apart which opens it up for some fast drying but also fast burning. If you want some really good elm, wait until the tree dies and the bark falls off before you cut the tree. At that point, the very top of the tree can be burned but the bottom will still have too much moisture and has to be dried at least over the summer months. But the biggest advantage to waiting on cutting the tree like this is that it will split more like other woods and does not tear apart. This leaves it a bit denser and longer burning. We burn a certain amount of it almost every year and like it. I used to split it all by hand but now I sit there and watch the hydraulics do the work.

 

[johnstra]

I'm talking pine... lodgepole and ponderosa. I haven't tried pinion, but I have seen that it is rated as a pretty good wood to burn. I'll have to give it a shot.

I grew up in Louisiana. It wasn't all that often that we needed a fire, but when we did it was oak or hickory that we burned. My folks liked to burn green wood in their open fireplace. Mom could keep a really hot fire going even though those oak rounds would sizzle and spew water out of them for a long time. That old fireplace was huge and my Mom was as strong as an ox. She'd get a fire going with some dry splits and then she'd drop huge 24+" (length) oak rounds on it. I mean those suckers would be 8" or more in diamater.