I scored my first Elm today

Guess it had to happen eventually. 2 solid cord in 4 hours.

Nice score Solar, will you use the beast or the 60 inch bar to split it.


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That bar is as long as the trailer is wide. Think I'll stick with the Beast.

I understand elm is tough to split even with a splitter.

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Looks great! Congratulations!!

That's what I was thinking when I asked the tree guy what it was when I knew damn well what it was. We'll see how the Beast deals with it.

I don't know how most elm is as this is the first one I've seen cut. But, this one was nice and straight and had what would have been a nice 10' log in it. The guys noodled quite a bit of it and the grain is beautiful.

It would seem that isn't going to be an issue. This round was 26" diameter by 17" and is about 2 inches onto the wedge in the second picture.

The BEAST 1 - ELM - 0. I never have burned Elm so how does it burn and does it last long for burn times?


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I haven't burned it before. Chimneysweep has it anywhere between 19.5 and 21.6 depending on species. Maybe one of the ID pros can help with that.

My limited experience shows that the elm burns long and not hot, indicating that the BTU's, while not super high, are spread over a long burn time. I use it as the last splits or log to put on for the night depending on diameter obviously. I have a nice bed of red hot coals 7-8 hours later from it.

That don't look like no elm we have around here.

Based on leaves, bark or grain?

From experience I would say elm burns pretty well . . . maybe not as good as hickory, oak or sugar maple . . . but it's a decent wood when it comes to BTUs and longevity.

It looks exactly like the elm I chopped and brought home on Saturday, based on the bark, grain, and leaves. I believe it was Chinese Elm.

+1 with the Chinese Elm. In my experience slightly easier (than Americn Elm) to split when wet, and REALLY easy to split when it starts to dry out. heavy as a SOB when it's logged with moisture from being cut down live, especially lower down on the trunk. It doesn't seem to be quite as stringy as the other elms that i've had. Have no idea about how it burns, but it seasoned very fast when out in the sun and wind this summer.

LOL, that was exactly my experience. I loaded it in the trailer right after it was dropped yesterday evening. This morning I got up and popped a few Ibuprofen and sat with my back to the stove until they kicked in.

Even though it's heavy now, it gets pretty light by the time it's seasoned. Should be ready for shoulder season next fall.

Looks like some Elm I got this summer. Mine wasn't quite that straight & most split fairly well when soaking wet. Coulda used a splitter like that for the stubborn chunks.
Agree the stuff is heavy as heck when wet, the old F350 I hauled it with made a lot of creaking sounds...luckily it was only a 500' drive to my yard.

That's walnut...probably black.

Walnut, really? I have never had the pleasure of either walnut or elm. Wouldn't the tree guy who had to climb this thing and rope it all down know if it was a walnut?

Guys that cut down trees never know anything. Trust me, Im a stranger on the Internet and only watch other people cut down trees.

On a serious note, google black walnut and look at the leaves. The leaves, bark pattern, nicd rings, it's black walnut.

I googled it for you and thought I would post this link for you...will let you decide.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/18837

The ones I have cut were a little less dark like yours.

A couple walnuts in the hand is worth one ash in the bush.

definetly not like elm I have split. There were strings all over the place.

Ugh, that was one big straight log. Might need a do over. I could have backed up the flatbed with the winch just as easily.