First tree for new burner

[Jags]

Thanks Jags! All this advice may save me some time and a future bad back!

In my opinion - If you plan on having a long term relationship with wood burning, get the proper tools to make the job efficient. A good saw, personal protection equipment and a splitter are very high on my list of "must haves". Get the splitter BEFORE you start to wreck yourself. And with elm - that is just a matter of time.

 

[Dobish]

In my opinion - If you plan on having a long term relationship with wood burning, get the proper tools to make the job efficient. A good saw, personal protection equipment and a splitter are very high on my list of "must haves". Get the splitter BEFORE you start to wreck yourself. And with elm - that is just a matter of time.

i agree. i did 2 cord of elm by hand, then decided it was worth my time to buy a splitter. now i split maple by hand, unless it is next to the splitter

 

[Woody5506]

Is elm harder to split than sycamore?? I also have some elms along my property line a few of which need to come down. I only split by hand. Hydraulic splitter isn't quite in the budget these days.

 

[Dobish]

i have never split sycamore... elm is super stringy and knotty. every so often you get a super straight piece, and it just pops open and you feel like a superhero.

 

[Woody5506]

Sycamore is the same way. And to add insult to injury it smells like dog crap.

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Sycamore is the same way. And to add insult to injury it smells like dog crap.

Someone told me to stay away fom sycamore said it didnt burn well in the stove. Do you burn it. If so is it any good

 

[Woody5506]

I got a good amount for free, but I'd never buy it. I haven't burned it in my stove yet. From what I hear it's decent shoulder wood but burns quick with a nice flame. I've burned a few chunks outside but again, it's still green. It's miserable to split. I may even put it back up on CL for someone else to take...lol

 

[showrguy]

Sycamore is heavier than concrete when wet, murder to split when green..
Let it sit for a year and dry out, then it will split decent, and will burn well..

 

[NewburnerID]

Sycamore is the same way. And to add insult to injury it smells like dog crap.

I read this somewhere. So Elm really does smell like dog crap?

 

[blades]

Elm isn't much better in the scent department when green ( around here a lot of it is called piss Elm in ref. to its scent) Bunch of various Elms out there- American Elm being kinda rare much over 10" as by then the Dutch elm disease gets them. Lot of them the are Siberian elms ( sometimes called Chinese elm)- grows like a weed- not as dense as American - dries quick with bark off - these can get quit large - about middle of the road burn/heat wise ( think I got those names straight.)

 

[Woodsplitter67]

Ok.. so i will stick with oak

 

[Tar12]

Don't count elm out! Especially red elm! It is a great wood to burn! It is hard to split by hand.I have been burning it all winter and it put out some excellent BTUs! I go out of my way to cut small dead red elm...its doesn't smell like piss at all or dog crap burns for hours...dont do yourself a disservice until you have tried it! You have any idea as to what elm you have?

 

[CentralVAWoodHeat]

Someone told me to stay away fom sycamore said it didnt burn well in the stove. Do you burn it. If so is it any good

We burn everything. Sycamore is a great hard wood to burn. It's like any other wood where you need to ensure it is dried to 20% or below in the moisture department and it will burn great.

If you don't have to wrestle with splitting it, I say go for it. I can usually buy mixed loads of things like Sycamore for much cheaper than oak because no one else wants it, mostly due to old wives tales about it not burning well.

 

[byQ]

I'm in the same area. I've obtained quite a lot of elm - and it is always red elm. In this area red elm is one of the best hard woods available. I use a 22-ton splitter that goes vertical. It is tough wood. Some woods will pop apart when the split begins - not elm. You have to run it all the way though the split cycle.

Before I had a vertical splitter, I had to use a sledge and steel wedges to reduce big elm rounds down to where I could get them on a horizontal splitter. A few times I got 5 or 6 wedges stuck in the round and it still wouldn't split all of the way. I would turn it over and start on the other side. Eventually it would split.

 

[firefighterjake]

I may be a bit of an aberration . . . but I kinda like elm for the way it burns. I wouldn't want to split it without a hydraulic splitter though.

 

[woodchiprookie]

I had a little bit of "chinese" elm and I let the rounds dry for a year before I split them. It was cold when I did it. They popped easy, but when I first bucked the tree into logs, wet, warm in the summer they weighed a ton and wouldn't split.

 

[johneh]

American Elm The main reason I went HYDRO
Do yourself a favor save your back your arms and your sanity

 

[TheBigIron]

I have a 35 ton splitter with a 20hp motor and it struggles against 6" round 20" long red elm splits. Your son might give up after his first split on that elm. Elm burns good I burn alot of it cause it is all over my timber..

 

[fishki]

I tried handsplitting elm, took about all of 30 minutes and I went and bought a splitter. Best purchase ever.

 

[Handsonautotech]

American Elm The main reason I went HYDRO
Do yourself a favor save your back your arms and your sanity

I read somewhere that you can tear a cornea using a heavy maul

 

[Woody5506]

All I use is a Stihl 6lb maul and a Fiskars x27. The maul more often. Granted I haven't been doing this for long but for a young guy I have a fair amount of back pain, nothing serious as of now but probably due to my crappy mattress. Its been this way long before i started splitting wood. Sometimes swinging that maul loosens me up and my back feels much better afterward.

Long story short- exercise is good. Just be smart about the way you split.

 

[woodchiprookie]

My back's been hit for a long time. It all started at a Sevendust concert....

 

[NewburnerID]

Don't count elm out! Especially red elm! It is a great wood to burn! It is hard to split by hand.I have been burning it all winter and it put out some excellent BTUs! I go out of my way to cut small dead red elm...its doesn't smell like piss at all or dog crap burns for hours...dont do yourself a disservice until you have tried it! You have any idea as to what elm you have?

I'm not sure what type of Elm, but they are big! They are 50' to 75' or so tall with a diameter between 24" and 48" depending on the tree.

 

[NewburnerID]

I'm in the same area. I've obtained quite a lot of elm - and it is always red elm. In this area red elm is one of the best hard woods available. I use a 22-ton splitter that goes vertical. It is tough wood. Some woods will pop apart when the split begins - not elm. You have to run it all the way though the split cycle.

Before I had a vertical splitter, I had to use a sledge and steel wedges to reduce big elm rounds down to where I could get them on a horizontal splitter. A few times I got 5 or 6 wedges stuck in the round and it still wouldn't split all of the way. I would turn it over and start on the other side. Eventually it would split.

Thats good to know about the horizontal vs. vertical splitter. Where in Idaho are you?

 

[Tar12]

I'm not sure what type of Elm, but they are big! They are 50' to 75' or so tall with a diameter between 24" and 48" depending on the tree.

Not red elm. I wouldn't even think about tackling elm of that size!