Could This Be Elm?

[smp928s]

Hello Everyone. I am new to posting on this site but have found some valuable information here in the past. I have recently been cutting some firewood for my father on his property (he just installed a wood stove to help supplement his heating costs). The predominate tree on his property (5 acres) is ash. The property is split in half by a fairly large creek and in the creek & on the banks there is a plethora of black willow as well.

There have been several fairly large standing dead trees (1 1/2' diameter, no bark left) that have fallen in the past year. These trees were in the higher elevated areas located next to Ash, some apple/pear and what I am pretty sure are small Elm trees.

Last weekend I cut up one of these trees and I am trying to verify what kind of wood it is. It split quite easily, is not stringy at all and appears to have been fairly fast growth. It is dry but not "pulpy." I have attached two photos, one showing a piece of this wood after being split and a piece that was cut closest to the base. There were a few scraps of bark left near the base but they basically disintegrated when I picked them up. Could this be Elm? It is my best guess based on a variety of factors.

I really appreciate everyones input on this forum and I look forward to the discussion.

- Stephen

 

[Fifelaker]

Looks like some type of maple to me. I have never seen elm split that cleanly.

 

[smp928s]

Thanks for the quick reply. It did split very cleanly. My guess of Elm as based on the fact that there is other small Elm nearby but nothing of any size, the fact that my Dad said that there were some bigger Elms on the property that all died and from what little I could see of the bark.

 

[AmarilloSlim]

Elm.. not like I've ever seen. Maple.. possibly. I'm sure someone will chime in soon enough.

 

[blades]

Looks like Maple, Silver, Red, Norway are some types. Elm rarely rots in that fashion and mostly does not split that clean.

 

[longboarder2]

If you didn't hate splitting it, it's not elm.

 

[smp928s]

Thanks for the replies. Whats the general consensus about burning wood like this (dead for quite some time)? Would it be better to burn now, stack for a while or not burn at all?

 

[paul bunion]

Standing dead elm most likely died from Dutch elm disease. If you have Dutch elm disease you should find bark beetle damage under the bark. So if you don't see any of this it probably isn't elm.

Bark beetle grub tunnels.

 

[paul bunion]

Thanks for the replies. Whats the general consensus about burning wood like this (dead for quite some time)? Would it be better to burn now, stack for a while or not burn at all?

If its dry, burn it. If its not dry, stack and burn later. If there is higher value wood available get that instead.

 

[smp928s]

Thanks Paul. I can't say that I have seen that particular damage.

 

[lindnova]

It looks like elm. I have a lot of dead elm and once the bark is off and you start to get the staining in the wood from rot beginnings it sometimes splits easy - if your lucky.

How heavy is it? Elm should be fairly heavy. The only other wood I can think of would be hybrid poplar, but that would be real light weight.

 

[AmarilloSlim]

Some elm does split easily. The freshly cut elm from yesterday busted up nicely after three whacks of the maul on a 18x18 round. But that is not elm. In my experience splits from standing dead are light in the weight department and all species still have darker grain than the pic. The pale grain in the pic does look like maple. The water staining looks spot on which I've never seen in elm. If this was split on site there are maple around judging from the maple leaf under the split.

 

[Paulywalnut]

It could be red elm. The picture you show is not consistant with how it decays. That looks more like maple of some kind.

 

[smp928s]

I split the wood under a sugar maple but about 300' from where this tree was standing. There is one smaller sugar maple growing within 50-75' of where this tree was but that's it for maples on that section of property. There are several dead standing or recently fallen trees near this one that look identical, like they probably died around the same time and at around the same size. Could it be Ash? As I mentioned there are many Ash trees nearby. I forgot to mention that I am in Upstate, NY if that matters. I have inspected most of the Ash for the boorer and haven't seen any evidence of it on my Dad's property. Besides, these trees likely died quite some time ago and the boorer has only been in NYS for a short time. The only other trees in relative close proximity to this one (other than apple or pear) are one Black Cherry Tree, one Basswood and what I believe is a small Elm or two.

At this point it isn't crucial that I know the answer but my natural curiosity is piqued as well as my enjoyment of a good nature mystery. Thanks again.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Welcome to the forum smp928s.


That could be elm. And if it is elm, that does not mean it will split hard. We cut a good deal of elm here but always wait until the bark is fallen off or at least most of the bark is gone before we cut it. When we do this, most of the wood will split very easy and not be stringy at all.

We have not found ash to lose bark while still standing and we've cut lots with still lots to go. However, when we split the wood then it is common for the bark to fall off some of it but certainly not all.

One word of caution: when cutting standing dead trees it is common for the bottom half and sometimes the bottom 2/3 of the tree to still have lots of moisture. So do not assume it ready to burn.

 

[smp928s]

I took a couple photos of another tree on my parent's property that looks like to the one I cut up. This one had some bark still on it, in a state of peeling off. I also found another dead snag nearby that had the beetle tunnels Paul posted above.

 

[AmarilloSlim]

I might retract my statement and lean more towards elm. I still can't give a positive id though.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yup, definitely elm.

 

[smp928s]

Good to know!

 

[Bagelboy]

You'll know if it's elm if you start cursing when you have to split it!

 

[smp928s]

Nope I didn't Bagelboy, that's one of the reasons I didn't think it was Elm. It's been dead quite a while and it is quite dry so from what I've gathered it takes on a new persona so to speak.

 

[Bagelboy]

Good for you! I just split up an elm tree I took down on Wednesday and even with the splitter it was a bi*ch!

 

[smp928s]

I attempted to split by hand once some Elm that my brother cut . Notice I said attempted haha. That was the only real reason I didn't think this was Elm. Where in the Catskills are you?

 

[Bagelboy]

Woodstock

 

[smp928s]

Ah, cool. I'm about an hour north of you.