Dead elm

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lost in the woods

Burning Hunk
Feb 8, 2016
155
Central PA
hey a guy from our hunting camp had a tree fall across the lane at his woodlot and he asked me to clear it in exchange for all the dead/down wood i want. . . today I went up and did the job and discovered it was a dead elm. . . it was a mother to split. . . i'm wondering if anyone has experience burning elm???? how do you like it? this woodlot is a mix of dead ash, elm, walnut and other assorted crap all tangled up in monkey vines. . . is the elm worth the hassle?
 
oh yeah! kinda giving up on morels; my wife and kids don't like them. . . they do like hens, chickens, and chanterelles though, so im concentrating on them from now on
 
Hard as hell to split, especially Chinese elm. I found it satisfactory firewood.
 
My tree lines are full of dead American Elm (Dutch Elm Disease)
Cut split and burn a lot of it. Works well for me
But you do need a power splitter if you are going to do more than a few splits
The biggest reason I had to buy a hydro Splitter
 
Have fun splitting it but I think it's decent wood
 
A local arborist dumped a trailer load of elm that he cut down. Pretty much a whole tree cut up just enough to fit in a trailer. What a job cutting it with a 13" poulan saw, and splitting it by hand. Got about 6 face cords out of it though and lost a few pounds in the process! Next year I'll rent a splitter.
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I only mess with it if it has been dead standing. Usually dry enough that "maybe" I can split it by hand if its no bigger than 8-10" around. Burns pretty good, but not a long burner as stated above. Does have a funny smell though.
 
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It burns great but you've got to work for it for sure. Those were some good size rounds too.
 
I burn a ton of Siberian Elm and my favorite part about it is when it's gone and I can burn something else. It's better when added to a coal bed vs cold starting with it though. Seems like no matter how long I season it, it just takes a while to really get going. I'm currently burning 3 year split stuff.
 
I burn lots of elm. Dead standing elm is primo firewood once the bark has fallen off. The top half of the tree is usually quite dry and the rest I split with hydraulics. My uncle bought a hydraulic splitter for around 600 bucks this year. Well worth it if you are going to be burning for the long haul.