Elm - here I go!

[Got Wood]

Just had an Elm (about 18" at base) die from the Dutch Elm disease. It was close enough to the house that I had a professional get it on the ground which he did today. Now I have some work to do. Will be interested to see how my Huskee 22 ton handles it.

 

[glacialhills]

Like a hot knife through shredded wheat! dead Elm is 95% of what I processed this summer(8+ cords) and a couple were 30+ at the base. Had to use it vert. on those but it still tore thru em. Just might need a block at the base to rip all the way down to cut the strings. Have fun.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I have a 20 ton and it does real nice on elm. You shouldn't have any problems but do expect a few stringy crappy pieces.

 

[Got Wood]

I was able to limb and buck it all up before darkness hit. I understated the diameter as it is a solid 24" at the base. The wood seemed really wet, no rot though. When I get to splitting this, probably over the wknd, I'll report back.

 

[wendell]

Yes, elm trunks are wet!

 

[Got Wood]

Curious, how does Elm season compared to other woods? Being this wet at the start leads me to believe it will be a while. It doesnt really matter as this wood is due for burning late in the 2011/2012 burn season, maybe even the year after.

 

[NitroDave]

Like a hot knife through shredded wheat! .

What a perfect visual....

 

[firefighterjake]

Much of the wood I burned last year was dead elm . . . and the 22 ton splitter I was using worked well . . . how well depended on how dead the elm was -- if it was dead dead with the bark falling off the tree the and the wood was a bit on the dry side the rounds would often split cleanly and easily . . . if the wood was dead, but not dead for that long, the wood would split, but sometimes it would be rather stringy and some of the pieces looked like I was attempting to mangle the wood vs. split the wood.

This year I cut down some live elm from a lot I was clearing . . . in this case the elm has been very wet and when splitting this wood I have noticed a big difference in how stringy the wood is . . . and with some of the wood I am really mutilating some of the pieces . . . how any one would split this manually is beyond me.

How does elm compare to other wood . . . if memory serves me correctly it is mid-range for BTUs. I like elm. I have no problem burning it and consider it along par with some of the harder maples . . . it's not up there with oak, hickory or apple, but it's better than cedar, poplar or silver maple. It does seem a bit wetter inside than most of the other woods I burn, but once seasoned it burns just as well as the maple, white ash, etc. that I tend to burn.

 

[wendell]

Curious, how does Elm season compared to other woods? Being this wet at the start leads me to believe it will be a while. It doesnt really matter as this wood is due for burning late in the 2011/2012 burn season, maybe even the year after.

It needs a year or a little more if green so you will be more than fine.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

A year is good for sure but I've found that no matter how wet the elm is, it dries fast. We've burned in in 6-8 months and it burns good.

Jake hit the nail on the head. If the elm is dry it will split much easier with a lot less stringiness to the wood. Split it after cutting green and it is about like spaghetti because it is so stringy.


No matter how dead the elm is though, you are liable to find it wet at the bottom of the tree.

 

[Got Wood]

Jake hit the nail on the head. If the elm is dry it will split much easier with a lot less stringiness to the wood. Split it after cutting green and it is about like spaghetti because it is so stringy.

Given that I plan to burn this 2+ years out would it make sense to hold off splitting it until sometime over the winter? I mean, would letting it dry out a bit in rounds for a couple months prove to produce better splits (avoiding having a mangled mesh of stringy wood)?

 

[Wood Duck]

I would split it and get it drying as soon as you have time. I think you will find some stringy difficult parts of the tree, but I think other parts will be not too bad to split. I haven't split tons of elm, but I have found that some of it splits just fine, and only maybe a third of the pieces are unusually stringy. Maybe I've just gotten lucky, but splitting elm doesn't seem too bad to me. I split by hand (maul), if that makes a difference.

 

[3fordasho]

Jake hit the nail on the head. If the elm is dry it will split much easier with a lot less stringiness to the wood. Split it after cutting green and it is about like spaghetti because it is so stringy.

Given that I plan to burn this 2+ years out would it make sense to hold off splitting it until sometime over the winter? I mean, would letting it dry out a bit in rounds for a couple months prove to produce better splits (avoiding having a mangled mesh of stringy wood)?

I'd give it a try now. I've split lots of elm, some just splits tough and doesn't seem to matter if it's wet or dry.
I have not tried it frozen. I've had other examples that didn't split too bad. I don't like to leave it in rounds too long, more possiblilty for punkeyness to develop.

 

[Wet1]

The best way I've found to split elm is with a BAS (big azz saw)... more fun too! :cheese:

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Jake hit the nail on the head. If the elm is dry it will split much easier with a lot less stringiness to the wood. Split it after cutting green and it is about like spaghetti because it is so stringy.

Given that I plan to burn this 2+ years out would it make sense to hold off splitting it until sometime over the winter? I mean, would letting it dry out a bit in rounds for a couple months prove to produce better splits (avoiding having a mangled mesh of stringy wood)?

Given that it is 2+ years out you have your choice. The problem with splitting wood (with a hydraulic splitter) in the dead of the winter is that the splitter starts so darned hard because of the pump being engaged at all times. That oil gets pretty thick.

If it were me, I'd go ahead and get it split and stacked. You could then burn it in 2010-2011 if needed. But if you don't have the time, then it certainly would not harm it to sit over the winter months and then split it next spring.

 

[firefighterjake]

I agree with Backwoods . . . go ahead and try splitting it now if you have the time. However, to answer your original question, I've never split elm in the winter so I don't know if that would improve things or not.

 

[Gazdik]

My buddy across the street said its like splitting wet rope...He was right....but it burned well after a year of seasoning

 

[Got Wood]

Well I started splitting it this afternoon. I started with a few small rounds which split with no problem. then I pulled over the bottom round which was atleast 24" and heavy as all get out. Man was that a work out. I split in the vertical position and almost 100% of the time sit and have an easy time of it. Well not this round. I eventually got through it but what a fight it put up! And it was wet - as as the wedge was starting to go through the top of the round water was just pouring out of it, more than I have seen before. Stringy - yep sure the heck was. I was standing and manuevering this round, working hard at it. Did that round and one more and was wiped out. I cant imagine even trying to beat on this with the Fiskars or a maul. I'm sure I'll tackle more this wknd....

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Yes, many times the sap will just ooze out as you are splitting.

As for wrestling that block, I don't see why a 24" block would be that difficult to maneuver....sitting down! I have always found it to be twice the work standing while splitting vs sitting. To maneuver the block, one does not lift it, he tips it on an edge and rolls it. Or if it won't roll, then flip it end over end.

Maybe some of us should make a video or 3 and post them here for others to compare how they split?

 

[Wood Duck]

The bottom round of almost any tree of any species is usually tough to split. Hopefully the middle of the trunk will be a little easier. I split a bunch of White Oak this weekend - straight sections split really easily, Ys and knotty sections were tough to almost impossible by hand, and the bottom rounds were almost all very tough to split.

 

[Tony H]

Jake hit the nail on the head. If the elm is dry it will split much easier with a lot less stringiness to the wood. Split it after cutting green and it is about like spaghetti because it is so stringy.

Given that I plan to burn this 2+ years out would it make sense to hold off splitting it until sometime over the winter? I mean, would letting it dry out a bit in rounds for a couple months prove to produce better splits (avoiding having a mangled mesh of stringy wood)?

Given that it is 2+ years out you have your choice. The problem with splitting wood (with a hydraulic splitter) in the dead of the winter is that the splitter starts so darned hard because of the pump being engaged at all times. That oil gets pretty thick.

If it were me, I'd go ahead and get it split and stacked. You could then burn it in 2010-2011 if needed. But if you don't have the time, then it certainly would not harm it to sit over the winter months and then split it next spring.

Your splitter at 20 ton should do fine with most of the elm but you will have some pieces that give you some grief.
On the winter use of the splitter I have found it makes a big difference what type of hydro fluid you are running . Most of the new splitter they sell with transmission fluid and with the older models used to use the heavy hydro fluid like tractors and heavy equipment use.
The good part is almost all the stand alone splitters can be switched over to trans fluid as the don't require the heat removal of the heavy stuff ...this is according to one of the mfg and two different heavy equipment techs I know. I have a splitter thats about 30 years old I got from a farmer and he has been using it with trans fluid since he can remember it works great and in the winter starts on one pull. My neighbor has one using Hydro fluid and his needs to sit in the heated garage and get warm a day or two before trying to start it.

 

[Bone1099]

Having a Honda motor helps with starting no matter what fluid is being used of course I live in GA so a briggs will start on the coldest day here even with W90 gear oil. +1 on the ATF also 5W30 engine oil is a great sub as its viscosity will be more consistent with temperature no that it matters for a splitter. I had an instructor at Robinson Helicopter company's maintenance training class profess that ATF is the greatest fluid on the planet.

 

[Tony H]

Good note Bone1099 mine is a B&S and I run 5-30 in it . With reg 30w in the winter it won't start worth a crap when it's below freezing.