How to split this devil wood?

[nola mike]

Picked up what I initially thought was oak (bunch of logs all mixed up). Went to split it and it refused. Looking closer thinking it's elm. Any way to split this by hand? It laughs at my maul and fiskars. Thinking about partially noodling first and either split or use a wedge from there. On the plus side I did manage to get some Osage without realizing what it was. A couple of large heavy rounds that it might be worth going back for.

 

[EbS-P]

Noodle away! Rent or borrow a splitter.

 

[nola mike]

Noodle away! Rent or borrow a splitter.

No access to a splitter, not enough to make it worth renting. Kicking myself. I guess at least it isn't gum

 

[CincyBurner]

American elm (Ulmus americana). The cross sectional picture showing bark depicts ligh/ buff with chocolate brown is characteristic of U. americana.
I like how elm burns, unfortunately it is very stringy and very tough splitting. Not one of I look for on wood scrounges.
Try to hand split in futility, noodle logs creating a mess, split with hydraulic splitter, or avoid altogether.

The second pic looks different (red wood). Different tree ? How does it smell ?
It looks like Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata), a member of elm family.

 

[begreen]

Bring a case of beer and the wood over to a friend with a splitter or rent. Or try to flake it around the perimeter when the wood is dry.

There was a lot of talk about elm a long time ago. Haven't heard much lately.

Elm splitting tips

Alright Elm lovers. What are some tips for splitting this crap. My little 8 ton splitter got through the small stuff, but with large rounds gets bogged down or gets stuck in the wedge. This Elm is still very wet and stringy. I fought with a couple big rounds and ended up with some splits that...

www.hearth.com

Splitting Elm...Need some advise

Since I am new to wood burning I have not had very much experience with collecting/splitting wood. The other day I came across a dead elm tree that needed to be taken down. I thought, what a great deal, free wood. I cut it down with no problem, stacked it and got ready to split some of the...

www.hearth.com

 

[nola mike]

Looks like I'm screwed 😂. I'm going to try a partial noodle and go from there. I've tried going around the edge, it doesn't GAF. Took me 1.5 hours yesterday to split 2 14" rounds...
I could probably just cut them into ¼ and have some very large splits for my stove. Since I know you'll all be breathlessly waiting, I'll keep you updated. My buddy just told me he just cut up a locust that I can grab. So between that and the Osage I'll have 2 new exotic woods to burn in a couple of years. First time in a while that my stacks are overflowing, although I'll have to burn some of it at 2 years.

 

[DonTee]

What year is your Ranger? I have a ‘97 that’s still going strong.

 

[nola mike]

'97, 230k miles. Just started throwing a code that I need to figure out but great truck

 

[kborndale]

Wedge and a sledgehammer.

 

[hedge wood]

BIL used to split a lot of elm by hand. Best time to do it is when it's frozen. Seems to pop apart better when its frozen. I have so much hedge {Osage Orange} on one of my farms I just throw the elm in the brush pile when I cut one down now days.

 

[MongoMongoson]

The American Elm I have split is a pain. If you work from the outside in, that is your best bet. Try to split off thinner pieces from the outside, working back towards the center. A couple of wedges side by side are sometimes needed. Hammer on one, then the other. I have also found that the three-sided wedges can really help you get started. Sometimes you can't even get a normal wedge started without it popping back out.

If you are splitting with the log directly on the ground, that isn't helping. Putting it on top of another log seems to make each of your swings "count"more. It helps reduce the amount of energy absorbed by the earth.

I am fortunate enough to now have a hydraulic splitter. Even so, I try to split as much as I can by hand. The year before last I acquired a bunch of red elm and American elm. Most of the American elm I processed on the splitter...

 

[johneh]

We have a lot of dead-standing elm in our fence lines.
We use it all waste not want not . Have not split by hand in too many years to
remember. All split with the splitter on the Tractor or the little 20-ton Surge Master
Makes short work of it. The nice thing about Elm is it makes it's own kindling

 

[blades]

chain saw down the end grain ( not with the grain unless you want fire start noodles) most of the way .then go with grain last little bit. Hickory can be the same way stringy, have had some ash that would rival Elm.