I've become a scrounger

[TimJ]

I have a field full of css wood and a woods full of rounds to process, but I've taken to scrounging. I can't stand it when I see wood going to waste now. It bothers me to see it all over the place without anyone else batting an eye or turning a head. I pass thru this little town on the way home and one small home has been vacant for a year or so with a foreclosure sign on the door. Well, this tree on the properties edge near the road has been down for years..........barkless and petrified just like a likes them. We passed thru there over the weekend and I told my wife I was going to bring the truck down and get that tree. She said " you can't do that it is in someones yard " That lot is vacant" I said " and that tree has been laying there for years. I saw about six or eight rounds by the stump that were cut probably just to get it out of the road at one time or another. Well, I stopped today and picked up one of the small rounds. I didn't know if I was going to pick up paper or if it was going to be rotted or what, but when I picked it up it was a very dense wood. I brought it home and took my chainsaw to the end and nipped it to see if I could tell what it was and then I tried a maul to it and it would not split. I believe I gots me some pretified elm again. I will knock on the neighbors door next to this tree because it looks close to the property line and let them know I am going to remove the eyesore. It is a good amount that will fill a truck. Get the easy stuff when you can is my plan.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That definitely could be elm but usually elm does not last too long once the bark is off and especially if it is down. It will split harder than elm that is grown in the woods so if this is elm, you got a twisted one and expect some hard splitting. If you can get those rounds in the stove without splitting, that is what I'd do. I put a couple rounds like that in our porch wood rack today that I'll be burning soon.

 

[BobUrban]

I agree with Dennis - if they fit, burn em!! I took down a big elm out back that was really flagging this summer and I wanted to cut it before it turned to stone. Base was 20+" and although it was not a twister it was still typical elm. I needed to run the hydro until it bottomed out on every split and many still needed some manual manipulation to separate them. Needless to say they were split rather large and I left a lot of rounds. Just going to put this in a 3+yr stack and wait those rounds out. With the right CSS time rounds are great for overnites and saves a ton of time splitting.

 

[TimJ]

I hear ya Bob............I put that round in the stove last night and it burned beautiful. After 3 hours it was glowing red. I thought I might still see it when I got up to go to work but all that was left was coals. I did get some good burn time.

 

[BobUrban]

Tim - I also find elm to be one of my best "complete burners" Meaning that when well seasoned it burns down to almost nothing which is nice when trying to combat this deep cold spell and having to load the stove on top of a thick bed of coals to keep up. The Ash I am burning takes a little longer to turn into dust and leaves a larger coal bed. Not a problem when outside temps are in the 20's but can get deep when it is zero-ish!!