Split 3 - 4 cords of elm -- nastY!

[MNBobcat]

I had a tree service give me 3 - 4 cords of elm. Some of the rounds were over 3 feet across. I had to use the grapple on the bobcat to set them into the splitter and just kept spitting until I whittled them down. Elm was so nasty, stringy, to split that it has to be about the worst wood there is to split. We split it all in 2 days but boy am I sore! It was all our wood splitter could do to split that stuf

You ever split elm? If so, you have my sympathies!

 

[mtnmizer]

Elm was the material of choice for wagon wheel hubs,
the blanks ends were waxed and let dry one year for every inch thick.
Then machined for the spokes.
Tough stuff MM

 

[Tony H]

Split a little elm today and have maybe two face cords worth of logs to cut and split. All the logs are 15" or smaller so it won't be as tough as you had and the splitter goes slower but has no problem with stuff this size.

 

[wetwood]

This part of the country has more Elm than any other tree except maybe Eastern redcedar and we burn a lot of it. Elm is why I bought a 35t splitter because most of the time you don't split it you tear through it. Does burn nice and coals up well but when it is really cold we like to mix it with a denser wood like Locust, Mulberry, or Hedge.

 

[Duetech]

Elm was my main wood for about four years and I still get it when I can. About 22 million btu per cord. Red oak and mulberry are 24 and there is a notable difference. Elm has to be very dry to burn best or get ready for creosote. We had a bunch of elm die off to D. elm disease and trying to split that stuff with a maul forced me in to buying a wood splitter. I have found other woods that sometimes require the hydraulic splitter but elm most usually does. The only reason I swing a maul at elm anymore is just to confirm that buying that woodslpitter was still a wise decision.

 

[savageactor7]

lol...yeah elm is tricky to split, unfortunately for us it's the hardest wood we have in our wood lot. So yeah we burn a lot of it. One good thing though, the elm trees now die at a more manageable size...like no bigger diameter than 8" or so and they've become an easier take. Decades ago we struggled with those big ones...Yikes!...glad those times are behind me.

 

[burnt2perfection]

I was splitting some big rounds yesterday 36" or so... blew a hydraulic hose on a big homemade splitter that I would guess is at least a 35 ton.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I sure feel for you splitting those big logs!

The real trick to splitting elm is to not cut any elm tree until is is dead and all of the bark has fallen from the tree. It is a little harder on saw chains but it splits a whole lot easier. Another trick is to let it season in firewood length for a year or more before splitting.

Not only does this work good for splitting but I believe the wood burns much better. When you split green elm, you end up with lots of fuzzy strings and much of the inside of the wood has "loosened" a bit. When the wood dries and you put it into the stove, this for sure causes it to light quicker and easier but does not hold fire very long compared to the wood you get if you wait on cutting and splitting.

 

[firefighterjake]

Last year I kept wondering why everyone complained about splitting elm since I was cutting and splitting elm that had been standing dead for over a year . . . the bark was off and it was very dry. Every once in a while I would get an elm that was still a bit wet and it would present a little more of a challenge -- it would split up a bit harder and would not split cleanly.

This year I cut and split some live elm as I was clearing a lot . . . egads . . . I cannot imagine trying to split elm by hand if someone was not doing this with standing dead elm. Very stringy. Very tough.

 

[savageactor7]

The real trick to splitting elm ... ... the wood you get if you wait on cutting and splitting.

Huh I didn't know that but I'm in the perfect position to find out. I've got quite a bit 10+ cords of mostly 95% dead elm staged up to process just before last winter.

I was gonna start cutting and splitting after the holidays...right now I'm working for the wife.

 

[MNBobcat]

Sounds like you guys have been there....done that.

The tree service said they thought the tree was about 80 feet tall.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to burn this stuff green. I spent this fall installing the wood boiler (still have the inside plumbing to do in the house) which left no time to cut wood. We just bought the house a year ago last May. Last fall, we pre-bought 2,000 gallons of propane at $2.35 a gallon. I decided there was no way I'm going to spend $4k a year to heat. That, and I have a 40x70 pole building I want to heat, too. The OWB seemed to make the most sense.

I've got a couple cord of pine that has been drying about 3 months in 10 - 12 foot logs. I've also got a lot of dead oak I'm starting to cut and split. I really don't have a choice but to burn what I have unless I buy wood from someone. My thought was that when I load the stove I'd mix all 3 species together. If one burns better than the other maybe they'll help dry each other out. Could be a lost cause....I don't know.

I'm anticipating I'm going to need at least 14 cords. Which means I'll likely have to cut and split all winter. Here in MN, that means bitter cold! But hopefully we'll get some warmer days if my luck holds out. I have a diesel JD tractor, Bobcat skidsteer with grapple and a 14 foot dump trailer. I'm hoping with this stuff that the cutting and hauling wood out of the woods will go pretty well. We'll see. I haven't heated with wood in 15 years.

 

[MNBobcat]

I was splitting some big rounds yesterday 36" or so... blew a hydraulic hose on a big homemade splitter that I would guess is at least a 35 ton.

Other than blowing the hose, how did the splitter handle the elm? Our splitter would frequently get stuck with the wedge stuck in the wood and nothing split. I'd have to either beat the round with a hammer to get it loose or grab the round with the grapple and lift the whole splitter off the ground and shake it around a bit! LOL! Once it broke loose, we would turn the round and take a smaller bite.

Then it was so tough that we couldn't get the strings to break loose. So we had to flip the round end for end and run the wedge through to break the strings loose. If it was one of the big rounds, I'd set it on the ground and use the tines on the bobcat root grapple to tear it apart and break that stringy stuff loose.

My dad is 72 and he was out there both days helping me. I'm going to get him a really nice christmas present this year. Man...we worked like dogs!

 

[burnt2perfection]

Other than blowing the hose, how did the splitter handle the elm?

I believe I had one stuck on the wedge when the hose split. :grrr: I can usually "tear" my way though as long as I dont get greedy and try and take to big of a bite. You do have to flip the beastly stuff end for end and run the wedge though a second time quite a bit. Nothing like working twice as hard for the same amount of fuel. :lol: This particular tree was standing. It had a few leaves on it last summer, dead this summer. Most of the stuff less than 12" splits decent. (fairly dry) The big chunks are wet and nasty. (I used to think I liked wet and nasty)

 

[MNBobcat]

Other than blowing the hose, how did the splitter handle the elm?

I believe I had one stuck on the wedge when the hose split. :grrr: I can usually "tear" my way though as long as I dont get greedy and try and take to big of a bite. You do have to flip the beastly stuff end for end and run the wedge though a second time quite a bit. Nothing like working twice as hard for the same amount of fuel. :lol: This particular tree was standing. It had a few leaves on it last summer, dead this summer. Most of the stuff less than 12" splits decent. (fairly dry) The big chunks are wet and nasty. (I used to think I liked wet and nasty)

Wet and nasty shouldn't go in the same sentence with "wood". Er...uh...well...never mind.

Did you have to have a replacement hose made up or were you able to buy it off the shelf? Our local John Deere dealer will make about whatever kind of hose a guy might need.

Just got in from stacking. Didn't go so well. The whole thing toppled like dominoes. I figured I would need some 2x4 bracing on one end (the other had it) to hold the ends of the stacked wood. But I decided after it all fell I'm just going to dump it in the shed with the tractor. My long term plan is to use pallets and the bracing would get in the way. Wouldn't make sense to install bracing just for this season. Instead, I'll pile the rest of my split wood outside and cover it with a tarp. I'll bucket it in to the shed as I need it.

 

[burntime]

You've been elmed!

 

[Wet1]

I once dealt with one large elm, now I give it all away. It's not worth the hassle to me since I can get oak, maple, hickory, beech, etc., which are all far easier to deal with.

 

[burnt2perfection]

[Did you have to have a replacement hose made up or were you able to buy it off the shelf?

I'll have to have one made. No big deal. I'll have it ready by the weekend, which is the only time I have enough free time for splitting.

 

[CrawfordCentury]

You've been elmed!

Fun to do to the greenhorns. Let 'em watch you laser through some big red oak rounds that fall apart like the meat of a slow cooked roast.

Then say, now you try. And put an elm round up on the stump.

The entertainment value is directly proportional to the guys level of frustration.

Seriously, the smaller rounds get "peeled" by whacking away around the perimeter and working in. Anything over 10" gets the noodle treatment. Two halves are easier to split.

 

[Jags]

Splits like budda...when frozen in nitrogen.

 

[Nic36]

My first tree score (in preparation for burning the next year) was a very large tree that had fallen two houses down from me. My neighbor told me about it after he saw me install my chimney. He said it was oak.

When I saw it, I knew it wasn't oak. But, I asked the 85 year old lady who lived there if I could have it and she said yes. I also asked her if she knew what kind of tree it was. She said elm. At the time, it didn't really dawn on me what that meant. I told her that I would clean the entire thing up and would put any wood I didn't want by the road for the city to pick up. After cutting some of it, I decided to see how well it would split. I was in for a rude awakening. The maul, axe and wedge all bounced off it. I knew I was screwed. Sooo, all I could do was keep all the smaller pieces that I could burn whole. All the rest was loaded on my trailer and placed by the road. Fortunately, I was able to cut the trunk into large rounds and roll it onto my ramped utility trailer. It was a lot of work though.

At least the old lady got the tree cleaned up from her yard. What's even funnier is all the wood I placed by the road was picked up by someone else before the city loader truck came by. I just hope they had a hydraulic splitter.

I'm actually burning that elm now. But I won't mess with it again, even with my hydraulic splitter.

 

[benjamin]

When I was knee high to a grasshopper, Elm was almost the only wood we burned. Of course it was always a huge old standing tree, dead with no bark, and we left the trunk where it fell. The pieces that were a tad too big to fit in the stove door (Riteway?) weren't that hard to split down, but they had been indoors for at least a few weeks at that point.

I'll state the obvious, the dead oak is your best wood. If you have to burn the green elm add it when the fire is going full blast and will be kept going full blast.

 

[firefighterjake]

My first tree score (in preparation for burning the next year) was a very large tree that had fallen two houses down from me. My neighbor told me about it after he saw me install my chimney. He said it was oak.

When I saw it, I knew it wasn't oak. But, I asked the 85 year old lady who lived there if I could have it and she said yes. I also asked her if she knew what kind of tree it was. She said elm. At the time, it didn't really dawn on me what that meant. I told her that I would clean the entire thing up and would put any wood I didn't want by the road for the city to pick up. After cutting some of it, I decided to see how well it would split. I was in for a rude awakening. The maul, axe and wedge all bounced off it. I knew I was screwed. Sooo, all I could do was keep all the smaller pieces that I could burn whole. All the rest was loaded on my trailer and placed by the road. Fortunately, I was able to cut the trunk into large rounds and roll it onto my ramped utility trailer. It was a lot of work though.

At least the old lady got the tree cleaned up from her yard. What's even funnier is all the wood I placed by the road was picked up by someone else before the city loader truck came by. I just hope they had a hydraulic splitter.

I'm actually burning that elm now. But I won't mess with it again, even with my hydraulic splitter.

HehHeh . . . kind of reminded me of a big, ol' dead elm that the Town cut down for me since it was right beside the road and limbs were starting to fall on the road . . . I started bucking it up a little at a time and then one day I came home to find the entire tree gone . . . along with some of the wood I had bucked up. I eventually tracked down the MIA wood to a guy in town who claimed he was told to cut and remove the wood which he did since he was hoping to burn wood the following year (which would be this year.)

I explained to him that I was working on the wood and planning to use it and he was apologetic . . . but since he had taken the time to buck it up I figured the Good Karma thing to do would be to offer him half of the wood. He seemed pretty happy with that idea and said something about the wood being good oak. I told him it was elm and he insisted it was oak . . . I didn't have the heart to argue with him an further since I knew it was elm and knew that as soon as he attempted to split all those big, ol' rounds that he would soon learn that his "oak" was in fact stringy, ol' elm.