wood ID. elm????

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Jeff2009

New Member
Dec 11, 2014
42
michigan
[Hearth.com] wood ID.  elm???? [Hearth.com] wood ID.  elm????[Hearth.com] wood ID.  elm???? Thinking it's elm but not sure. Any help would be great.
 

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"Elms have alternating layers of a wafer type white cork sandwiched in the outer bark. Very distinctive and usually a chevron pattern in the grain pores between the spring wood and winter wood and wide growth rings. I see it on Red Elm and American.

This white wafer cork easily separates with a fingernail and feels soft to the touch.

The bark on Pignut hickory is harder than the wood on Elm. And pignut weighs almost twice as much as Elm.

Also fresh cut hickory has a very strong smell. This all cannot be deciphered from these pictures submitted.

Its up to the OP." - quote
This is my comment to to another ID. These two trees look exact. Bark is a little different.
 
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Doesnt look American and it doesn't look Red Elm. But there are other species. Photos can go just so far.
Is the wood super heavy?
Does it smell like elmers glue?
Is the bark soft? Or dense and hard?
Can you get a close up that's in focus?
 
I'm better at identifying a tree by leafs ... but to me the bark is wrong for American elm ... looks more like some type of maple to me.
 
I see two nice pieces of Ash in the back there. The front large ones look like Maple. It all looks good to me.
 
Here are some more. Trees were cut in low swampy areas. Stringy when split. Very heavy when green.
 

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Grey/American Elm.
 
I changed my mind . . . took a good hard look at that last pic . . . and yeah . . . looks like elm. Not sure what I was thinking.

Time to up my meds I guess . . . or at least start taking some meds.

Drying time -- should burn in a year or so . . . burns better with two years. Wicked stringy . . . cannot imagine splitting it without the use of hydraulics.
 
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Anybody have experience will elm? How long are we looking at for a dry time?

I burned mainly American Elm my first year. It makes for decent firewood. Live Elm holds a tremendous amount of water, but will dry fairly quickly if you split it on the smaller side. I would say 1 drying season would get it in the low to mid 20s on your MM.
 
My experience is with a dead elm. It created a lot of heat but it didn't offer much flame. Lots of strange blue flames and good coaling. I would mix it with some other variety but either way it is worthwhile. If the tree was alive you might want to wait 2-3 years to burn it.
 
I changed my mind . . . took a good hard look at that last pic . . . and yeah . . . looks like elm. Not sure what I was thinking.

Time to up my meds I guess . . . or at least start taking some meds.

Drying time -- should burn in a year or so . . . burns better with two years. Wicked stringy . . . cannot imagine splitting it without the use of hydraulics.

I have split a lot of elm and stringy is right. If it has a crotch or a piece with a limb I noodle those suckers. No sense in frustrating my self with the splitter.
 
Hehehe - elm. Hopefully you got one of the "easier" trees, cuz when they are tough...well, they are tough.
 
I have a special chain that I ground just for noodling the tough ones. Cuts through pretty quick, but if I am not careful it will dull fast.
 
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