Woodstock Owners and Other Cat Owners, What Say You? Elm or No???

[Kansasplains]

I am in the process of setting up my Woodstock Keystone. Just today I heard of someone that said that burning elm gunked up and ruined the catalytic combustor in their Woodstock stove. Now wait a minute says I I thought you can burn both hard woods and soft woods with a cat. I've got a lot of elm on my place that I wouldn't have minded burning since it's close to home and free. I know it's not as good as hardwoods, but at least good enough for Spring and Fall. Have you burned elm with a cat? Is it in fact hard on the cat, or is it an old wives' fable with something else causing their cat to gunk up. Your input, please.

Kansasplains

 

[savageactor7]

We've burned seasoned Elm for 30 years and never had a problem with it. Except for difficulty splitting it's one of my favorite woods...one of the few I can harvest in the dead winter and throw right in the stove. Of course I'm talking about dead elm.

Do you burn hot? I'm no expert but feel any wood can be a problem if you're simmering wood all the time for long burns.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We burn some elm every year with no problems. Like savageactor, we have plenty of dead stuff every year and have burned elm for as long as we've burned wood.

However, we do not burn it the same year as we cut it. We found that even though the elm is dead, and the bark has fallen off, there is still too much moisture in the wood to burn it that year. So we just wait a year (but then we have over a 5 year supply cut, split and stacked). And yes, you do need a splitter for most elm. Occasionally you will find one that can be split with an ax or maul but most of it is so twisted and stringy that you need help.

btw, it may not be as good as oak for heat, but it is still good wood to burn and you get a decent amount of heat from it. It does not burn super hot like some woods either; we find it is good wood.

 

[Kansasplains]

Wow, there must not be too many cat users out there. Savage, are you burning with a cat or not. Backwoods, I thought I might hear from you since you seem to like that Fireview pretty good. Here's another question about elm. My brother has a pile of elm that he picked up several years ago when a neighbor took down a large elm tree. It's still in 6-8 ft. lengths. Would you suggest letting that season too once I get it cut to length or could it be burned sooner. I'm not at all interested in ruining my cat right from the start.
Thanks for the responses.

Kansasplains

 

[begreen]

Please tell your neighbor that they need to get rid of that stuff! It's toxic. It will clog their toilets. Send it to me asap. I have a special incinerator designed to handle the stuff.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Wow, there must not be too many cat users out there. Savage, are you burning with a cat or not. Backwoods, I thought I might hear from you since you seem to like that Fireview pretty good. Here's another question about elm. My brother has a pile of elm that he picked up several years ago when a neighbor took down a large elm tree. It's still in 6-8 ft. lengths. Would you suggest letting that season too once I get it cut to length or could it be burned sooner. I'm not at all interested in ruining my cat right from the start.
Thanks for the responses.

Kansasplains

Thanks Kansas. Yes, we do have a cat. We just bought that stove a year ago and when we had started looking at new stoves we initially stayed away from any stove that used a cat. We didn't figure we wanted it as we had heard some bad things about them and most stove makers have went away from them. However, we became convinced and finally bought the stove. We have not been sorry as the stove works great and we do love the cat. too.

Yesterday was our first real warm day (50 degrees) and we figured it would be time to check the chimney again. We had put up a new chimney when we put in the new stove (last summer). Unbelievable! All the creosote in the chimney would not fill a teaspoon! It is just as shinny as it was when we put it up. We have not even cleaned the cap....and it does not need cleaning. Yes, we do like the cat.!

Back to the elm. First thing I'd do would be to take a saw and cut a few blocks to check and see if it was to punky to burn. If it has just laid on the ground it very well might be too punky. If not punky at least you could tell if there was too much moisture or not. Probably it should be okay if the tree was green when it was cut. If it were already dead when he cut it, probably it is not worth much. If not punky, I'd get it cut, split and stacked ASAP. Could be a great find.

 

[jpl1nh]

I like elm, but then again I like hemlock, white pine, poplar, silver maple..in short, all the things people don't recommend. When I need heat in the middle of the winter, I use my good hardwoods like oak, black locust, black birch, but with a Woodstock stove, the soft woods are awesome for not too much heat around this time of year or just a quick fire any time of year. I'm always intriqued with the rumors about why you shouldn't burn certain types of woods such as the elm rumor you heard. A non-wood burning but fairly plant knowledgeable friend of mine told me she had heard that you shouldn't burn black locust because it's smoke was toxic! I've been burning lots of it trying to drive off my downwind neighbors who have lots of black locust growing around their property so I could get more of it. Unfortunately for some reason it hasn't worked. ;-) Bottom line, your Woodstock will burn all woods happily as long as you bring it up to cat light off temp. By the way, I lit my stove at the end of October and have not used a match since, same fire still going. At times it's down to some coals buried under a big bed of ash during warms days, but I just stir it up, throw in whatever type of wood is appropriate for our needs at the time, and off we go. Like most all Woodstock owners, God I Love this Stove!!

 

[Ken45]

I'm not an expert, but I think it you burn well seasoned wood, you will be fine. Elm is harder to split than many woods and splitting is critical to seasoning. I would bet that anyone who has problems buring elm is because it has not split and seasoned well enough. Put another way, oak/maple burns better because it is easier to split and season. But if you split elm and season it right, it will be just fine. (It might take a bit longer to season, also)

If you want to burn it this fall, I would say get it cut and split soon and split it a little smaller than you would oak or maple. Also cutting to shorter lengths will help season it faster since wood seasons through the ends the best. A 12" length of wood will season a lot faster than a 24" length.

BTW, elm is a hardwood, although not as "hard" as oak or hickory.

Ken

 

[swestall]

The CAT likes smoke. It gets up to the temp it needs to fire off and burns the smoke. It needs the smoke to burn to be happy. It will burn most any kind of wood smoke. It doesn't like foreign substances because they contain chemicals that are harmful to the CAT. But, wood smoke doesn't fall into that category.

 

[Kansasplains]

BTW, elm is a hardwood, although not as "hard" as oak or hickory.

Thanks Ken for that clarification. I thought about it after I had it already posted.

Thanks for all the input. It sounds like I don't have to be too scared of elm as long as it's seasoned properly. I guess that goes for any kind of wood I'm trying to burn with a cat.

Kansasplains