Dead Elm for firewood?

[jymbee]

In all the years I've been cutting/burning firewood, I've never burned elm. Mostly due to the abundance of more common hardwoods here in the northeast such as maple, oak, ash, beech, etc. etc.

But given the numerous standing dead elm trees on our property, I'm wondering if I should perhaps reconsider my anti-elm opinions:

Elm-wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold;

*BURNING FIREWOOD*

Any satisfied elm burners out there?

 

[westcliffe01]

I thought Elm made great firewood. **** to split though. It has tremendous shear strength. First hit I gave it with the splitting axe, the axe bounced straight back up in the air as if the round was made of rubber... I had to look around to see if I was on candid camera.... If you don't have one, rent a splitter before you wear something out or injure yourself splitting it.

I will add that the wood I split was fairly dry. No idea what it is like wet.

 

[grnspot110]

Depends on the variety of Elm, Red Elm is one of the best! Around here, Red Elm usually dies by the time it's 6" in diameter, bark falls off, tree falls over at ground level. Very hard when dead, doesn't split too bad when dead, burns good w/ high heat!

American Elm is not so good though. ~~ grnspot

 

[ayelvington]

I love burning elm, and I love my log splitter

Word of caution: If the tree shed its bark over a year ago, you will see A LOT of small holes in the side of the wood. These are the bore holes from wood wasps laying eggs and munching on elm beetles. The wasps DO NOT sting, but the quantity of them indicates that the center of the wood is getting punky and may not make the best firewood.

I spent two months this summer cutting standing dead elm for my boiler. The observation on the holes came after splitting some wood and finding wasp larvae in various states of gestation. Now I just drop the rotting trees before they fall on me of their own accord.

"Piss elm" is a phenomena where some trees will burn smelling, well, pissy. It's no problem if you have a boiler, but it can be disagreeable if you have a stove in the house.

Cut it! Split it! Burn it!

 

[Bill 55]

I have burned many tons of red elm it is a wonderful wood. It burns down to a fine powder. We would leave it stand until the bark loosened up and fell off, by then all the smaller limbs had fallen also. Up to about 6 inch diameter you don't even have to split it. It is a very dense hard wood. I have made coasters and done decapage with oddly shaped pieces and was always surprised what a pretty wood it is, but sanding it is like trying to sand a concrete block.

 

[studor]

I burn a lot of elm as a result of the "dutch elm disease". As soon as the tree starts to have no leaves in the spring I try to get them cut to avoid further spread to other trees but it is a losing battle. If I did not have a hydraulic splitter I would probably leave them standing. Very "stringy" wood even when dry. Some say to split it frozen -- I find little difference. - JMHO

 

[The Haymaker]

I too have been burning it. Same deal, wait for the bark to fall off and knock it down. Dries quickly. We have a large amount of old growth stuff around here that is still getting hammered by Dutch Elm. Surprised no one has mentioned (Safety Police are abundant here!) is watch for widow makers. It doesn't take much to knock branches off overhead while you're cutting.

It will be a sad day (But happy for the woodstove) when this old girl at the end of my driveway finally succumbs. There used to be 5 of these on the property line and two bigger ones across the way.

Last, old pic, is probably about 40 years old. My house is now on the rh side of the driveway next to the 2nd farthest away pole. The only elm in the pic still standing is the one to the left of the white house. It looks like dutch elm has already gotten one of them. I don't remember the big barn, I'm 39 now, and the long equipment barn is a pile of skunk habitat.

 

[MotorSeven]

If it's standing dead, or recently down, I'll burn it...really doesn't matter what kind of wood it is...it all burns if dried properly:thumbsup:

 

[The Haymaker]

If it's standing dead, or recently down, I'll burn it...really doesn't matter what kind of wood it is...it all burns if dried properly:thumbsup:

I agree. Everything from 2" thorn to the 150 year old red oak that fell two years ago.

 

[studor]

Always good to leave a few standing dead trees as "cavity" trees for wildlife. If I don't get to a tree before the top splits off I leave it standing since a lot of it will end up being "punky" in short order.

 

[Kyle241]

Only yesterday I was bringing down standing dead elm. I find the wood burns very nicely and I like to leave them standing until the bark has fallen off and it 'air dries'. You can split it with a maul when it's in this condition however the real big pieces may have you smacking them 3-4 times. I bought a Fiskars maul only yesterday as I'm still on the fence about buying a splitter but I do really need one. I have a lot of dead elm on my property and will continue to bring more down today. I leave mostly dead/dying butternut for the wildlife to make homes in. I find these days, the elm, ash and butternut are all dying...kinda sad.

 

[Baby Grand]

Haymaker - that first photo reminds me of what my Grandma used to point to when we were in her car and call, in a nostalgic tone, a "wineglass" elm because of it's shape. Handsome looking tree.

Others have mentioned it's toughness. In A Reverence for Wood, Eric Sloane says that it was used to make ships blocks, wheel hubs and yokes.

 

[radioman]

Same here- I burn alot of elm. most of it is already right size to burn without splitting due to dutch elm disease that kils the tree within 10-15 years. Just observe your state transporting rules and you will be fine. The elm that is too big, Don't even think of using a hand splitter. You are going to spend more time trying to split it, use a gas powered one and you will be fine.
good luck and burn it!!! great stuff to burn!:thumbsup:

 

[Skyco]

If it's standing dead, or recently down, I'll burn it...really doesn't matter what kind of wood it is...it all burns if dried properly:thumbsup:

Exactly! While there are preferred woods to burn, I burn it all in my fireplace insert. Been burning a lot of poplar, had several fall down, they don't make good coals or give a lot of heat but I'm not gonna let em lay there and rot.

 

[RichZ]

I cut up and burn just about any wood that falls on my farm. Standing dead wood is important for wildlife, especially woodpeckers. But once it falls, I cut it up. Anything will burn, and I heat my house exclusively with wood, so I burn any hardwood that falls. And I cut up pine into slivers for kindling. Even if it only gives me a few minutes of heat, it's free heat. Right now, I'm burning some sumac wood in my woodstove. It burns hot and fast, so you have to keep feeding it, but my woodstove is in the next room from my computer, so I'm nearby and have the time to do it. I save similar wood to burn for when I'm near the stove, and have the time to keep feeding it. I only have 10 acres, so I only supplement my wood supply with fallen wood from my property. I buy most of my wood, and that's mainly oak, maple and ash, so I supplement that with whatever falls on my property. It's free heat.

 

[jimmyj]

I cut the elms (American) the moment they die from Dutch Elm Disease. The stuff can be split by hand in the winter if it's frozen but the splitter is a gift from God with this wood.

I like burning it, I also feel it helps slow the disease from spreading but that's probably just me rationalizing. When we bought our place there were nice big elms all over the place. I thought about trying to save them and read up but gave up. Apparently they are naturally immune until they get to be about 20 years and then the disease gets them.

Too bad, great trees.

 

[jymbee]

Great input-- thanks to all who replied!

Just started burning the 1st pickup load of elm I cut. Burns quite well indeed. Not as dense as the oaks and hard maples of course, but more dense than poplar. Probably closer to the soft maples. But as others pointed out, no reason at all not to burn it especially given that there's quite a bit of it on our property.

Had to laugh reading about splitting elm. Some time ago I cut down a fairly large elm tree for a neighbor. Having split wood with a maul for many years I figured I'd demonstrate my splitting expertise. Stood up a piece about 18 inches tall and a foot across. Calculated the best place for the impact then lifted the maul and gave it a mighty WHACK! Welllll... if you looked really close you could just about make out the small dent where the maul hit. Quite humbling indeed.

 

[SPYDERLK]

"One-Hoss Shay." by Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

[CJBOTA]

When I was young I uesd to wait till the dead of winter and split elm logs with an axe. Nowadays , just put it up on the splitter and drive your way thru it, It is very stringy but it burns great. And there is plenty of it.

 

[jymbee]

When I was young I used to wait till the dead of winter and split elm logs with an axe. Nowadays , just put it up on the splitter and drive your way thru it, It is very stringy but it burns great. And there is plenty of it.

My Dad was a very good ax splitter. Definitely an art and one I never really was any good at preferring the much less artful brute force method of a splitting maul or "go-devil" as we call 'em around here.

Split 7 tractor trailer loads one season by hand. Had to be dragged kicking and screaming to use a hydraulic splitter, but after a few weeks of using that machine I finally saw the light.