Burning Elm

[klsmurf]

Hi all,

I have a HUGE elm tree at my house in town that has to come down. I hate to take any tree, but this is a hazard. It's 60 feet plus with multiple trunks, that would take out all my neighbors garages (depending which way it fell) if it fell. It's a great shade tree. but has to go.

I've checked on the web and found:
Elm is in the middle of the pack as far as BTU's / cu. ft. compared to other woods.
Elm is a tough wood to split.

If I were to use it, it would be used to heat a shop in an out building on the farm.

Anybody have any experience or knowledge of using elm as firewood?     Thanks

[DanG]

If the sap is already up, leaves budding out, then the best firewood opportunity is next winter - split while hard-frozen!

[electrondady1]

this last winter was only my second year burning wood in the shop
i had to split one piece of elm and i remember it was a pig
i have a hole tree cut up and ready for next year.
it's big dia.  i will rent a splitter.

[Mary B]

Cut and burned elm for years. Take it down now so it can start drying and split towards fall. I always used a hydraulic splitter and never attempted splitting it by hand. Burns hot and long and makes an excellent firewood.

[Isaiah]

   If its a red elm  cut into logs and make lumber out of it !! They used to use it for runners on bob sleds  and stone boats etc will last a long time!
If it would not be suitable for lumber then cut in logs like you would  for lumber then take a 18'' small chain saw and cut a hole in the centre of the log as deep as you can one stick of 40% dynamite and mud the hole shut and ignite, and no one or two sticks wont blow out the neighbours windows

[klsmurf]

Thanks for the responses. I'll keep most of them in mind, no dynamite. I was told it was a Chinese Elm, but I'll have to do some checking on that. It's just starting to bud out now.

[ThomasJ]

Chinese elm is very fibrous and hard to split but it does burn decently once it has been allowed to dry. I would suggest that you cut it late in the fall after it has dropped it's leaves because these trees tend to hold a lot of water during the growing season and the sap really smells bad. After 20 years plus of working as an arborist, I learned to wear a particular set of clothes whenever I was working with chinese elms because the smell can be persistent especially when you are working with an older tree

[klsmurf]

ThomasJ... Thanks for the info. It is a Chinese elm, and all leafed out now.  BTW welcome to the forum!

Kevin

[ThomasJ]

Thanks for the welcome