# How is elm for firewood?



## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

So we have this big elm out in the front yard that survived Sandy but it was lifting from the ground a bit. I was worried about whether it would come down or not (at one point, it really looked like it was going to go) and I've decided I want to get an estimate to have it brought down because I don't trust it now. 

First off, how is the root system of these things? It's a good 70+ feet tall and the ground was definitely moving during the 96 mph winds. 

Secondly, if we got it cut down, we'd like to keep the wood for firewood. I read that it's tough to split and that it's only fair as a firewood? We have a big fireplace that I can get screaming hot so pretty much most wood is burned well by the time we're done with it.  But any thoughts on it?


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## DaleK (Sep 23, 2004)

Elm here is one of the toughest root systems to take out. It just doesn't like to let go.
As for firewood, elm is great, even TOO good if you aren't careful. I've seen woodstoves with the door warped because somebody filled it full of dry elm and it got too hot for the stove to take. A little bit will do you mixed with something else.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Good firewood.....definitely want to get a hydraulic splitter.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Split it while it's green and wear a clothespin on your nose when you're burning it.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

Cabin Fever said:


> Split it while it's green and wear a clothespin on your nose when you're burning it.


Uh - oh!! Bad smell? I've burned the small branches that have come off it and never noticed a smell but I've not burned a bunch of logs. Maybe I should also cut down the maple tree at the same time and mix it up? LOL


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## Ramblin Wreck (Jun 10, 2005)

I've burned it, but had to use a hydraulic splitter to split it. It's tough wood to split, almost as bad as sweet gum.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

I never noticed an odor in a woodstove. FP might be different, but if you burn it with other wood it should do just fine.


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## Dale Alan (Sep 26, 2012)

Burns really hot,good wood . I have split a bunch of it . My first year was a sledgehammer and wedges,talk about fun. Hydraulics all the way now.


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## charliesbugs (Feb 25, 2007)

If this is a red elm it will make good burning wood,but if is a Chinese elm, which are not native, it is not the best. Have someone look at it that knows trees and they can tell you. Is it still alive?? and had leaves on,if so prob. the Chinese type. Good luck.


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## Silvercreek Farmer (Oct 13, 2005)

I'm on the tree's side (I have a soft spot for big trees). If it made it through 96 mph winds I think it has proved itself!


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

Silvercreek Farmer said:


> I'm on the tree's side (I have a soft spot for big trees). If it made it through 96 mph winds I think it has proved itself!


But it was lifting an area around the base to about 10 feet away from it. It was SCARY!!!! I really thought it was going!

If the tree company comes and says it's healthy, it will stay but this is the ONE house we have that would fall on the house in the storm. We're on Long Island and after Sandy, all bets are off for trees that might hit the house. LOL


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

charliesbugs said:


> If this is a red elm it will make good burning wood,but if is a Chinese elm, which are not native, it is not the best. Have someone look at it that knows trees and they can tell you. Is it still alive?? and had leaves on,if so prob. the Chinese type. Good luck.


Yep - it's still alive but it doesn't look like a Chinese elm. Honestly, it really looks like an American Elm. It doesn't have fuzzy twigs like a red elm. Hmmm.....


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## braggscowboy (Jan 6, 2004)

GREAT WOOD, if you don't have anything else. No it will burn good, at least here in Oklahoma. I like it pretty dry when burning. Gets hot, and split easy, some, not all kinds of elms, but some.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Annsni said:


> Uh - oh!! Bad smell?...


American elm kinda smells like stale cat urine when it is burned. Google the term, "---- elm".


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## Cindy in NY (May 10, 2002)

Split it right after it is cut down. The longer it sits the tougher it's going to be to split.


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## geo in mi (Nov 14, 2008)

If it really is an American Elm, of that size, you should definitely call your state forester or ag dept. They will want to take a look at it to see its genetics......Most of the American Elms I have seen since the 1950's have been only about twenty years old--and not that big--before dying off with the Dutch Elm Disease.

Because of that, elm makes a pretty good stove wood at the smaller diameter. You can let it cure standing after it dies off, then just cut the barkless rounds for the right length. Larger diameter, just cut thinner rounds and quarter them into stove chunks.

Yes, it does stink a little, but I've gotten used to it as dry wood(not green).

geo


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

geo in mi said:


> If it really is an American Elm, of that size, you should definitely call your state forester or ag dept. They will want to take a look at it to see its genetics......Most of the American Elms I have seen since the 1950's have been only about twenty years old--and not that big--before dying off with the Dutch Elm Disease.


Yeah - Maybe I'll bring in a sample of the leaves and branches to the cooperative service near here. It still has leaves on - it's one of the latest to drop it's leaves. Every other tree is bare but this one and it's usually not fully bare until January. From what I've looked up online, it doesn't meet the description of slippery elm with it's fuzzy twigs so I'm not sure what other kind of elm it would be.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

Here's a picture that is a few years old of my daughters standing in front of the tree. I'm posting it so you can see the bark.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

And here you can see a bit of the size of it. It's the bigger tree closer to the house with nothing around the base.


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## o&itw (Dec 19, 2008)

There are several varieties of elm. American elm is so-so as firewood compared to oak or hickory. It is does not (conventionally) split well, but usually one can (usually) split it with a mall or wedges if the don't try to split it through the center. Strike the wood about 1/3 out from the center toward the edge. It will "slab" off this way and then you will have a squared center piece.

This same method usually works with shagbark or shellbark hickory. Red, bitternut, pig nut and some of the other hickories are usually tough to split with any method.

For a tree that size... it would be a lot easier to go with a hydraulic splitter.


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## ldc (Oct 11, 2006)

It's likely to be an American Elm, due to it's size only! There are isolated examples of the real thing that simply missed the elm blight of the 50's and 60's. When they were coming down in my childhood in NJ, my family burned the logs, but I don't remember a bad smell.
Sounds like you'll have a great supply of fire wood! I'd only take down the other tree if you think there is something wrong with it, or if - with the elm gone - the maple could hit the house. In hurricane Gustav, here in LA we lost the roof, and had trees (big ones) in the house. That kind of damage is hard/expensive to recover from. Growing up in Jersey, there was an expression, "the first 100 years, the trees protect the house...." with the 2nd part left out! Discretion is the better part of valor these days with such strong storms. It's expensive to take them down if you don't do it yourself, but cheaper than a new roof. Good luck with this! ldc


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Thanks for the picture. It looks like a nice healthy tree, but you're right, it is close to the house. It'll be a shame to cut it down, but you have to do what you have to do. Maybe you could have that log milled into lumber and have something nice made of it.


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## greg273 (Aug 5, 2003)

Twisted grain, but is relatively heavy and so has some decent BTU value.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

ldc said:


> It's likely to be an American Elm, due to it's size only! There are isolated examples of the real thing that simply missed the elm blight of the 50's and 60's.


Our house is built in a former sand mine and any of the trees that were planted were planted from the mid-60s on. This tree is the tallest one in the "pit" of the mine so I'd expect it was one of the earliest planted down there. We moved in 21 years ago and it was a huge tree even back then. 

I'd only take down the other tree if you think there is something wrong with it, or if - with the elm gone - the maple could hit the house. In hurricane Gustav, here in LA we lost the roof, and had trees (big ones) in the house. That kind of damage is hard/expensive to recover from. Growing up in Jersey, there was an expression, "the first 100 years, the trees protect the house...." with the 2nd part left out! Discretion is the better part of valor these days with such strong storms. It's expensive to take them down if you don't do it yourself, but cheaper than a new roof. Good luck with this! ldc[/QUOTE]

The maple is pretty small but not that healthy but if it fell, I don't think it would hit the house. This definitely would if it went over in that direction. Sandy had northeasterly winds (the prevailing wind for us in storms) so the house would have been safe but I just worry. The biggest damage by the south facing shores was water but everywhere else it was trees and even now you still have to drive around the debris piles that are everywhere. I'm of the feeling "get rid of it if it's a risk" so I'm thinking unless it's perfectly healthy, it's going.


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

I just realized that you can see the tree in our backyard that fell! If you look at the sycamore that is up front with the plantings around the base and look through it just to the left, you'll see a pine way in the back VERY tall just under the fourth branch on the left of the sycamore. That was a 70+ foot tree that came down in the storm but hit nothing other than another tree. We were so fortunate!


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## ronbre (Apr 26, 2009)

par excellent....use a sharp chain


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

We burned a Slippery Elm last winter. No complaints.


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## farminghandyman (Mar 4, 2005)

elm is about all the wood I can get, and have burnt it for 30 years, works for us,


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## Viki (Apr 10, 2013)

We burned almost exclusively elm this past winter and were not impressed. It was free, though, so I should not complain. I want to know if anyone has ever had an issue with 'rocks' that look like pieces of asphalt in the wood stove while shoveling out the ash....I initially thought the firebrick was breaking into pieces, but it's not. There are a lot of these 'rocks' in there - they are black and range in size from a golf ball to the size of my small hands. They really do look like pieces of broken asphalt - like when new potholes form and the pieces of the road are scattered all over. We have a large wood stove, and we filled an ash bucket easily with them. I googled like crazy, and have found nothing. Anyone with an answer?


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

Viki said:


> ....I want to know if anyone has ever had an issue with 'rocks' that look like pieces of asphalt in the wood stove while shoveling out the ash....I initially thought the firebrick was breaking into pieces, but it's not. There are a lot of these 'rocks' in there - they are black and range in size from a golf ball to the size of my small hands. They really do look like pieces of broken asphalt - like when new potholes form and the pieces of the road are scattered all over. We have a large wood stove, and we filled an ash bucket easily with them. I googled like crazy, and have found nothing. Anyone with an answer?


I hope they are not chunks of creosote falling out of your chimney. 

How often do you sweep your chimney and do you often damp down the air supply to you woodstove?


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## TNHermit (Jul 14, 2005)

Beautiful cabinet wood. Maybe you could trade


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## Kaitlin (Aug 3, 2006)

The old rhyme says
Elm wood burns like churchyard mould
E'en the very flames are cold.

We've never burnt it so don't know how true it is.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

There are several types of elm in our area. It all burns good in the heating stove, but if the limbs hang down instead of going up... its a real bugger to split. I found it much easier to bust if you turn it upside down from the way it grew. Then theres one kind of elm that smells a bit like having the fire put out by the boy scout jamboree....


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## PNP Katahdins (Oct 28, 2008)

Viki said:


> I want to know if anyone has ever had an issue with 'rocks' that look like pieces of asphalt in the wood stove while shoveling out the ash....I initially thought the firebrick was breaking into pieces, but it's not. There are a lot of these 'rocks' in there - they are black and range in size from a golf ball to the size of my small hands. They really do look like pieces of broken asphalt - like when new potholes form and the pieces of the road are scattered all over. We have a large wood stove, and we filled an ash bucket easily with them. I googled like crazy, and have found nothing. Anyone with an answer?


These are called elm clinkers. We heat with wood and have access to a lot of dead elm trees for "free" (except the labor, saw, gas, etc.). Not good for mid-winter overnight heat but fine during the day or warmer nights. Lots of hard clinkers to carry out with the ash.

Is the elm in question losing bark on the bottom part? Looks like the lower is lighter-colored in the yard photo. Better to take a diseased tree down on your time than after it damages something.

Peg


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## Annsni (Oct 27, 2006)

PNP Katahdins said:


> Is the elm in question losing bark on the bottom part? Looks like the lower is lighter-colored in the yard photo. Better to take a diseased tree down on your time than after it damages something.
> 
> Peg


No - It's just the shading on the tree. The bark is definitely solid. I will have a tree expert come to look at the tree but they are still busy from Sandy, if you can believe it!


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