American Elm or "Ulmus Americana" can be difficult to split when fresh cut live or its not been dead for too long. Over the years I've cut and split many full cords of it, some being up to 36" diameter. Not all of it is gnarly twisted grain, much of it is or in between. The straight grain wood is easier to deal with for sure.
The twisted grain wood does not split cleanly, you can make a pile of stringy, broken up pieces which in my opinion is useless for decent fire wood.
2 things stand out to me to make it easier.
1.) Let the blocks dry out, how long depends, the longer the better, but if it has to be split on short notice, line up the best checking you can find on the end, either end, no matter what way it grows, does not matter. I often reverse the block/log and line up these check marks to get a decent split. I have cords of blocks waiting to be split, bucked since mid fall of '14, these will be so much easier to deal with having dried first, but I have a lot more elm logs to haul in, just can't stop this dutch elm, its destroying a 30 year growth of all elm around here for the most part, shameful as these trees are beautiful, I'd prefer to let them grow, but have cut all the dead and dying ones I can to get them away from healthy ones.
2.)If its difficult wood, noticeably different than other blocks or trees I've cut, its better to then just split 2" planks off the outside, keep splitting around the outside until you know that center piece won't stack if split, as sometimes its just best to leave it or it just makes a mess of it.
If its crotch wood, I split this crotch first, you can see the wine glass like shape in the grain once halved, it just seems to work easier and that goes the opposite way of its growth.
Elm is time consuming to process, there is no doubt, you can make a mess of it easily, but I find its well worth doing as it does burn like Oak, just does not give you the same coal bed, however with plenty of it on hand, the fact that it does grow fast, its a viable source of firewood in these parts as I see things.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Tuning-Up Your Tractor: Plugs & Compression Testing - by Curtis Von Fange. The engine seems to run rough. In the exhaust you can hear an occasion 'poofing' sound like somethings not firing on all cylinders. Under loaded conditions the tractor seems to lack power and it belches black smoke out of the exhaust. For some reason it just doesn't want to start up without cranking and cranking the starter. All these conditions can be signals that your unit is in need of a tune up. Ok, so what is involved in a tune up? You say, swap plugs and file the points....now tha
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
