# stringy firewood



## woodslinger (Oct 9, 2010)

I have some wood that will not split even with a sledge and a wedge.  The wedge just buries as does the maul.  Used a 35 ton splitter to bust through it.  The splits look like they have a bad hair day.  I was told it was oak, the bark looks like white oak.  But after splitting, it is not oak.  Is stringy firewood, worth the time to split and stack?


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## Chargerman (Oct 9, 2010)

Elm is stringy and can be a pain to split unless it was standing dead for a long time.


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## shawng111 (Oct 9, 2010)

Probably elm, It's good firewood as far as btu's go, but your gonna have to work for it. Some members here recomend letting the bark fall off then cut and split. Going to try this very soon myself, we will see.


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## geardoc (Oct 9, 2010)

gum?


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## wood-fan-atic (Oct 9, 2010)

Looks similar to oak, but wont split = ELM! A mauls nightmare.....but shouldnt be a prob for a heavy duty hydraulic. Good luck with that. P.S.- thats why Freddy Kreuger looks like that- he was splitting elm with an AXE! :snake:


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## IndianaTech (Oct 9, 2010)

Sure sounds like Elm to me..... Split a bunch of it over the summer, and it was far from fun. Does it look like this ?


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 9, 2010)

Well, he certainly described elm! lol


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## Flatbedford (Oct 9, 2010)

I let Elm rot in the woods. I left some rounds out on the street. Somebody took a couple, but never came back for the rest.


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## vvvv (Oct 9, 2010)

cant cut em into short rounds & not split?


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## woodsmaster (Oct 9, 2010)

No problem with for a big hydrolic spliter. Makes good firewood and easy to light ! It would be worth it to me if I didn't have so much dead white ash that needs cut.


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## Backwoods Savage (Oct 9, 2010)

Flatbedford said:
			
		

> I let Elm rot in the woods. I left some rounds out on the street. Somebody took a couple, but never came back for the rest.



Steve, you might be passing up some really good wood. Wait until the tree dies before cutting it and then you won't have a problem splitting and it makes much better firewood.


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## Flatbedford (Oct 9, 2010)

I scrounge fallen roadside trees and wood from tree services. I rarely decide when a tree is cut. I have run into so much Oak lately that I don't have to mess with anything that I can't easily hand split. As I have said in other threads, with my schedule I have to go for the wood that will give me the most BTUs per man hour of processing. Elm, no matter when it is cut, doesn't work for me.


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## Thrash44047 (Oct 10, 2010)

OH thank goodness, I now know what that abominable splitting wood is.  Got some last year and it prompted me getting a splitter.  Its a pain in the butt to split but it really burns great.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 10, 2010)

Certainly sounds like elm . . . stringy and wicked tough to split by hand . . . however with a hydraulic splitter you can do so . . . although even then some pieces get all kind of mangled . . . good wood though for BTUS and coaling . . . love elm myself . . . got me through my first winter of burning since I was using a lot of standing dead elm. 

I had something similar happen to me . . . well kind of . . . sort of . . . town ended up taking down a large, dead elm on my property and before I could get around to cutting it up the guy the town hires to maintain the roads sent up a guy to clean up the wood. Long story short, it all worked out since he ended up bucking up the wood and was willing to give it all back to me when I explained to him that I wanted the wood . . . but I gave him half since I figured he deserved a little bit of a "reward" for bucking up the wood . . . however he was all excited to get this load of "oak" . . . and he was still sure it was oak even after I told him it was elm . . . I figure by now he has probably realized that his "oak" is in fact elm . . . at least if he's tried to split the wood by hand.


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