# Elm ok for burning?



## artmos (Oct 24, 2019)

Is elm a good wood for burning?


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## Kevin Weis (Oct 24, 2019)

For me it's great.  I'd put it up there with oak. But the btu's probably aren't as much all in all.    Needs to be well seasoned for a few years or more though.  My experience is with stuff that's been standing dead from Dutch Elm disease with the bark off for several years though.


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## bloyet03 (Oct 24, 2019)

Great burning just more of a bugger for splitting due to being so stringy.


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## jaoneill (Oct 24, 2019)

artmos said:


> Is elm a good wood for burning?


We burn a lot that has been standing dead without the bark on for several years; great wood. But don't even think about burning it green, or not fully seasoned, you might get it to burn but will get virtually no heat.......


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## Sawset (Oct 24, 2019)

Elm is OK here for burning.  Dries down nicely, starts easy, leaves average amount of ash.  So far here it splits fairly easy, even by hand if frozen solid.  The larger trees have long since died out, and what's left are 12dia or less - that would effect splitting - we don't have large knotty pcs.  One thing to watch is that it will rot fast and soften up throughout (easily attacked by fungus), so get it css and dried out so as to stop that process.  Otherwise it's soft junk in a short time.  It's good wood, and goes in right along with maple, cherry, oak, hackberry.


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## firefighterjake (Oct 24, 2019)

As others have said elm is great for burning . . . if it is seasoned.

Depending on whether it was live, dead or dead-dead (with the bark falling off of it and standing for a few years) it may be surprisingly easy to process or you will want to tear out your hair if splitting this with a maul or ax.

I like elm since it pretty much got me through my first year of burning. Like most folks by the time I purchased my woodstove I didn't have much wood laid up for the first year. Busting and burning wood pallets and standing dead elm on my property allowed me to heat the home that first year.

It's not one of the primo woods in terms of BTUs, but it is decent enough that I continue to burn elm these days.


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## jaoneill (Nov 1, 2019)

artmos said:


> Is elm a good wood for burning?


Anytime I see this question I think of the relevant lines of that old poem by Lady Celia Hargreve:

Beechwood fires are bright and clear
If the logs are kept a year,
Chestnut's only good they say,
If for logs 'tis laid away.
Make a fire of Elder tree,
Death within your house will be;
But ash new or ash old,
Is fit for a queen with crown of gold

Birch and fir logs burn too fast
Blaze up bright and do not last,
it is by the Irish said
Hawthorn bakes the sweetest bread.
*Elm wood burns like churchyard mould,
E'en the very flames are cold*
But ash green or ash brown
Is fit for a queen with golden crown

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,
Fills your eyes and makes you choke,
Apple wood will scent your room
Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom
Oaken logs, if dry and old
keep away the winter's cold
But ash wet or ash dry
a king shall warm his slippers by.


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## Sodbuster (Nov 1, 2019)

I like Elm to burn; burns hot and seasons relatively quickly. Does anyone have tips on splitting the MF&^%^S stuff? I split with both a hydraulic splitter and a hatchet.  I know some wood splits better after sitting a year bucked, some when it's ice cold, some when green, you get the picture.


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## Medic21 (Nov 4, 2019)

I love elm.  Leaves a very hot coal bed that gives heat long after the fire dies down.


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## bloyet03 (Nov 4, 2019)

Sodbuster said:


> I like Elm to burn; burns hot and seasons relatively quickly. Does anyone have tips on splitting the MF&^%^S stuff? I split with both a hydraulic splitter and a hatchet.  I know some wood splits better after sitting a year bucked, some when it's ice cold, some when green, you get the picture.


With a cooler of beer....


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## Woody5506 (Nov 4, 2019)

I burn a lot of Siberian Elm because I have too much of it on my lot. Let's just say it's far from my favorite. Then again, I've never burned any that was much over two years old. It burns fine if you're adding to hot coals but starting a fire with it can be a pain.


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## Medic21 (Nov 4, 2019)

Split frozen for best results.


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## Sodbuster (Nov 4, 2019)

Medic21 said:


> Split frozen for best results.



Thanks


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## nathan125 (Nov 6, 2019)

Burned quite a bit of elm. some of it was stringy and very nasty to split...other times it was very easy. I know try to let it season a few years...bark falling off without effort is a good sign.


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## Jags (Nov 6, 2019)

Suggestions for making elm split easier:  Nope, don’t have any.


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## johneh (Nov 6, 2019)

I have a suggestion Just ship it to me 
My splitter with eat anything


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## thrifty (Nov 7, 2019)

The problem I have with elm is that local laws require that the bark be removed to prevent the spread of elm bark beetles and the associated dutch elm disease.  That creates too much work.


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## Woody Stover (Nov 11, 2019)

thrifty said:


> local laws require that the bark be removed to prevent the spread of elm bark beetles and the associated dutch elm disease.  That creates too much work.


Stack of logs right/rear, except for a couple Oaks with the bark still on, are Elm. Mother Nature removed the bark, then the tree man dropped 'em and brought the bounty to me from the neighbor's place..all for free! 



Dutch Elm gets most of 'em young, but I've taken a dead Red Elm out of the woods here, 19".


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## Sodbuster (Nov 12, 2019)

Splitting the bottom third of an Elm, especially one that's twisty from growing hear the edge of a field will have you in the front pew on Sunday.


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## Woody Stover (Nov 12, 2019)

Sodbuster said:


> Splitting the bottom third of an Elm, especially one that's twisty from growing hear the edge of a field will have you in the front pew on Sunday.


Repenting for taking God's name in vain?


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## Sodbuster (Nov 13, 2019)

Woody Stover said:


> Repenting for taking God's name in vain?



Yep


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## PistolPeets (Nov 27, 2019)

I've been burning some elm this year for the first time. It was standing dead and barkless for years before we took it down and split it. Seems to be doing well for me.

Here's a good BTU chart someone passed along to me:





						Sweep's Library - Firewood Heat Value Comparison Charts
					

Firewood heat value chart



					chimneysweeponline.com
				




Sorry if posting another site's link is some sort of violation here.


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## KC Matt (Nov 27, 2019)

Well seasoned Elm burns great.  The rub on Elm is 1) it's a PITA to split which also makes it a PITA to stack 2) the effort required to split and stack might be disproportionate to the resulting BTU output depending on what alternative fuel woods are available to you.

In general, Elm is a fine fuel wood (same as every tree on the planet) that may or may not be your best option depending on your particulars.

I recommend avoiding large diameter elm whenever possible.


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## KC Matt (Nov 27, 2019)

Sodbuster said:


> I like Elm to burn; burns hot and seasons relatively quickly. Does anyone have tips on splitting the MF&^%^S stuff? I split with both a hydraulic splitter and a hatchet.  I know some wood splits better after sitting a year bucked, some when it's ice cold, some when green, you get the picture.


Hydraulic splitter, sharp hatchet, and 3' wrecking bar.  It's more work than it's worth in my experience but we have endless oak, ash, hackberry, Locust, etc.


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## Woody Stover (Nov 27, 2019)

PistolPeets said:


> Here's a good BTU chart someone passed along to me:


Most charts I look at have at least a couple of ratings that seem off..





						Wood - Combustion Heat Values
					

Combustion of wood and firewood heat values for species like Pine, Elm, Hickory and more.




					www.engineeringtoolbox.com


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## Jags (Nov 29, 2019)

Elm even comes with attached kindling.


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## blades (Nov 29, 2019)

I like Elm, it can be stringy an twisted, But My splitter is equipped with a thin wedge, it slices through rather than using brute force. behind the wedge is a spreader. I seldom have to do any thing with addition tools.  You can get into problems with any kind of wood so yes, I have had to resort to a sledge hammer and / or a wedge to free up the splitter. heck one time I had to use the little limbing saw


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## Sodbuster (Nov 29, 2019)

I have a dead one I have to take down that is about 15" at the base. The amount of work it takes to split the first  10 ft or so, I think I'm going to noodle cut it.


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## heavy hammer (Nov 29, 2019)

I have had some of my hardest work when splitting elm but once it is dry it burns pretty good.  My father dropped a larger elm at his place years ago probably 30 inch diameter.  He was just going to burn the trunk but I decided to split it.  It was only about a 2 truck loads this trunk piece but I worked at it for hours.  I had every wedge stuck a rough day but I just would not give in.  He just laughed at my stupid determination but it did get split.  He even let me take it all home since he said I worked so hard for it.  Every time I burned a piece of that elm I remembered that cold rainy crappy day but the wood burned hot.  (at least it did in my mind)


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