# Elm smells like manure?



## joefrompa (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi all,

I will try to get some pictures of this, but I have a neighbor who had 2 different trees on his property either taken down or had low hanging limbs removed.

The one tree was taken down and cut into slabs by the tree service, and it is distinctly elm. It has very little odor, was damn near impossible to chop green, stringy as all get out, etc.

Now i've started working on the other one (thought it was elm) where there were thick branches taken from the lower portion of the tree. I took one this morning that was about 14" around and 20" high.

I start chopping it and my fiskars is bouncing - normal for elm. It takes about 15-20 swings to break a piece free - normal for elm. It's got SOME stringiness, but it's far more linear in nature (but I'm only chopping elm from the trunk). It breaks away VERY slowly - as in, the axe needs to sink into the same spot aobut 6-7 times before the piece will crack off. 

It has more spring-loaded power than my other elm - meaning, my axe head get stuck in the wood and as I pry it free the axe literally pops about 8" out of the wood from the force of the wood springing back together.

And it smells like manure. Lightly, but definitely that smell. Does this sound more like oak?

It's also very heavy, quite wet for being down 6 months already, and the grain has a heavy pattern like a honeycomb almost (i.e. it's 3 dimensional grain, it's not flat and tight).

Joe

P.s. I'm a little concerned about burning this stuff in this coming winter because it's so green feeling.


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## Thistle (Mar 30, 2011)

Sounds like American Elm alright. Usually its got interlocked grain,hook your fingers together,try to pull them apart & that gives you an idea.


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## smokinj (Mar 30, 2011)

lol Yep try some willow! Should burn nice if you stack it.


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## joefrompa (Mar 30, 2011)

Huh. Wonder why one of these elms smells like manure and the other has almost no smell. Different species I guess.

My partially seasoned small pieces of elm burned amazingly well at the end of the season (imagine about 2 man's hands put next to each other, that same size and depth). From that size they'd burn strong (i.e. being fed a good amount of air) for 2-3 hours. I imagine a well seasoned large chunk will absolutely pump out the heat.


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## midwestcoast (Mar 30, 2011)

joefrompa said:
			
		

> I start chopping it and my fiskars is bouncing - normal for elm. It takes about 15-20 swings to break a piece free - normal for elm. It's got SOME stringiness, but it's far more linear in nature (but I'm only chopping elm from the trunk). It breaks away VERY slowly - as in, the axe needs to sink into the same spot aobut 6-7 times before the piece will crack off.
> 
> It has more spring-loaded power than my other elm - meaning, my axe head get stuck in the wood and as I pry it free the axe literally pops about 8" out of the wood from the force of the wood springing back together.
> 
> ...



That sounds like the Elm I have in my stacks now. Mine was easier splitting than you describe and I split all within days of the tree being felled live, but yeah, I have to watch for that sharp axe head popping out at me and don't get your finger pinched. Smell is the same and it is very wet & heavy (can't tell the weight difference from green Mulberry). When it's dry you won't mistake it for Oak, much lighter. Mine dries reasonably fast (similar to my Silver Maple), but next winter is pushing it so get it split smallish & put up ASAP in a good loc'n.

A couple guys on here told me Slippery Elm aka Red Elm in an I.D. thread & that seems to fit could be that's what you have. If so it's a bit above the American and white elms on BTUs.


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## joefrompa (Mar 30, 2011)

Midwestcoast - good info. Especially about the drying - that fits my experience with the stuff I definitely knew was elm - it seasoned well in winter once split into reasonable size chunks. Makes me confident that my wood supply is going to be tip-top for this winter 

Joe


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## firefighterjake (Mar 31, 2011)

The splitting experience sounds like American elm . . . very stringy, tough . . . can't say as though I've ever noticed a manure smell. I do know I trimmed a small sapling a couple years ago and it smelled bad . . . real bad . . . like someone had dropped a big one . . . in fact my wife and I were calling it the S@#$ tree . . . and then our cats started to rub up against the small sapling's stub of a "trunk" and the cats smelled like they had been rolling around in poop . . . still don't know what that sapling was . . .


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## lukem (Mar 31, 2011)

Never noticed it on elm either...but I can't remember the last living elm tree I've cut...they are pretty much all dead around here.

I have some oak that has just the right amount of funk to it that my yellow lab can't quit the stuff.  Constantly grabbing pieces...chewing on them...and then dropping them everywhere in the yard.

We have some trees....I think they are called "tree of heaven"...and they downright reek.


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## Thistle (Mar 31, 2011)

lukem said:
			
		

> We have some trees....I think they are called "tree of heaven"...and they downright reek.



Oh I hate those nasty f-ing things.   Back in Mar.2000 there was 1 huge (28" diameter,50ft tall) & 2 smaller (18" & 12" diameter, 40 & 30ft tall in my yard that I paid a guy to bring down.He topped them out,so werent hanging over the house,then I did the rest,felling the tall trunks,bucking,splitting & stacking the eyesores.They were the only 3 of those I knew of in a 2-3 mile radius,really wanted them GONE.Stinking damn leaves & flowers,very brittle twigs & branches.Seeds sprouted in cracks in concrete & everywhere else,were almost impossible to kill.No sign of any of them in 8yrs now. Wood looked like white ash,very heavy when green,light as a feather when dry though & left more ashes than anything I've ever burned.If I see them in a CL ad or elsewhere,I wont bother lol.


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## Backwoods Savage (Mar 31, 2011)

There is elm and there is pee-elm. It can smell pretty bad if you cut the tree when it is still green.


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## firefighterjake (Apr 1, 2011)

Backwoods Savage said:
			
		

> There is elm and there is pee-elm. It can smell pretty bad if you cut the tree when it is still green.



How about crap elm . . . is there any crap elm . . . 'cause the sapling I cut didn't smell like urine . . . most definitely smelled like fresh poo.


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## wisconsindvm (Apr 2, 2011)

fresh cottonwood smells like manuer to me


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## Backwoods Savage (Apr 2, 2011)

Yes, cottonwood indeed can be a bit stinky.


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