How I Stack Wood

[begreen]

Well Warren, here's another reason you can put on your list. Ours is an English elm and it's taking over a large part of our neighbors yard and our own with the root sprouts everywhere. This is one tree that should not be planted around houses. We've got sproutlets about 150 feet from the mother tree! It attacks our septic tank and any garden bed that has a hint of moisture in it. Worse than willow in my book.

 

[elkimmeg]

I've been told that there are male and female elms, and that one of them is impossible to split by hand while the other can be done. I think either will succumb to the right hydraulic splitter. I notice a lot of dead and dying elms around here in central NYS. They're reasonably big trees, so I don't know if they're seeing the Dutch Elm disease for the first time, or if this is just a periodic resurgence of the disease. They do grow fast around here. I've got three more in my yard that gotta come down this fall.

Let's see which one is the more difficult to split?????Male or Female...

(((Ducking)))))

No ducking here female esailly the most stuborn and dissagreablee and tends to get worse with age
you havta know when to hold them, know when to fold, them and know when to walk away and when the dealing is done

 

[Roospike]

I've been told that there are male and female elms, and that one of them is impossible to split by hand while the other can be done. I think either will succumb to the right hydraulic splitter. I notice a lot of dead and dying elms around here in central NYS. They're reasonably big trees, so I don't know if they're seeing the Dutch Elm disease for the first time, or if this is just a periodic resurgence of the disease. They do grow fast around here. I've got three more in my yard that gotta come down this fall.

Let's see which one is the more difficult to split?????Male or Female...

(((Ducking)))))

No ducking here female esailly the most stuborn and dissagreablee and tends to get worse with age
you havta know when to hold them, know when to fold, them and know when to walk away and when the dealing is done

Are we getting "OFF TOPIC" or are we still talking about "WOOD" ?

 

[Roospike]

I've been told that there are male and female elms, and that one of them is impossible to split by hand while the other can be done. I think either will succumb to the right hydraulic splitter. I notice a lot of dead and dying elms around here in central NYS. They're reasonably big trees, so I don't know if they're seeing the Dutch Elm disease for the first time, or if this is just a periodic resurgence of the disease. They do grow fast around here. I've got three more in my yard that gotta come down this fall.

Warren will be right there , he LooooooooooVES ELM . Warren , dont think you told us how much you love ELM in a wile , think it due time for a refresher .

Your cruel....!

BUT... I'm now sure Elm is no where near as bad as trying to split wet pine rounds that are 18" across. Plus after all the splitting effort, it doesn't heat half as well as elm. I've come to terms with how hard Elm is to split, plus my technique of cutting elm into disks, then splitting seems to work o.k. Clearly Elm is Natures cruel joke and people like you are just too willing to remind those of us who are too stupid to learn or have "free elm here" dangled in front of us, that we hate that blasted wood. Well Roo...I haven't split much elm lately. It's faded from my mind a bit... It's been mostly maple for a bit, but I do have a monster elm waiting for me. It's on the ground and sitting there laughing at me just saying..."go ahead just try to cut a 16" length and split me"
(blood pressure rising a little)
Yes...I hate elm...I guess I love to hate elm. It's the ultimate wood to burn. Burning elm is such a fitting end to such a miserable material, but in the end...in a way...the elm had it's revenge...When you burn the stuff it leaves klinkers stuck to your firebrick, which seems to attract huge amounts of heat, thus destroying the firebrick. Yup elm stinks and Roo was just soooo willing to remind me that I hate that stuff....Well, thanks a LOT Roo!

;-P
(Warren takes a deep breath and remembers we're all friends here, and decides NOT to stop by Roo's house and leave a big chunk of elm on his chopping block)

Yes, take a deep breath .........in through the nose ...................out through the mouth ..........ah . I tried to do something different with the ole' ELM this year becsue 60% of the 10 cords of wood i cut was ELM .......I call all the wood and let isit in a stack for 3 months to dry and then we split it all ( gas 25 ton splitter ) Tho it "did" seem to help with splitting but it was only better by maybe 20% .

Clearly Elm is Natures cruel joke and people like you are just too willing to remind those of us who are too stupid to learn or have "free elm here" dangled in front of us, that we hate that blasted wood.

I totally agree with you there brotherman . But it feels so good to take revenge on that darn ELM when its 10° out side . O.K. Warren , I wont bring up your love for ELM untell next seasion.

 

[elkimmeg]

Are we getting “OFF TOPIC” or are we still talking about “WOOD”

Hot day mid summer and some post have been nasty recently, a little humor never hurt anybody.
I think Elm is wood? I am saving a 12/16" round of American Rock Elm for if we ever have a hearth forum gathering
I figure the battle between using the 6lb and 8lb malls, this will be the ultimate test. Or I put in my electric splitter and display its limits. And I do agree it sure burns good LOL

 

[wg_bent]

Thanks man! Maybe I'll go out and hack one down in the back yard I've had my eye on.

 

[BrotherBart]

Thanks man! Maybe I'll go out and hack one down in the back yard I've had my eye on.

Splitting Elm, and tree crotches, builds character. Back in my hand splitting days I got enough practice with that stuff that when a neighbor would be bitching about how hard it was to split wood I would one hand the eight pounder through a red oak round. Then hand the maul to them and head my skinny ass off to get a beer.

Never had any neighbor problems the whole time I have lived here.

 

[wg_bent]

Yeah, all of us who split significant amounts of wood get good at it, and it can be a pretty good party trick.

Earlier this summer my inlaws were over. My BIL who prides himself on being quite the athlete (Is Golf an athletic sport?)
who thinks he's Tiger Woods, Derrik Jeepers (some baseball dude) and (pick some basket ball great, I can't think of any names off the top of my head) all rolled into one, picked up the 6 lb maul, put about an 8" diameter peice of elm on the chopping block and gave a swing. Them Maul promptly bounced off and the wood fell off the block.

Just happened that a much larger peice of ash was sitting right next to it...more like a 14" diameter peice. I put that on the block and with one swing split the peice in two. He was seriously impressed and walked away with his tail between his legs. Gotta love ash His 14 year old sat there wacking the (remember family forum here!) peice of elm for about 15 minutes and finally gave up. they're all looking at the 10 or so cords in the yard goin...."Daaaaaammmmmmmm"

 

[elkimmeg]

Master card priceless