I cut down two dead elms yesterday and split them last night. One was almost not worth keeping to far gone (rotted) the other was not far behind. Anyways I split them and when then are in the sun they crack and the odor that emanates from the pile stinks. Is it due to the water in the wood? I'll still burn stinky wood as long as it is dry.
Why so stinky
- Thread starter dwaynecornhauler
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A lot of different woods are like that. Red Oak stinks like heck when its wet too, but after they dry I think you'll find the smell will fade away.
Yeah, I agree. Seasoned firewood doesn't have much smell, whether the smell originally was good or bad.
I've got some popular I was splitting the other day for next year and I could only hold my breath. Good grief it stank! Popular and elm have to be two of the stinkiest green woods out there!
Hmmm . . . I've never minded the smell of elm or poplar . . . in fact the other day some elm I cut actually had a nice sweet smell to it for some reason.
However, I did cut a shrub/bush the other day when clearing some more of my yard and woo-hoo doggy . . . smelled just like crap . . . I mean it really smelled like crap. Stunk the whole place up . . . and then later one of my cats came inside and he must have been rubbing his head on the stump since his whole head smelled like crap.
I still have no idea of what it was . . . I know it's a native shrub . . . grows about 8-12 feet high and produces small clusters of blue-colored berries almost like a choke cherry.
However, I did cut a shrub/bush the other day when clearing some more of my yard and woo-hoo doggy . . . smelled just like crap . . . I mean it really smelled like crap. Stunk the whole place up . . . and then later one of my cats came inside and he must have been rubbing his head on the stump since his whole head smelled like crap.
I still have no idea of what it was . . . I know it's a native shrub . . . grows about 8-12 feet high and produces small clusters of blue-colored berries almost like a choke cherry.
Most elm if left until dead has no odor until you get to the bottom of the tree and then is is not bad. Cut that sucker green though and it stinks. There are not many woods I don't care for the odor but popple and cottonwood come very close to that as does willow. Another terrible one is thorn apple. Nasty stuff. I keep hearing about red oak smelling but I like the smell of red oak.
Sound like rotting dead elm , most of the standing dead elm I have seen here is pretty dry no bark and little smell left . I never cut any green elm.
Yours sounds like some elm I ran into that was down, wet, smelled nasty. and was rotting not hardly any useable wood in mine so I left it there.
Yours sounds like some elm I ran into that was down, wet, smelled nasty. and was rotting not hardly any useable wood in mine so I left it there.
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