To all the ney sayers, that was an American Elm. And this man is onto the right method. Although on his first slab he was too close to the center of the heart. Elm does not like to bust through the center of the heart like more traditional firewood’s are busted. It’s better to use a slabbing method similar to what this man is demonstrating.
I cut an elm last year. It is about 20in wide. I am using the 8lb maul from fiskars. It is like trying to split a sponge. The maul penetrates about half inch and when I pull it out the gap closes back up I can hit it 20 times in the same spot, no difference. I even pounded an ax along the grain and then bashed it over and over with the maul driving it as deep as the ax can go. Still wont crack. It is stuck in there. I am going to pound a wedge in along the grain along the same line. I think I will need to chain saw this ax out.
I had one last year that I had 4 wedges pounded all the way in and still didn’t split. That is until the chainsaw came out. When splitting Elm and some Maple by hand, a technique called slabbing it off will work better. Rather than trying to split the wood straight across the heart. Try about 2” in from the outside edge. Hand splitting Elm is going to be difficult, there’s no way to avoid that. But with a good technique and practice it will become a little easier.
Best to split it when green. Curing time: For hardwood , 2 years or more is best . For softwood, 1 year or more. The thinner the pieces you split it into, the faster it will be ready. Best of luck!
Haha Thank you ! And to think I managed to knock the head off a few weeks ago ! Oddly , the blow landed with the head not on the handle but the head came off and was just sitting there in the log and I was holding the handle in my hands . comical in a way. That will be for the next part in the splitting elm saga.
I have to agree I have never in my life seen elm that straight before. Not saying it isn't elm, just saying that's a rare case if it is. I can say that those that are claiming that it's ash can't be correct. The bark is much to deep/coarse while being the wrong color for ash, and furthermore, ash wood is consistently light khaki color, not light sapwood and dark heartwood like the wood in the video. Most firewood burning dudes should know this since dead ash is everywhere due the the Emerald Ash Borer killing off the species, leaving dead, dense firewood behind. It's sad what's happening to ash trees. I cut and split cord after cord after cord of it, nearly constantly it seems because of all the people asking me to remove dead ash trees from their property. That way I don't really have to deal with elm, especially since ash puts off more heat (more BTUs per cord) and splits super easily. That said, elm is still good burning wood if you can split it. Although the distant microphone makes it hard to hear you, I love the acoustics I get when you finally swing. The stack and shed make nice reverb and the microphone catches the impact sound well since it's closer to the wood than it is to you, especially since I had to crank up the volume to hear your voice. I use your technique often for any species if the diameter of the round is too big to split down the middle. I'm here to make firewood, not to show off the ability to split down the middle, and I agree that your technique helps to make firewood efficiently, and yes, the resulting right angles helps in stacking. Thanks for posting your video.
I split my share of ash and all three variants (green,black, and white)are quite different.I find green stringy almost splitting like elm,Ash is my wood of choice for drying time.Off to brothers to split large elm taken down yuk yuk yuk putting it nicely.Bark looks like ash,are there a lot of ash bore bug marks under bark?
@@tjmax8203 Ash doesn't necessarily dry faster than other woods, but it seems like it does, because it often dies slowly and dries while still standing either partially live or dead. That way, it might be mostly seasoned the day you cut it, just because of how the dying happens with the emerald ash borer.
Elm grows in a spiral. Every 6 inches down the trunk is a 1-2 inch twist. And when split literal wood ropes hang on for dear life and the pieces have to be pried and torn apart. This may be splitters elm. Ha ha. That is quite the maul.
Pipelyon Often they do . The heartwood on this one was like that in many places . The method still worked , but needed more work :D And the pieces were much easier to split if cut off shorter . I also used big wood wedges to split many of them apart after the initial split . I made them by splitting the log into small pieces and cutting them into wedges with the table saw , or just cut them with a chain saw , then painted them white or fluorescent green , so I could find them among the wood and sawdust . The sapwood tends to be easier to split , especially if the split line is tangential to the rings , in my experience . That tree was elm . Maybe that piece had a fortunate grain structure , but it was elm . The tree was elm , or it had elm leaves , elm bark , elm shape , elm seeds , but wasn't elm . There are a few elms on the property . Fewer since dutch elm disease has spread . That was what killed this one . Fortunately , the digger wasps ate the beetles . They should breed digger wasps to target the species of beetle responsible for the spread of the disease , imo . For that matter , do the same for the ash borer beetles , etc . I have split wood from another elm around here as well but that was before I figured out the method here . On that one , I gave in and borrowed a hydraulic splitter . This time , I just used a maul ! Anyway , thank you for the comment , and have a good one .
I began to split the logs right away . That was one of the last ones . I split that about 2 months after the tree was cut down, however , it had been dead for about 4 to 6 months . Dutch elm disease . So I would say it had been dead around 6 to 8 months . So maybe a little dry but not much .
That is not like any Elm I have ever split.. Even a hydraulic splitter has serious trouble normally. Every Elm I have ever split is a twisted stringy mess. and if there is a knot, fogetaboudit! If you cut it down even if it was dead it's loaded with water. In my experience in PA. I watched your video today and tried splitting 2 clean logs that were 20 inches wide with my Maul and wedges.. I'm a strong guy.. I gave up after 2 logs. The stringy-ness was eating my lunch. The Ash was a piece of cake.. so was the Cherry.
Elm flooring , that sounds interesting . You could have made not just the floors , but the whole house and a garage too out of this tree ! I kept only part of the trunk and part of a branch and I still have a year or 2 of firewood left . Actually, I just looked at the images on google of elm flooring and it looks really nice ! Nice grain . The thing about cutting wood into boards and using it like that is there is a drying process in a drying kiln that needs to take place in order to break the bond that water has with the cells in the wood grain . It's possible to just cut the wood and use it after drying in a dry place , but it is considered to be an inferior method . I was thinking about getting into this business at one time , but there are numerous others in the same business . I'm trying to do things no one else is doing . Who knows ? I may possibly do it still . I don't see anyone providing osage orange flooring !
+Benjamin Evans Thank you ! It is a 12 lb maul . They don't seem to make mine anymore but this one is similar : www.amazon.com/Truper-32415-12-Pound-Splitting-27-Inch/dp/B000KL4V04 I found that the rubber grip on my maul tended to slide off when wet . I left it off to dry , then glued it on with industrial rubber cement later . no problems since . They hopefully have fixed this problem since when I got mine . Other than that , it has been a really good , effective maul .
all the american elm I have dealt with it stringy as hell and is easily recognized with it's horrendous smell for which it gets the nickname of piss elm this stuff does not look like american elm but I know there is more then one species of elm as well
What you probably have is American Elm, which doesn’t split easily (standing dead for a couple years hardens them up and takes some of the stringiness out) What this guy is splitting is Red Elm, sometimes called Slippery Elm, which splits much easier.
no fiskars could ever do that. it took me 2 weeks to split a load of elm from a tree we cut down, where oak or locust would have been a single afternoon job. the worst I've found to split was mountain mahogany. ho......lee...........shit that stuff weighs twice what oak does and straight pieces simply do not exist. but it'll burn for damn near 48 hours in a good catalytic or airtight. it's BTU density is almost identical to anthracite
That's the truth ! When I hear about mahogany , it makes me want to build a sawmill , though . :) That must have taken at least 1.5 x as much time to cure before ready.
That's not elm it's ash it looks simular! The elm that grows here in western pa you ain't never going to split with a maul lmao! You need a hydrolic splitter and a hatchet it is so fkning stringy
Least twisted piece of elm ever
To all the ney sayers, that was an American Elm. And this man is onto the right method. Although on his first slab he was too close to the center of the heart. Elm does not like to bust through the center of the heart like more traditional firewood’s are busted. It’s better to use a slabbing method similar to what this man is demonstrating.
I cut an elm last year. It is about 20in wide. I am using the 8lb maul from fiskars. It is like trying to split a sponge. The maul penetrates about half inch and when I pull it out the gap closes back up I can hit it 20 times in the same spot, no difference. I even pounded an ax along the grain and then bashed it over and over with the maul driving it as deep as the ax can go. Still wont crack. It is stuck in there. I am going to pound a wedge in along the grain along the same line. I think I will need to chain saw this ax out.
I had one last year that I had 4 wedges pounded all the way in and still didn’t split. That is until the chainsaw came out.
When splitting Elm and some Maple by hand, a technique called slabbing it off will work better. Rather than trying to split the wood straight across the heart. Try about 2” in from the outside edge.
Hand splitting Elm is going to be difficult, there’s no way to avoid that. But with a good technique and practice it will become a little easier.
dont know what that wood is but the elm i have is so twisted even a hydraulic splitter has problems
How long do you have to e to let the firewood dry?? And when do you split the fire wood when is green or dry?
Best to split it when green. Curing time: For hardwood , 2 years or more is best . For softwood, 1 year or more. The thinner the pieces you split it into, the faster it will be ready. Best of luck!
That's not a maul. That's Thors hammer! LOL Nicely Done!
Haha Thank you ! And to think I managed to knock the head off a few weeks ago ! Oddly , the blow landed with the head not on the handle but the head came off and was just sitting there in the log and I was holding the handle in my hands . comical in a way. That will be for the next part in the splitting elm saga.
Some people do call it mull or triangle mull.
I have to agree I have never in my life seen elm that straight before. Not saying it isn't elm, just saying that's a rare case if it is. I can say that those that are claiming that it's ash can't be correct. The bark is much to deep/coarse while being the wrong color for ash, and furthermore, ash wood is consistently light khaki color, not light sapwood and dark heartwood like the wood in the video. Most firewood burning dudes should know this since dead ash is everywhere due the the Emerald Ash Borer killing off the species, leaving dead, dense firewood behind. It's sad what's happening to ash trees. I cut and split cord after cord after cord of it, nearly constantly it seems because of all the people asking me to remove dead ash trees from their property. That way I don't really have to deal with elm, especially since ash puts off more heat (more BTUs per cord) and splits super easily. That said, elm is still good burning wood if you can split it.
Although the distant microphone makes it hard to hear you, I love the acoustics I get when you finally swing. The stack and shed make nice reverb and the microphone catches the impact sound well since it's closer to the wood than it is to you, especially since I had to crank up the volume to hear your voice.
I use your technique often for any species if the diameter of the round is too big to split down the middle. I'm here to make firewood, not to show off the ability to split down the middle, and I agree that your technique helps to make firewood efficiently, and yes, the resulting right angles helps in stacking. Thanks for posting your video.
I split my share of ash and all three variants (green,black, and white)are quite different.I find green stringy almost splitting like elm,Ash is my wood of choice for drying time.Off to brothers to split large elm taken down yuk yuk yuk putting it nicely.Bark looks like ash,are there a lot of ash bore bug marks under bark?
@@tjmax8203 Ash doesn't necessarily dry faster than other woods, but it seems like it does, because it often dies slowly and dries while still standing either partially live or dead. That way, it might be mostly seasoned the day you cut it, just because of how the dying happens with the emerald ash borer.
Elm grows in a spiral. Every 6 inches down the trunk is a 1-2 inch twist. And when split literal wood ropes hang on for dear life and the pieces have to be pried and torn apart.
This may be splitters elm. Ha ha. That is quite the maul.
Pipelyon Often they do . The heartwood on this one was like that in many places . The method still worked , but needed more work :D And the pieces were much easier to split if cut off shorter . I also used big wood wedges to split many of them apart after the initial split . I made them by splitting the log into small pieces and cutting them into wedges with the table saw , or just cut them with a chain saw , then painted them white or fluorescent green , so I could find them among the wood and sawdust . The sapwood tends to be easier to split , especially if the split line is tangential to the rings , in my experience .
That tree was elm . Maybe that piece had a fortunate grain structure , but it was elm . The tree was elm , or it had elm leaves , elm bark , elm shape , elm seeds , but wasn't elm .
There are a few elms on the property . Fewer since dutch elm disease has spread . That was what killed this one . Fortunately , the digger wasps ate the beetles . They should breed digger wasps to target the species of beetle responsible for the spread of the disease , imo . For that matter , do the same for the ash borer beetles , etc . I have split wood from another elm around here as well but that was before I figured out the method here . On that one , I gave in and borrowed a hydraulic splitter . This time , I just used a maul !
Anyway , thank you for the comment , and have a good one .
So many types of elm.... some spiral like crazy. Some split like butter
how long did you wait from cutting the tree down till you split it? had it been drying long or was it freshly cut
I began to split the logs right away . That was one of the last ones . I split that about 2 months after the tree was cut down, however , it had been dead for about 4 to 6 months . Dutch elm disease . So I would say it had been dead around 6 to 8 months . So maybe a little dry but not much .
That is not like any Elm I have ever split.. Even a hydraulic splitter has serious trouble normally. Every Elm I have ever split is a twisted stringy mess. and if there is a knot, fogetaboudit! If you cut it down even if it was dead it's loaded with water. In my experience in PA. I watched your video today and tried splitting 2 clean logs that were 20 inches wide with my Maul and wedges.. I'm a strong guy.. I gave up after 2 logs. The stringy-ness was eating my lunch. The Ash was a piece of cake.. so was the Cherry.
Red oak is very easy!
strength isnt as critical as technique.. im 130 lbs and split the knittiest twistest Elm ever with a maul by hand.
@@bassmania84 Then you are a magician. Love to see you do it.
Very nice keep it up good workout
looks like a pretty wood is it similar to oak...I'm not real familiar with elm but looks like you could make alot of flooring out of it or something.
Elm flooring , that sounds interesting . You could have made not just the floors , but the whole house and a garage too out of this tree ! I kept only part of the trunk and part of a branch and I still have a year or 2 of firewood left . Actually, I just looked at the images on google of elm flooring and it looks really nice ! Nice grain . The thing about cutting wood into boards and using it like that is there is a drying process in a drying kiln that needs to take place in order to break the bond that water has with the cells in the wood grain . It's possible to just cut the wood and use it after drying in a dry place , but it is considered to be an inferior method . I was thinking about getting into this business at one time , but there are numerous others in the same business . I'm trying to do things no one else is doing . Who knows ? I may possibly do it still . I don't see anyone providing osage orange flooring !
I cut elm 2" long then it's easy. Try sweet gum it's hard to bust.
How long again? =)
I haven't tried sweet gum.
Good job Sir.
Thank you sir! =)
What saying so true but sounds hard hear. I just split in circle wedge don't work in elm. I also don't use triangle mull just ax tyle.
Can't hear a word you are saying
Good job, I will have to try your method. Thank You
LincolnSP150 Thank you !
Speak up, Mr.! Can barely hear ya!
Get a tire and avoid the back breaking lifting of those big boys!
You mean putting the log in a tire to keep them together during splitting ? It's a great idea .
Richard Montanaro Yes
I agree. Elm is the devil to split, but you sure do make it easy to split. How much does your maul weigh?
+Benjamin Evans Thank you ! It is a 12 lb maul . They don't seem to make mine anymore but this one is similar :
www.amazon.com/Truper-32415-12-Pound-Splitting-27-Inch/dp/B000KL4V04
I found that the rubber grip on my maul tended to slide off when wet . I left it off to dry , then glued it on with industrial rubber cement later . no problems since . They hopefully have fixed this problem since when I got mine . Other than that , it has been a really good , effective maul .
Needs a mike
all the american elm I have dealt with it stringy as hell and is easily recognized with it's horrendous smell for which it gets the nickname of piss elm this stuff does not look like american elm but I know there is more then one species of elm as well
I don't think that's elm. But if it is than whatever wood I'm splitting is ten times harder.
What you probably have is American Elm, which doesn’t split easily (standing dead for a couple years hardens them up and takes some of the stringiness out) What this guy is splitting is Red Elm, sometimes called Slippery Elm, which splits much easier.
no fiskars could ever do that. it took me 2 weeks to split a load of elm from a tree we cut down, where oak or locust would have been a single afternoon job. the worst I've found to split was mountain mahogany. ho......lee...........shit that stuff weighs twice what oak does and straight pieces simply do not exist. but it'll burn for damn near 48 hours in a good catalytic or airtight. it's BTU density is almost identical to anthracite
That's the truth ! When I hear about mahogany , it makes me want to build a sawmill , though . :)
That must have taken at least 1.5 x as much time to cure before ready.
Thats not elm. Ive never seen elm that will split that easily
That's not elm it's ash it looks simular! The elm that grows here in western pa you ain't never going to split with a maul lmao! You need a hydrolic splitter and a hatchet it is so fkning stringy
That is 100% American Elm.
Yes
That's not elm.
Thank you for your comment but the wood came from a very familiar elm tree that was on the property .
That is english elm. The bark looks much different than a drake elm.
That ain't elm
Lol makes t look easy