Sawing a straight Elm board, mission impossible?

[John Mc]

You just don't see many big American Elm around my area any more. Once they get over a certain size, it seems the Dutch Elm disease takes them. It's too bad... they make great shade trees, and can grow pretty quickly (one of the reasons so many small towns have an "Elm Street", I guess).

I like elm for firewood as well... as long as someone else splits it! Not quite as many BTUs per cord as Oak, Beech, or Hard Maple, but it starts more easily. Of course, once you get a nice hot fire going, the ease of starting becomes a non-issue.

John Mc

[SwampDonkey]

I here you guys. It seems one tree species after another is succumbing to some introduced pest:

white elm: Dutch elm
ash: EAB
beech: nectria and scale
white pine: rust, weevils
chestnut: blight
butternut:  canker

list goes on.

That's globalization for ya. Ecology suffers for the $$ :

[Buzsaw]

I remember splitting elm with a maul and wedges.   You had better luck if you chunked off slabs in a circular fashion rather than crossing the heart wood. 
I want to build a fruit press and was thinking of using elm or hickory.  Anyone got a preference on the wood?  Or a good press plan?

[John Mc]

I here you guys. It seems one tree species after another is succumbing to some introduced pest:

white elm: Dutch elm
ash: EAB
beech: nectria and scale
white pine: rust, weevils
chestnut: blight
butternut:  canker

list goes on.

Hemlock: HWA

Not to mention the invasive plants which have been introduced, and are out-competing the native ones for resources. I've got areas when buckthorn is the dominant species in the understory, suppressing the growth of other, native species.

[5quarter]

Sorry guys for hauling this thread up to the top, But I had a few tidbits that might be useful. I've cut quite a bit of Red and Siberian Elm and my experience has been similar to others. I have noticed that not all elm grow spirally. Many on my property that grow in dense stands tend to be very straight and dry with little or no defect. Those trees on the edge of a stand or free standing tend to have pronounced spiral trunks and are rarely straight. I never cut any of these latter types for lumber anymore as I have never gotten a straight board out of them. You can however, quarter them on your bandsaw and then bust out the chainsaw and section into firewood without ever having to split.

Chet

[Jim Spencer]

I built a shed out of green elm about 50 years ago and the wood warped and pulled the nails loose when it warped.
The boards were nailed 16" on center and still they warped and pulled the nails loose.  I remember the boards were so hard after a couple years nailed up that I could not drive a nail through them.  Had to drill the boards and use clamps to try to straighten them.
Very hard stuff to work with.  If I had known this I would never had the logs sawed.   
The wood is beautiful though.

[red oaks lumber]

the american elm was developed my the us goverment for use in the air force as propellors on their airplanes. lol  but , the sawmillers assoc. lobbied god to do away with the tree a.k.a. dutch elm deiase.

[bandmiller2]

Really if you want to do anything with elm you just have to make a cant,set it aside, and forget about it for a wile.I still have a couple of biguns along a wall when they have seeds the DanG squirrels nip the little branches off and make a mess on the grass.Frank C.

[SwampDonkey]

Yeah, the couple of elm boards I have are all twisted, not severe, but bad enough to render them firewood. Worst stuff I've seen. Might be good for sled runners if they were 4" thick, but than again.  :

[gemniii]

One of the reasons American Elm was popular for bearing stock and wagon wheel hubs was that the interlocked grain makes it very tough... it does not want to split at all (as you probably know if you've ever tried to split some with a maul or wedges).

One of my favorite stories was when a friend of mine was up for a visit. He's 225 pounds of solid muscle (even though it's been a few decades since his stint as a Marine). By comparison, I'm a 170 pound weekend warrior. I was splitting some hardwoods by hand and eventually got pretty pooped out.

When I took a break, he said "Here, let me try!" I asked if he'd ever split wood before. "Not much... a bit when I was a kid." I set him up with some 8" Elm, and let him go at it for about 40 minutes (can you say "drive that wedge all the way to the bottom of the log and it still won't come apart?") After I'd tried to hide my chuckles, I set myself up with some 10" White Ash, and started whacking away (one swing, and it's in two pieces).

I really played it up with him for a while: "Oh, here... I've got the good maul. Try this one." "Try a swing like this". Finally, when he was thoroughly pi$$ed off, I gave him one more "pointer" and slipped in a White Ash for him. BLAM! It flew into two pieces and the maul stuck deep in my in my chopping block. I could barely keep a straight face as I congratulated him on finally "getting it". After a few more seconds I finally cracked and he knew he'd been had.

Just had to comment on this one -
Back in the late '60's I lived in Essex Ctr, Vt. with my parents and grandparents in a duplex on 30+ acres, mostly maple, but there were a few old elms also.  During one of the "oil crisis" times my Dad and Grandad installed woodstoves and the first couple of years we split by hand.  My Dad set me up the same way as John did.  We took down one of the elms and he had me make the whole thing into small pieces.  I wouldn't call it splitting so much as beating it into small pieces.

[woodmills1]

here are some shots of some elm I cut from a nice straight yard tree with no tramp metal

[WDH]

Did it dry well?

[SwampDonkey]

That might look straight grained off the mill, but that's by looking at the ring growth only. I can bet that is as cross grained as any and will ripple and bow like a Christmas ribbon when dried. Just look on the end of the board for the ripple effect in the pores. :D

[woodmills1]

the customer wanted it and took it away in his truck, so I don't have a clue as to how it did.

[woodmills1]

I called victor who did the tree removal and asked him to put me in contact with the homeowner.  Victor said he is about to contact many of his previous customers so maybe I can find out how the nice elm faired during drying.