Chinese elm

[trapper]

Tree trimmer brought me some Chinese elm.How is it for firewood once I get it dried?

[OH logger]

soft and light I think. for your sake I sure hope it splits better than its cousin pith elm  >:(

[TKehl]

Only cut a couple.  Seemed to dry down a lot quicker than American or Slippery Elm.  Not a lot of BTU.  Good for cool days, but not enough BTU for cold days for me.

Doesn't split worth a darn.  If splitting by hand, plan to start the opening with a chainsaw.

[hedgerow]

Chinese elm or any elm I cut out of the pasture goes straight to the brush pile. Doesn't make enough BTU for all the trouble cutting and splitting it. I have too much locust and hedge to mess with elm.

[TKehl]

Hedgerow, I 1/2 agree with you.  I don't split elm!  Not worth it for me.  I cut limbs until they won't fit through the door anymore.  (12x12" door)  Generally 24" long sticks to.  Low BTU, but since they grow fairly straight with limited branching, and cut easy, it piles up fast.  If anything is left, I run it through my sawmill, if it doesn't rot first.   

[brianJ]

Hedgerow, I 1/2 agree with you.  I don't split elm!  Not worth it for me.  I cut limbs until they won't fit through the door anymore.  (12x12" door)  Generally 24" long sticks to.  Low BTU, but since they grow fairly straight with limited branching, and cut easy, it piles up fast.  If anything is left, I run it through my sawmill, if it doesn't rot first.  

I bet those 10 inch + rounds last a long time

[Sauna freak]

I like the smaller pieces that don't require splitting.  I end up with a lot of mutt wood here on the edge of the prairie where I live.  Don't have a proper woodlot, so I'm left begging for free trees to cut.  Sometimes it's good oak and maple, usually it's box-elder, chinese elm and some ash mixed in if I'm lucky.  It's not a high btu wood, but will hold coals and burn long with a pleasant flame well in a HE reburner type wood stove.  The smell open burned is unpleasant.  It's better than box-elder, but not by much.  The large pieces I end up with go in the maple syrup boiler.  A trick to splitting it is to leave it in-the-round with bark on for 1-2 years outside "lump" piled or in longer lengths (don't make any effort to dry it at this time).  Though you probably lose a small amount of BTU value to incipient rot, it splits like maple after this treatment.

[Downstream]

MY kinetic splits it easy so I will use some inside for aux heat, but more out in the firepit.  I have sawn alot of it and it makes beautiful live edge coffee tables and benches.