When it comes to burning elm firewood, it is one of those woods you have to try for yourself to see how you like it. It is very common to find people who don’t like burning elm wood, others say it is mediocre, and some really like it. I think these differences in opinion have a lot to do with the type of elm, and how dry it is.
Red elm is a medium density hardwood and it is known for making good firewood. It is lower in BTU than common hardwoods like oaks and hickory, but it can put out good heat. It coals up nicely and can last a long time. It can be stringy but still splits ok with a maul.
American elm or white elm firewood is lower in BTU and is known for being tough to split and a lot of people really don’t like it. It is stringy wood that is tough to split and it can hold a lot of water. A lot of people may think it is seasoned after a year, and that is not always the case, sometimes it takes longer. But if it is truly dry, American, or white elm firewood will burn just fine, although not as long and hot as red elm firewood.
Dutch elm disease is common so a lot of elm wood that people try to burn is from standing dead trees. Just because it has been standing dead for a while, doesn’t mean it is dry inside, usually it is not. Once it is cut and split, it needs plenty of time to dry. And the key is to allow it plenty of time to dry but without becoming punky. Make sure you dry it in a dry well ventilated area and keep it off of the ground.
A lot of areas have quarantines on elm firewood to help prevent the spread of Dutch elm disease. So be sure and check with regulations before moving elm firewood from one location to another.
Post your experience with elm firewood below.
Let it dry on the root and in the sun for a year. Split it, stack it, then let it sit for six months and it will burn great. No, it isn’t Hickory or Oak but it’s still good.
Dead red elm loses it’s bark while standing and sheds water pretty well especially when standing. It can be really dense, maybe not like oak but cleaner with no bark, which also means fewer ashes to haul. Dry red elm burns very hot and leaves mineral deposit “clinkers” in the ash pan. It’s probably my favorite wood to burn after hophornbeam.
I also enjoy burning red elm! It burns hot when seasoned. I really enjoy harvesting the trees as most have lost the bark and you don’t have to worry about the poison ivy so much!
+1 for red elm…. as long as you’ve a powerful splitter. I recall as a teen getting three wedges stuck in one 18” log & the monster maul just bouncing off it. We ended up cutting them all to half length just so we could split ‘em.
I have been burning Siberian elm from a downed tree that was in my yard. It gave me tons of free firewood, but there is one problem.
It is honestly like burning petrified wood- just terrible. If you mix it with other wood like pine or oak it works okay. But otherwise it will tend to just smolder and glow, and never really burn very well- no matter how long it is seasoned. Just not good for firewood at all. Sounds like red elm or white elm is probably better.
I have a lot of deadfall and dead standing red elm around, Dutch Elm disease is a real killer. I find that if I split the red elm into small, thin logs, it will burn with a little help from a firestarter or two. It burns fairly fast, but the coals last a good while and look nice. Not the BTU output of oak, and it can be bit sloppy to split, but it works.
I have burnt a lot of Elm ,out of necessity because it was available ! I have 22 ton splitter ,its stringy yes! It is about as easy to get Elm burning as it is to light a concrete block on fire! I have seasoned Elm for over 2 years and split it small ,the same tree can have sections that look like Red Oak and other parts that look like balsa wood . I read that is because they tried to make an Elm Tree that is resistant to the Elm Blight and ended up with some strange hybrids of Elm . It is so easily identifiable by the extremely prominent rays . And it gets strange looking black water mark type blotches in the pulp wood .I ve never seen those blotches on any other type of wood I ve split here in Pa. I have tried blending in Elm into an already Red Hot fire of oak or cherry . It will burn sometimes ,other times everything else will burn to ash and the Elm is still there smoking like a black charcoal brick . I now give it to a friend to burn in his garage !!! He burns oil & junk wood so it burns for him !
I don’t know what the fuss is I have burned almost
exclusively Elm, mostly white and red for years
If I see one dying back from Dutch elm disease I mark the location. I leave it standing until the bark peels easily. One year of curing it lights the same as any other hardwood. It doesn’t heat as well as oak or hickory,
but I would rather let them keep growing.
New young elms keep coming so I’m not sure I will
Ever run out.