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Hardest dang wood I ever cut!!

Goose

Goose

Well-known Member
As I mentioned on a coupla other threads, a week ago we took down a huge, 60 year old elm tree in our farm yard. It croaked during the past year.

I hired a tree service to drop it, and now I'm sawing it up and cleaning up the mess. Only I spend more time sharpening chains than sawing.

On a 15" to 18" log, with my 20" Poulan saw I can get 2-3 cuts before the chain needs sharpening. Same with my Stihl MS250 on a 12" to 15" log. My new Stihl MS170 does better, but I mostly use it for small stuff.

I have three chains for each saw, and I'm constantly sharpening them. Can't be sharpening technique, I'm using a Nielsen professional sharpener left over from my McCulloch days, and I've sharpened literally hundreds of chains with it, both for customers and myself.

Also, a new chain right out of the box won't last any longer than a sharpened chain. My chains are a mix of both Oregon and Stihl, and neither does better than the other, so brand of chain doesn't seem to matter.

Only thing I can think of, is has to be the wood itself, and I've never seen anything like it.
 
An elm that's standing dead...phew. That elm's got some staying power that could shame us all, including sharp chains or a hydraulic splitter.

I have a few, but way smaller in diameter, thus I can cut a few more sans sharpening.

D.
 
I have cut a lot of dead elm trees, it is tough to cut. Try squirting WD40 on the bar/chain as you are cutting it might make it easier. Shag bark Hickory is real tough too, when it is alive.
Dutch elm disease just wipes out those elm trees. Year 1, tree dies. Year 2 the bark will fall off. Year 3 or later a stiff gust of wind will blow the tree over and break it off right at the base.
 
Do you have a lot of blowing sand in your area? The only time I ever had that problem is once I got a semi-load of ash firewood that had sat on the side of a gravel road all summer. Every time a vehicle would go by and raise the dust some would filter into the wood pile. When I cut it up I did a lot of sharpening. Last winter I cut a lot of pi$$ elm for wood and that cuts pretty easy, most of it standing dead with the bark off. It seems that it will reabsorb moisture if it gets rained on so am trying to get the piles covered, I have enough cut to last 3-4 years. I would guess I only sharpen about once every 3 loggers cord, if I don't hit any rocks or barb wire!
 
Wait until you have to cut down a <s>Bo Derek</s> "Bo Dark" (Bois de Arc) tree.

Stuff is harder that Chinese arithmetic!
 
Water elm down here is a sorry wood to cut and use. It is stringy and doesn't lend itself to splitting. Splitting as it grows, bottom to top is of the essence. Besides, unlike oak, it leaves no residual coals so that at 3 AM, if you think you can throw a couple of logs on the fire and get it to revive......forget it!

Mark
 
Wow that"s strange, here in NY we have plenty of dead elm. My 034, ms 460 or ms 180 don"t seem to be affected by the elm. Maybe different wood in Ur area. I have seen sparks come off the chain when cutting hop hornbeam.! Well at least u can cut back on foreign oil! Lol
 
I've split plenty of elm, and it's stringy as heck. I've cut plenty of elm, too, but nothing like this stupid tree.
 
I have never had that problem with elm, I think the hardest wood I have cut is hop hornbeam, but they stay pretty small. I have sawed some dead elm logs into lumber and some of it was very pretty, even once the bark has fallen off the tree it will still be good inside.
Zach
 
Sounds like a dirt problem. I sawed a lot of dead elm with a Woodmizer. It was like cutting a bone but the blades did ok if the logs were clean. One dirty cut & it was time to change the blade.
 
You could get a carbide chain... You could also try a less agressive chain with a different type tooth. A semi chisel I think is what Stihl calls it rather than a full chisel...

Rod
 
Elm is hard to split, hence it was used for wooden wheel hubs. Make poor firewood as it basically does not burn hot. I cut, split and burned many years ago, as they were constantly dying on the home place.
 
Yes, it's also called iron wood! Carpinus carolinina is the Latin name, for American hornbeam.
 
did that tree get struck by litning ??, litning struck a oak tree here ,,seems like it crystalized the sap. it is hard as heck on the chain .././
 
It can get very hard, and split even harder. I sawed up a few logs last fall. I do like to burn it, it burns hot, long and does not leave much ash.
 
We have those here in Tennessee also. Some folks call them "Osage Orange". I too have seen sparks coming off the chainsaw when sawing these babies!

It makes some pretty furniture but its tough to find someone willing to saw it :)

We use it for fence posts here in TN. It makes good uns.

It'll burn a hole clean through a stove!!!
 
> Elm is hard to split, hence it was used for
> wooden wheel hubs. Make poor firewood as it
> basically does not burn hot. I cut, split
> and burned many years ago

Elm is probably the hottest burning wood around (next to pine), but it doesn't burn long. I heat my house mostly with American Elm and probably will until the day I die. It's the only species of wood that I've ever seen make my cast iron wood furnace glow red. It does burn fast though, so it's nice to have some oak to go with it, because on cold nights, the house will be pretty cold when you wake up after loading the fire up with Elm before you go to bed.

The nice part about American Elm is that Dutch Elm Disease usually kills the trees at around 30 years. By that time, they've already reproduced and are at a nice manageable size for dropping and cutting up (without splitting). The bark falls off right away when the tree dies so the firewood is already "seasoned" when you cut the tree up.
 
Is/ was it near a gravel / dirt road. We once had a tree near a busy gravel road. the tree grew up "eating dust'. The dust/ dirt got into the bark and the tree grew it in. Dulled chains and hard to cut. had about 35% sand in the ash after burning.
 
I've been dealing with cedar elm. Yeah, stringy and chopping the stumps out it's a heck of a workout.


As far as chainsawing goes, it's still easier than getting down into the Texas hill country and cutting pretty much anything. I think it's the minerals in the soil down there but everything is harder and wears a sharp blade dull quick!
 
You are right James especaly if it dries out have seen it throw sparks like it was steel. but Boy it sure puts out the heat and sparks.
gitrib
 
What kind of chain oil and how much oil is left in the tank when the fuel runs out? Type of chain and height of riders? Iron wood and thorn are the hardest around here. Elm varies from easy as pine to as hard as dry seasoned maple. Some of the elm here is known as rock elm. All of it is a sticky, stringy , twisted challenge to split. As far as heating energy, sound solid elm seems to have the heat of maple but with much less ash residue.
 
I have cut a standing dead Burr Oak, growing on
"Sand Prairie", near dusk, and seen sparks
thrown by the chain. Old timers said it was
because the trees picked up Silicone, growing in
pure sand?
 
The old timers were right g-goat. It's the silica in soil that throws the sparks. And it's not just in locust, other trees take it up in their sap. We have mountain locust growing here, as someone said. 'it'll burn the side out of cast iron woodstove'. I've heard the same thing repeated here by some old timers. They won't burn the locust for that reason.
I think about the hardest native trees we have are persimmon, if you can find one. The wood inside the sapwood of a persimmon looks like ebony. The Japanese opened a plant here to process the persimmon into golf club heads, with a duplicating machine. They bought up all the big persimmon they could get from The Blue Ridge Mtns. From across North and South Carolina all the way to Georgia. They closed the plant when the local supply of wood ran out and took it to Ark. if I remember correctly.
 
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