I may be getting my hands on some elm taken down on a friends property. There are three pieces about 5 feet long that are around 33" diameter not including a crotch or two on two of them. I may not be up for milling them all. Especially since there will be several other smaller pieces. But if I tackle one of the pieces what advice can you give me? I have a moderates size Stihl with a 20" bar, And a smaller Stihl with a 16" bar. How easy or hard is it to rip these down the middle with the saws I have? For Elm, is it worth it? If I get it ripped down the middle, should I rip it again so I can more easily quarter saw it?
I have an LM 29 with 14 hp kohler.
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Tue, 2021/01/05 - 10:32am
#1
Log splitting
Tue, 2021/01/05 - 11:42am
#2
You can make nice lumber from elm. With interlocked grain, it is somewhat difficult to dry without warp or twisting, and chip-out can be a problem when planing. It cannot be split except with a chainsaw. Plan on spending a lot of time sawing, and do keep a sharp chain. The prettiest lumber comes from flat-sawing. There's not much point in quarter-sawing.