My dad burned wood for 10 years, and I burned it too when I moved out. We would drop dead elms. One we dropped took cutting from both sides with a 48 inch bar to notch it and for the back cut. When it dropped it popped cabinets open in the houses up on top of the bluff. That one tree was enough wood for a friend and myself(we had back to back trailer houses) for an entire winter.
Splitting was a pain, cut in 16" rounds using a vertical splitter was still heavy hard work! Get a crack started, wedge it, spin the round, repeat until we went all the way around. It would start falling apart usually after halfway. Some needed persuading with a splitting maul and more wedges.
Now I buy my wood in 40 pound bags LOL pellets!