Help with elm trees

[Al_Hillis]

I have found that four elm trees on our property have surcomed to dutch elm
I have already cut the stumps of at the five foot level and was thinking about carving wood spirit faces in them. the wood is very hard and seems to be getting detereated real fast. these trees still had leaves on them last summer. My questions are has anyone ever carved elm before and how long will they last? Am I beating my head agaisnt a wall and wasting my time ?
Thanks in advance for any help

[Hugh-P]

Hi Al, I've had a little experience with Dutch Elm, and it is good for very little but poor fire wood. Our town was plastered with the Dutch Elm and it succumed to the dreaded Dutch Elm disease. It might be ok for spirit faces, but it is stringey. Difficult to split, and it will go spongey very quickly, I might compare it to white birch for lasting quality. Hope this helps.