# How do you tell if locust is seasoned?



## Upstate New Yorker (Nov 16, 2015)

Hello everyone,

I just purchased a cord of wood consisting of Ash and Locust. I've never burned locust before, although I know it burns very hot when seasoned. My issue is whether the Locust I bought is seasoned. It's very heavy (even the small pieces), and the color of the wood is green, like the color of pistachios. The guy I bought it from said the color doesn't not indicate the wood is not seasoned. The wood is just that color.

I'm a little suspicious because the bark doesn't fall off the wood very easily as often happens with seasoned wood. I don't want to insult the guy's integrity if I'm not sure whether the wood is seasoned. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


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## jatoxico (Nov 16, 2015)

Have a lot of black locust. Greenish hue fresh and yellow like a manila folder seasoned. Bark falls off if you give it a dirty look.


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## Woody Stover (Nov 16, 2015)

Welcome.   I kinda doubt that Locust is dry. I've got some BL that's been in the stack two, maybe three years; Bark pops off pretty easy. I would sit on that BL for another year at least, to take full advantage of it. I'd think you'd have a better chance of the Ash being dry, if you have the Ash Borer in your area. Hard to find dry wood for sale, though.


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## Upstate New Yorker (Nov 16, 2015)

jatoxico said:


> Have a lot of black locust. Greenish hue fresh and yellow like a manila folder seasoned. Bark falls off if you give it a dirty look.


Sounds like I have unseasoned black locust. Thanks for your reply.


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## DougA (Nov 16, 2015)

There really are only two ways to tell unless you are familiar with the weight difference between dry and not. 
If it burns easily, it's dry.  If not, it's not.
Use a moisture meter on a new split.

Dry wood has a different smell and feel than when it is fresh but that is something you learn when using the same species a lot. Bark does not fall off the black locust I have that easily. Not sure about the many other types of locust. Actually, I find bark tends to stay on most species I use if the tree is cut fresh, split and stacked right away. Trees that have been standing dead or lying near the ground and/or damp seem to shed bark much more.  Perhaps your other suppliers have been selling you wood that has been piled out in the open for awhile, which is typically how they store it.
Yes, BL has a distinct color that darkens slightly when aged.

A moisture meter is usually under $20 on sale and well worth the small investment.


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## Upstate New Yorker (Nov 16, 2015)

Woody Stover said:


> Welcome.   I kinda doubt that Locust is dry. I've got some BL that's been in the stack two, maybe three years; Bark pops off pretty easy. I would sit on that BL for another year at least, to take full advantage of it. I'd think you'd have a better chance of the Ash being dry, if you have the Ash Borer in your area. Hard to find dry wood for sale, though.


Thanks, Woody. I think the guy passed off some unseasoned wood. Part of it's on me because I didn't order it until October, but he still shouldn't be selling green wood. Hopefully all good things will come to those who wait.


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## Upstate New Yorker (Nov 16, 2015)

DougA said:


> There really are only two ways to tell unless you are familiar with the weight difference between dry and not.
> If it burns easily, it's dry.  If not, it's not.
> Use a moisture meter on a new split.
> 
> A moisture meter is usually under $20 on sale and well worth the small investment.


Thank you. Moisture meter is on my list. What moisture level is right for BL in your opinion?


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## begreen (Nov 16, 2015)

Definitely sounds unseasoned. Locust will go gray as it seasons. When you buy wood that is claimed to be "seasoned" don't let them unload before checking a few splits. Feel their weight, bang two splits together - if they go thunk instead of ringing with a musical note, they are probably wet inside. If you have an axe or maul, split them in half and press the freshly exposed wood against your cheek. If it feels cool and damp, it is! Or get a moisture meter and press the pins into that freshly exposed wood face and take a reading. *Seasoned wood will be <20%.*


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## Woody Stover (Nov 16, 2015)

Upstate New Yorker said:


> I think the guy passed off some unseasoned wood.


To most sellers, the term "seasoned" applies to anything that wasn't cut down today, and that's about as far as it goes. Whole trunks that have been lying around since being cut down in spring..."seasoned." Rounds that were split and the wood thrown into a pile a month ago..."seasoned."


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## gzecc (Nov 16, 2015)

The green locust color disappears and locust makes a very high pitch when knocked together. Moisture meter is invaluable for a beginning burner. When wood is questionable, a moisture reading is the best way to get more information.


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## Paulywalnut (Nov 16, 2015)

Three years split will seasoned it. Bark usually falls off easily. It is great stuff well worth the wait, but I think yours is not ready, from the way you describe it.


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Nov 16, 2015)

Even though you may have been scammed that you bought seasoned black locust,
Having black locust is a huge asset, you just need to sit on it for awhile, pics would be good to ensure you really do have BL.....yes get that MM and test it, let us know the number on a fresh split......
Always try to burn under 20%


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## brenndatomu (Nov 16, 2015)

Try burning a piece, if it is dry is will take off easily and then burn HOT! Save it for the really cold weather once you do get it dry. Like others have said, after proper time to dry, it turns gray, and the bark does tend to get very loose and some smaller branches, once good and dry, the bark gets almost flaky. I always seem to get powder post beetles in my Locust, they seem to move on once the wood starts to dry out good


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## begreen (Nov 16, 2015)

I've had good luck burning 18 month seasoned locust. That could be due to our dry summers. Love burning it and the blue flames it creates.


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## brenndatomu (Nov 16, 2015)

The only thing about Locust that sucks is all the sparks that shoot off the coals when you open for a reload...


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## ADK_XJ (Nov 16, 2015)

Upstate New Yorker said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I just purchased a cord of wood consisting of Ash and Locust. I've never burned locust before, although I know it burns very hot when seasoned. My issue is whether the Locust I bought is seasoned. It's very heavy (even the small pieces), and the color of the wood is green, like the color of pistachios. The guy I bought it from said the color doesn't not indicate the wood is not seasoned. The wood is just that color.
> 
> I'm a little suspicious because the bark doesn't fall off the wood very easily as often happens with seasoned wood. I don't want to insult the guy's integrity if I'm not sure whether the wood is seasoned. Your thoughts would be appreciated.


Unfortunately, that sounds like unseasoned locust. At least near me (Hour and a half straight up the Hudson) mine started that same greenish color and just felt DAMP to the touch and insanely heavy but is now starting to turn a grayish yellow on the faces and almost a chocolate brown on the sun exposed end grain. That's after about 7 months in the stack and I really won't be thinking of burning it until Jan/Feb 2017.

I've just come to learn that the majority of people (even or especially those selling firewood) are a little ignorant about the true characteristics of wood. People I work with think I'm NUTS for putting up 8-9 cord of wood that's not even for this year and at least half of that is locust.


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## Isaac Carlson (Nov 16, 2015)

We are burning locust this year.  It is dry but sure doesn't feel like it.  It burns like a torch and puts out incredible heat.  It is green and the bark is still on it.


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## LocustPocust (Nov 16, 2015)

I've burned BL 7 months seasoned, though the longer it seasons the hotter it burns from my experience. It's a pretty quick drying wood when split and stacked and covered.


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## Upstate New Yorker (Nov 16, 2015)

Isaac Carlson said:


> We are burning locust this year.  It is dry but sure doesn't feel like it.  It burns like a torch and puts out incredible heat.  It is green and the bark is still on it.


Thank you, Isaac. You're the first person to tell me it might be burnable this winter. If it isn't, I'll wait at least a year or two. From the people who responded to my post, I've learned that I'm lucky to get BL whatever it's moisture content right now. I'm very interested to measure the moisture this weekend. I'll let you know what I find.


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## blades (Nov 17, 2015)

Rule of thumb when purchasing firewood, what you are buying now will be good to go, two seasons from current time frame.


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## Woody Stover (Nov 17, 2015)

brenndatomu said:


> Try burning a piece, if it is dry is will take off easily


I've found that decent-sized splits are slow to start, even when dry. I usually either load BL on hot coals, or if it's a cold start, put a couple splits higher up in the load where other species splits will get a good coal bed going first. If BL isn't completely dry, it's _really_ hard to get going.


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## brenndatomu (Nov 17, 2015)

Woody Stover said:


> I've found that decent-sized splits are slow to start, even when dry. I usually either load BL on hot coals, or if it's a cold start, put a couple splits higher up in the load where other species splits will get a good coal bed going first. If BL isn't completely dry, it's _really_ hard to get going.


Yeah the bigger stuff doesn't take right off, but the smaller stuff does when it is really dry. Maybe not as easy as pine but pretty close, and really flares up hot right quick


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## heavy hammer (Nov 17, 2015)

Let sit for a year the longer it sits and drys out the better it will turn light grey and nice size cracks on ends love locust best wood for heat in my opinion I save mine for the real cold days give it some time you will see that it was a great buy


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## solarguy2003 (Nov 18, 2015)

A moisture meter is super handy, and they are pretty inexpensive.  Plus, you might get a little different response and treatment if you have the meter right there when they unload the wood.  Split a round, jam the prongs in, ....32% moisture.  Yeah, not seasoned at all.  Oh, hey look, my 6 month old wood reads 18%. 


If you just have to know, today, there is another quite accurate method.  It requires an accurate scale and a piece of wood that the scale can handle.

Weigh it, then bake at 250F for an hour, weigh again, bake again for an hour, weigh again.  When the weight (mostly) stops changing, you know how much moisture was removed. Note that this might be a bit smelly.  This works faster for smaller pieces than larger pieces because the moisture can get out easier.  Shorter is also faster/better than longer, because the majority of the water leaves through the end grain.

Example:

original piece weighs 1,000 grams.

after heating and weighing, etc, the final stable weight is 800 grams.  There were 200 grams of water in the starting condition.

200/1000 = 20% moisture content.


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## Pennsyltucky Chris (Nov 18, 2015)

BL goes from Green to Manilla when seasoning. You need 2 solid year of seasoning to burn it. Stack it away for another year, and buy more ash. Or start getting your own. That way you always know it's dry.


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## littleuing (Nov 19, 2015)

The wacking two pieces together works but a mosture meter is better.

I got some black locust this year standing dead covered in vines...  Read 25% and under a few days in the sun and the color chaged and showed tons of cracks in the end. Last week I got a mixed load of stuff that blew down, box elder and locust.... The black locust was half as light as the box elder which i knew was green.  And the black locust was standing dead. Split open the locust and it was 17% for most of it...  Still greenish in color but some bark was off.

Also my dad has been mainly burning black locust for years...  His yard is full of standing dead stuff. The bark has stayed on tight to 2 year stuff. Also has fallen of stuff split 6 months prior. I think alot has to deal with time of year its cut and split. 

So my thought is color and bark never give a great picture but can help in guessing...  The stuff that was 25% had roots under the bark and the bark peeled off with the vines easy.

I also got a small stove put in about 1/2 way through winter my first year with no good wood. Spent the winter fighting 25%+ black locust.  Took forever to get going and left the box full of coals...  What a waste of good wood.  But burn it hot and do what you have to.. Till you can get ahead.


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## albert1029 (Nov 19, 2015)

I have access to a lot of fallen dead Black Locust, no bark or loosly hanging bark, not much standing dead, center of fresh split 17% - 20%, fresh splits pale yellow to brown look really dry...


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## Woody Stover (Nov 20, 2015)

albert1029 said:


> fresh splits pale yellow to brown look really dry...


It's fun finding some that has been lying around dead for so long that it's brown when split.


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## Phoenix Hatchling (Nov 20, 2015)

Pennsyltucky Chris said:


> BL goes from Green to Manilla when seasoning. You need 2 solid year of seasoning to burn it. Stack it away for another year, and buy more ash. Or start getting your own. That way you always know it's dry.



I got locust that was down for 26 years. Cut in 12" lengths and split. Beautiful Manila color as you say but wasn't ready to burn until the following year!


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## Stinkpickle (Nov 20, 2015)

Usualy, the bark doesn't pop off mine until two full summers after being split.


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## Babaganoosh (Nov 20, 2015)

I had some locust that I split in May. I did the poor man's solar kiln and shrink wrapped it all summer. It's good to go now. I'm not sure how long ago it was actually cut and sitting in rounds but less than a year I think.


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