And I'm on more Black Locust!!!

[scoooter]

virginia creeper is really similar to poison ivy. That, too, grows on the black locusts around here. It must be the bark that the ivy likes so much, almost everywhere I cut BL I find either VC or PI. the real difference is when the leaves are on, VC has 5 pointed leaves instead of the three, and VC, and it is quite easy to confuse the two. The second picture has a virginia creeper leaflet on the left, and a poison ivy leaflet on the right. So during this time of the year, when there are no leaves on the plant, it's a crapshoot!! I'm leary of touching it every time I see it out in the woods! :blank:

So What are you thinking about today? I think you edited your post before I could quote it...

I know I saw virginal!

 

[blujacket]

I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance? :cheese:

Wow,must be nice. Been splitting some with my Fiskars x27, easiest wood I have ever split. Can't wait to burn it in a couple years.

 

[Gark]

"I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance?"
Mullberry makes fireworks inside (and out) the stove when you open the door.

 

[smokinj]

"I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance?"
Mullberry makes fireworks inside (and out) the stove when you open the door.

lol, i DO GET BL DOING THAT TO.

 

[smokinj]

I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance? :cheese:

Wow,must be nice. Been splitting some with my Fiskars x27, easiest wood I have ever split. Can't wait to burn it in a couple years.

I share! One thing about me I seem to find more wood that 10 of us can cut.

 

[ScotO]

virginia creeper is really similar to poison ivy. That, too, grows on the black locusts around here. It must be the bark that the ivy likes so much, almost everywhere I cut BL I find either VC or PI. the real difference is when the leaves are on, VC has 5 pointed leaves instead of the three, and VC, and it is quite easy to confuse the two. The second picture has a virginia creeper leaflet on the left, and a poison ivy leaflet on the right. So during this time of the year, when there are no leaves on the plant, it's a crapshoot!! I'm leary of touching it every time I see it out in the woods! :blank:

So What are you thinking about today? I think you edited your post before I could quote it...

I know I saw virginal!

lol...... :cheese: :lol: :zip: you caught me!!

 

[ScotO]

I share! One thing about me I seem to find more wood that 10 of us can cut.

You say that like it's a bad thing, Smokinjay

 

[Woody Stover]

of the species most consider to be the primo burning woods, bl is one of the lighter ones.

Huh. I was under the impression that when dried to 20%, all wood contained 7000 BTUs per pound, so that a high-BTU wood would have to be more dense than lower-BTU species.

 

[krex1010]

of the species most consider to be the primo burning woods, bl is one of the lighter ones.

Huh. I was under the impression that when dried to 20%, all wood contained 7000 BTUs per pound, so that a high-BTU wood would have to be more dense than lower-BTU species.

when it's freshly cut, green black locust weighs less than green oak and hickory because it generally holds less water. I typically see freshly cut locust that is in the 27-32% mc range, oak and hickory will be much much higher when freshly cut, hence they weigh more and are heavier to work with when moving rounds and splitting. Locust dries pretty quickly because it has less water to lose than other species, which is why it is lighter when it is cut, not really sure why this is hard to understand.

 

[mecreature]

I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance? :cheese:

Wow,must be nice. Been splitting some with my Fiskars x27, easiest wood I have ever split. Can't wait to burn it in a couple years.

I share! One thing about me I seem to find more wood that 10 of us can cut.

When is that guy going to build on that spot?

That BL was the hottest stuff I have ever seen. I mean insane hot.
I lucked into 2 cord of big mulberry splits from a friend, wanted it gone.
Most of the mulberry I have been cutting sucks. too much work with all the tops.

 

[oldspark]

of the species most consider to be the primo burning woods, bl is one of the lighter ones.

Huh. I was under the impression that when dried to 20%, all wood contained 7000 BTUs per pound, so that a high-BTU wood would have to be more dense than lower-BTU species.

when it's freshly cut, green black locust weighs less than green oak and hickory because it generally holds less water. I typically see freshly cut locust that is in the 27-32% mc range, oak and hickory will be much much higher when freshly cut, hence they weigh more and are heavier to work with when moving rounds and splitting. Locust dries pretty quickly because it has less water to lose than other species, which is why it is lighter when it is cut, not really sure why this is hard to understand.

I was talking about when it is dry, I have a few pieces of some 5 year old BL and its heavy as hell, but I agree on it being lighter than Oak when wet but not Ash.

 

[smokinj]

I got 5-1/2 cords of mulberry and another 5-7 to go! bl mulberry whats the differance? :cheese:

Wow,must be nice. Been splitting some with my Fiskars x27, easiest wood I have ever split. Can't wait to burn it in a couple years.

I share! One thing about me I seem to find more wood that 10 of us can cut.

When is that guy going to build on that spot?

That BL was the hottest stuff I have ever seen. I mean insane hot.
I lucked into 2 cord of big mulberry splits from a friend, wanted it gone.
Most of the mulberry I have been cutting sucks. too much work with all the tops.

Its going to be parking lot. Oh and the 192t comes to mind we are still running about a cord and a 1/4 an hour with maulberry...... ;-)

 

[blwncrewchief]

I have black locust trust me, I have a forestry degree and I worked for a tree service for 10 years, Bl is one of the easiest to Id species, and actually I posted pics of the some of my bl on here, nobody said I didn't have bl at that time. Bl is dense but is also a low moisture content wood, which is why it dries quickly. It definitely weighs less per volume than hickory and oak. I'm not saying bl is poplar light, but of the species most consider to be the primo burning woods, bl is one of the lighter ones.

According to my chart it is slightly lighter green than some of the heavy hardwoods but by 20% MC only Osage Orange is heaver. Just for reference:

Wood: Weight per cord green - Weight per cord at 20% MC:

Osage Orange - 5120# - 4550#
Black Locust - 4615# - 3950#
Hickory - 5110# - 3830#
White Oak - 4980# - 3740#
Honey Locust - 4635# - 3590#
Mulberry - 4710# - 3535#
Red Oak - 4885# - 3350#
Poplar - 3050# - 2220#

Now I know these are numbers from my engineering notes but you are allot better at judging weighs than me if you can tell less than a 10% weight difference per volume even green. If we forget about the oddball OO, Black Locust shows to be the densest of the hardwoods as it pulls ahead weight wise at a given volume and moisture content. I would not use the reference that it "definitely weighs less per volume" when it should have less than a 10% maximum difference than Hickory and less than 5% maximum difference than Red Oak green. Actually at 20% MC Black Locust is about 18% heavier than Red Oak. I will concede that it seems like Hickory and Oak are heavier since I get allot larger pieces of Oak and Hickory than Black Locust. 24-36" diameter DBH Hickory and Oak is fairly common but it is rare I see Black Locust over 16-18" DBH.

 

[Woody Stover]

I was talking about when it is dry, I have a few pieces of some 5 year old BL and its heavy as hell, but I agree on it being lighter than Oak when wet but not Ash.

Yeah, krex was talking wet and I was talking dry. But the Ash has about the same green MC, around 30% give or take, and was noticably lighter to me last week when I was hauling out both.
I didn't know about this BL until you guys clued me in, so I can't resist burning a little even though I should be saving it for colder nights. My only other dry wood is a bit of hard Maple, some White Ash, Cheery and a little Oak; The BL is at another level with burn time and 50+ degree hotter stove top. :coolsmile:

 

[etiger2007]

Whats the best way to burn BL I have some and cant get it going very good.

 

[ScotO]

Whats the best way to burn BL I have some and cant get it going very good.

is is seasoned well? Mix it up with some dry silver maple or ash splits. something to help get it going...

 

[etiger2007]

Whats the best way to burn bl? I have some and I cant get the BTU's going out of it, ive heard it burns hot as of right now I think red oak burns hotter. Maybe Im doing something wrong with the BL

 

[oldspark]

Whats the best way to burn BL I have some and cant get it going very good.

Mix it with a less dense wood, I am assuming it is dry.

 

[etiger2007]

Thanks I will try it it has seasoned for about 8 months is that good enuogh I heard BL has a low mc

 

[oldspark]

Thanks I will try it it has seasoned for about 8 months is that good enuogh I heard BL has a low mc

Might be, depending on the conditions it was dried in, a little longer woud be better, MM would help.

 

[ScotO]

Thanks I will try it it has seasoned for about 8 months is that good enuogh I heard BL has a low mc

Might be, depending on the conditions it was dried in, a little longer woud be better, MM would help.

As long as it was split and top-covered, you should be fine. If you had it stacked in rounds, it won't be ready yet....

 

[krex1010]

Blwncrewchief,
Thank for posting that chart. I'm surprised that the species are that close, buuuuuut my statement is true, it is lighter green than those other woods lol. It seems to me that bl is much easier to lift and move than oak and hickory, maybe I am just such a sensitive fella that I can detect that 5-10% difference in weigh.

 

[lukem]

Blwncrewchief,
Thank for posting that chart. I'm surprised that the species are that close, buuuuuut my statement is true, it is lighter green than those other woods lol. It seems to me that bl is much easier to lift and move than oak and hickory, maybe I am just such a sensitive fella that I can detect that 5-10% difference in weigh.

My truck sure can tell the difference. A full load of green oak will sqaut it down pretty hard. BL not nearly as much.

Green hedge is a tire-blower. Very hard to judge the weight because it doesn't look like much but is heavy as hell.

 

[blwncrewchief]

etiger, I love burning BL but it is a little different than alot of wood to burn. BL is harder to get going in general but at slightly higher moisture levels it gets much harder. I would guess that at 8 months it is in the 20-25% range right now as I have some at about the exact same age in about the same climate as you. Starting BL like that is a test of sanity in a cold stove and if it has any surface moisture on it you will be very frustrated. Load it on hot coals if at all possible. If you don't have a good bed of hot coals I usually throw a couple small pieces of something fast burning in first. Get it up and running and then load the BL. I reload BL at a much higher stove temp than pretty much anything else. If I'm in a full bore heating day I will reload BL at 350-450 stove top as it comes up to speed much slower and controlled than most wood. If I reloaded a large load of Silver Maple at that temp the stove would head for the moon but not with BL. I was burning it yesterday and for my day time load I loaded it at 400* with about 2" of coal base spread out ( I don't rake the coals forward for BL), it lit in less than 30 seconds, air wide open for 5 minuets, stove temp starting to rise, shut air to 50% for 10 more minuets, stove 450* and rising, shut air to about 10%. Half hour into the load the stove top was 550* and held 550-600* for 6 hours without touching the stove. I was in and out of the house all day yesterday so I needed allot of heat. At 6 hours it was into the coaling phase so to keep the temp up I opened the air back to about 50% and the stove held about 500 for another 2 hours. That is pretty much a full run with BL and with 6 splits about 4-6" for my stove. I would guess that load was about 50-55 pounds.

 

[etiger2007]

I measured mine with a meter and it measured at 12% moisture, i threw three pieces about the size of your forearm in with one ash split and it really did nothing stove was about 400 degrees. I am getting a new osburn 2000 because this dutch west 2500 insert sucks. I would say i probably put in about 15 pounds of BL in the stove; i have a small fire box of 1.3 cubic ft.