Black Locust

[Battenkiller]

I just cut and split close to a cord of standing dead black locust logs. The thick bark either fell right off or was aided by a pressure attachment on my garden hose. I let it dry and then bucked it with a brand new chain One cord and that chain was ready for a resharpen. The stuff was so hard I could see sparks come off the chain. Split like butter, though. With the exception of a couple rounds at the bottom end of a few logs which acted like they were made of rubber, I was able to split rounds up to 18" in half with 2-3 well-placed blows from Mr. Fiskars. The half-rounds and smaller rounds popped right apart with a good swing of the Fiskars. I just stood them all on end on the ground and started swinging away. I have always found locust easy to split like this.

Shagbark, OTOH... :wow:

Black locust is a low-moisture wood on the stump and finishes seasoning faster than any high-density wood I have ever handled.

 

[Pine Knot]

Back about 30 year ago I put in a lot of locust for fence post here on the farm which I am now replaceing with treated pine post and new wire. The locust post that come out are rotted off at the top of the ground or nearly so. But from ground level to the top they are still good and i am useing them up for wood. I have to watch for stray staples and nails when cutting them up but thry still make a good hot fire.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

It splits pretty nicely. We scored a batch last year. Nice wood. Out here in the land of softwood it's almost as good as Doug Fir which is what God himself burns in his PE insert.

Fikst