Locust questions

[glenng]

Thanks all. Good tips. Seeing that I have a full time job and already way too much to do on my plate, I'll be lucky if I get it all cut up into 16" rounds this year. I will split some of the rounds just to start the drying process because I'm curious about the wood. But it sounds like if I treat it like madrona - 2 yr drying time, hard to split dry, then I will be ok. Glad I got the splitter this spring. It sounds like it's going to be earning its keep.

You need to get it all bucked asap. When Black Locust dries its very hard on saw chains. Don`t let that deter you. Make the time to get it done now and you will save yourself time and frustration later.

 

[TruePatriot]

BeGreen:

Take it ALL! OMG! I've only burned Honey or Yellow Locust, to my knowledge, but I hear Black Locust is even better, and the Honey Locust is my FAVORITE WOOD! It burns with a short, blue flame (once it approaches the coaling stage) that is evocative of a natural gas fire--sounds weird, I know, but that is what I've observed.

And (Honey Locust) burns HOT and it burns LONG. Burning it when it has not seasoned enough, (and in a non-EPA stove), however, is not recommended, as when it's less than fully seasoned, it's smokey and hard to keep going. But seasoned, it's the hottest wood I've ever burned, IMO.

And as has been mentioned, it does split easily (at least, the Honey Locust) as it's very straight-grained. It really "pops" apart, with a maul, unlike a lot of woods, in my experience.

I believe the BTU content/lb. is even higher for Black Locust than Honey Locust, but was too lazy to look it up.

It also doesn't seem to rot--in Northern NY, they/we make fence posts out of Honey Locust, stick 'em in the ground, and they'll last 10, 20, 30 and even 40+ years. When they finally do break off, at ground level, the above-ground portions go into the stove, because they're "fully seasoned"! LOL

When I consider the fact that you stated you can't normally get hardwoods, this is a "no brainer," (no offense). Christmas has come early, BeGreen!

Enjoy!

Peter

 

[N/A N/A]

One of the strange things I noticed about the locust I had is when I would burn it the ash from the log would stay intact. When the fire would go out I would have an ash mold of the log I put in the night before. Then, when I would touch it with the poker, it would all collapse on itself. Kinda strange. And when it was burning, I would have this ash "mold" of a log that glowed in the middle...anybody else notice this?

 

[beagler7694]

BeGreen:

It also doesn't seem to rot--in Northern NY, they/we make fence posts out of Honey Locust, stick 'em in the ground, and they'll last 10, 20, 30 and even 40+ years. When they finally do break off, at ground level, the above-ground portions go into the stove, because they're "fully seasoned"! LOL

When I consider the fact that you stated you can't normally get hardwoods, this is a "no brainer," (no offense). Christmas has come early, BeGreen!

Enjoy!

Peter

TruePatriot is right. I have honey locust corner posts on the farm that were put in by my grandpa 50 years ago and still are doing the job. Can't put a nail or fence staple in them, like trying to nail into iron. Always heard it was good firewood with bad thorns.

 

[oilstinks]

can i have some of it? please? Get all of it!

 

[benking]

I burned a combination of dry and under seasoned black locust all last year. I have a small Jotul F3 and nothing gets the stove hotter or burns longer than a full load of BL. It is the best wood I've ever burned. Split it green and you'll save yourself an aweful lot of work.

 

[begreen]

WooHoo! The dump truck just dropped off a load of rounds, about 1.5 cords worth!

It's already all in 16-18" lengths. All I have to do is split it. Now that's going to be fun. The 30" rounds must weigh a few hundred pounds.

 

[RAY_PA]

nice find!...better eat your Wheaties!!

 

[Cluttermagnet]

BeGreen:I've only burned Honey or Yellow Locust, to my knowledge, but I hear Black Locust is even better, and the Honey Locust is my FAVORITE WOOD! It burns with a short, blue flame (once it approaches the coaling stage) that is evocative of a natural gas fire--sounds weird, I know, but that is what I've observed.

And (Honey Locust) burns HOT and it burns LONG. Burning it when it has not seasoned enough, (and in a non-EPA stove), however, is not recommended, as when it's less than fully seasoned, it's smokey and hard to keep going. But seasoned, it's the hottest wood I've ever burned, IMO.

And as has been mentioned, it does split easily (at least, the Honey Locust) as it's very straight-grained. It really "pops" apart, with a maul, unlike a lot of woods, in my experience.

I believe the BTU content/lb. is even higher for Black Locust than Honey Locust, but was too lazy to look it up.

Peter

I have some Locust I'm still trying to get a positive ID on. Might be Black Locust but lately I'm thinking it may be Honey Locust. Locust Again- Seasoning, Splitting This wood is very dense and heavy, even after being on the ground for 3+ months. The wood in cross section has an outer ring of light brownish yellowish wood, and most of the core wood appears as a big, greenish yellow- brown darker area. But when you split it and look at the core wood sideways, it becomes a definite bright yellow amber color- yes, honey colored. Do I have Honey Locust? (The leaves are long gone, can't ID it that way) BTW I tried splitting a few rounds and it pops easy with the maul, as you describe. Mostly very straight- grained. BTW I have never seen any thorns on this tree.

 

[Todd]

BeGreen:I've only burned Honey or Yellow Locust, to my knowledge, but I hear Black Locust is even better, and the Honey Locust is my FAVORITE WOOD! It burns with a short, blue flame (once it approaches the coaling stage) that is evocative of a natural gas fire--sounds weird, I know, but that is what I've observed.

And (Honey Locust) burns HOT and it burns LONG. Burning it when it has not seasoned enough, (and in a non-EPA stove), however, is not recommended, as when it's less than fully seasoned, it's smokey and hard to keep going. But seasoned, it's the hottest wood I've ever burned, IMO.

And as has been mentioned, it does split easily (at least, the Honey Locust) as it's very straight-grained. It really "pops" apart, with a maul, unlike a lot of woods, in my experience.

I believe the BTU content/lb. is even higher for Black Locust than Honey Locust, but was too lazy to look it up.

Peter

I have some Locust I'm still trying to get a positive ID on. Might be Black Locust but lately I'm thinking it may be Honey Locust. Locust Again- Seasoning, Splitting This wood is very dense and heavy, even after being on the ground for 3+ months. The wood in cross section has an outer ring of light brownish yellowish wood, and most of the core wood appears as a big, greenish yellow- brown darker area. But when you split it and look at the core wood sideways, it becomes a definite bright yellow amber color- yes, honey colored. Do I have Honey Locust? (The leaves are long gone, can't ID it that way) BTW I tried splitting a few rounds and it pops easy with the maul, as you describe. Mostly very straight- grained. BTW I have never seen any thorns on this tree.

Black locust has very thick grooved crossing bark.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

Hmmm- crossing? Not sure what that would look like. Maybe I should take a few photos of this stuff and post them. I'll say this- on the small rounds I split Sunday, maybe 7-10in dia, I'd say the bark was not all that thick. Maybe about average. Now thick, that would be, say, the bark on a big old Oak tree, sometimes an inch or more thick. You mean thick like that?

Edit: The bark measures between ~3/16in and 3/8in thick. Here are some photo links. Sorry about the low quality- this is from an old Fuji 1.3mpix with no optical zoom. Had to take with the macro (closeup) lens setting. The round is about 6in dia.
Locust Bark
Locust Core Wood
Locust Split

The camera color rendition ain't all that great. By daylight, the core wood was more greenish yellowish brown, and the split showed a nice bright amber yellow color, much different color than the end view of the core. This stuff weathers down to where the core wood turns rust red. I have a piece off the same tree that looks like that. Looks like it has been painted a brownish red like an old barn or out building.

 

[woodconvert]

Locust rules!. Speaking of that...did yall see that story about the "witness tree" that was damaged in a storm:

(broken link removed to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_on_re_us/historic_tree)

First thing that went through my head was "that's a real bummer".
Second thing that went through my mind was "Pennsylvania isn't THAT far away..." ;-P

 

[Rich M]

BTW I have never seen any thorns on this tree.

Then it is black locust, honey locust are full of very large thorns on the trunk. Black only has small thorns on new growth not the main trunk.

 

[Cluttermagnet]

BTW I have never seen any thorns on this tree.

Then it is black locust, honey locust are full of very large thorns on the trunk. Black only has small thorns on new growth not the main trunk.

Wow- if it truly is Black Locust, I am thrilled! That stuff tops the list for BTU per cord. Definitely no thorns anywhere on this wood.

 

[N/A N/A]

Locust rules!. Speaking of that...did yall see that story about the "witness tree" that was damaged in a storm:

(broken link removed to http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080809/ap_on_re_us/historic_tree)

First thing that went through my head was "that's a real bummer".
Second thing that went through my mind was "Pennsylvania isn't THAT far away..." ;-P

Check this out, was up Gettysburg and got a picture of the tree, if anybody is interested. One of the grounds keepers was telling me when they were cutting it up people were taking small pieces of the tree as souvenirs.

 

[beagler]

Is locust stringy when splitting?

 

[begreen]

I whacked at a few rounds this weekend. It split pretty nicely. Not too stringy at all.

 

[MacKay]

I have always tried to get Black locust when I can. I was able to get a pretty nice supply of it just last month. IT actually was the biggest rounds I ever handled. We put a tape measure to the tree and the biggest section was 40" in diameter. I got a little over a cord out of that one tree. If you have the property, black locust unlike a lot of hardwoods grows very fast. Planting sapling of the trees provides trees big enough for firewood in only 10 years.