Locust

[wahoowad]

Locust is a very distinctive wood. Hard as a steel pipe, heavy as concrete. What you have can't be locust if "light" is in the description and refers to the weight. No freakin way.

I have some locust that is really ate up with something that was able to burrow holes in it. It was probably dead for I don't know how many years judging by the exterior appearance. But it is still heavy - lead pipe heavy. Absolutely no doubt what it is. I'm thinking no one has ever handed you true locust and said "this is locust."

 

[Henz]

must be..now I guess I will have to really find out what those trees are..Damn!

 

[Jags]

now would you say that the locust is a heavy wood or about average compared to hard maple?? This locust doesnt have spines at all from what I can tell and the bark is really thick with a creamy wood overall.

I can assure you that locust is heavy for its size, and you can't pound a nail into it either. I have both hard maple and locust and the locust out weighs the maple by 15-20% after the same seasoning time.

 

[adrpga498]

Yellow in color, Ants like it, easy to split, hard as a rock, burns hot & long. Must be Locust. One of my top 3 favorites to burn.

 

[laynes69]

Locust can be fairly light if it contains little to no moisture. I cut many dead standing locusts with no bark whatsoever. They have been dead for years. And those pieces are lighter than ash but they burn a very long time. Also when you cut into one like this, its green in the middle. Nothing is better. One thing I like it we never have ants, because our yard is almost all locust trees. The ants love them, and around here its very common to cut open one and find it full of ants.

 

[pistonslap]

Speaking of ants, about 5 yrs ago, before I started cutting and burning, I had a huge black cherry tree in my yard. It had carpenter ants and I was afraid it was going to fall on my house. The trunk was 3 ft. in diameter and 3 stories tall. When the tree service guys started cutting it, the ants started coming out and it looked liked a black wave gushing out of the tree. At least 1 1/2ft of the middle of the trunk was eaten away.

 

[DiscoInferno]

I found a lengthy description of black locust (broken link removed to http://www.the-tree.org.uk/BritishTrees/TreeGallery/falseacaciac.htm), which contains the following:

It should be pointed out that the finest wood comes from the poorest soils, because the slower growth makes the wood denser and harder. Faster growth on fertile soils may produce wood that has larger cells and is relatively brittle. I could be that the disagreement between people who think this is a marvelous high-quality wood and those who think it is rather brittle, may be due to soil and growth factors.

I don't know if locust shows greater variation in density than other trees, but perhaps you have found an exceptionally light example. I'm not sure if brittle means lighter, though; the stuff I have is both heavy and quite brittle, at least along the grain.

 

[Henz]

ok..THis weekend I am going to take some digital images of the bucked up rounds. I will get some close-ups for you all. The description sounds right except for the weights. Could there be a difference in the location? I am in the Northeast..

 

[ourhouse]

I know Locust is very;very hard when dead. It maker pretty good firewood.

 

[Henz]

I wounder if that may be the difference..these trees were just dropped on Saturday. Using my husky 357XP they bucked up much more easily than the hard maple did

 

[ourhouse]

Same size wood?

 

[Henz]

basically yes. However some of the locust was larger in diameter

 

[ourhouse]

When you say hard Maple is that sugar Maple

 

[Henz]

yes, sugar maple is the only hard maple there is

 

[ourhouse]

I balive Sycamore maple is also a hard maple.

 

[Henz]

WHAT..never even heard of Sycamore..huh..will have to check with our Foresters here. I was always told that the Sugar Maple is the only true hard maple..

 

[tjg911]

sycamore is not a maple. it is a different tree just like a cherry or oak. sycamore is a softer wood and grows to IMMENSE size when next to a river. there's 1 in simsbury that is well known for it's size and may be the largest in the state or ne. i'd guess it is several feet in diameter (5-6). sycamore has a mottled (spotted) bark that is very easy to id. it is also called button ball cuz the seed pods like like little balls.

tom

 

[Henz]

thats what I thought..

 

[wg_bent]

I bagged some locust last year, and one thing I saw was it has the thickest bark I've ever seen. It was very easy to split. Hacked off large chunks around the edge and then once in the middle. A sort of yellowish wood. As stated it burns like coal. Only hickory burns similar. So far it's the longest burning wood I've seen.

 

[DiscoInferno]

ok..THis weekend I am going to take some digital images of the bucked up rounds. I will get some close-ups for you all. The description sounds right except for the weights. Could there be a difference in the location? I am in the Northeast..

Split one and take a picture of the grain, too. It reminds me of mulberry, although not nearly so bright yellow, more greenish.

I suspect location does have an effect, how much or which way, I'm unclear. I have almost no species crossover between my woodpiles in MD and MI (just a little bit of cherry and red maple), so I don't have much of a reference. Certainly climate affects tree size; I've cut 14-18" beech trunks in MI that were around 200 years old; in MD, with a much longer growing season, a tree that old would be huge. But the density might be the same. Black locust seems to be an outlier anyway: fast growing yet dense.

 

[Henz]

yup, thats definately it..

 

[ansehnlich1]

I'm from south Pa., and locust around here is about the best firewood you can get, except maybe for apple, if they're rippin an old orchard out, they give apple away, anyway, some locust around here has those big thorns on it, other locust has small, inch or shorter thorns, with none on the trunk of the tree. i think it's black locust mostly around here.

and yep, the wood is a funny yellowish/greenish color, splits nice, and burns hot.

 

[budman]

I have about six cord's of black locust right now and this stuff is the bong.
Weight of seasoned cord 3,890 lbs heat produced per cord m btu 26.8
You are luckey to have it.