Black Locust or junk wood?

[turnkey4099]

The only drawback to BL is it's size, rare to get a tree that will make a full cord. Cuts nicely but you need sharp chains and keep 'em sharp. Dead/dry locust is hard on saws/chains though, good rule is "cut green, split dry" as it splits easily green but dry almost falls apart on its own.

Harry K

 

[ReggieT]

The only drawback to BL is it's size, rare to get a tree that will make a full cord. Cuts nicely but you need sharp chains and keep 'em sharp. Dead/dry locust is hard on saws/chains though, good rule is "cut green, split dry" as it splits easily green but dry almost falls apart on its own.

Harry K

Mighty fine advise there sir! Do you fare better with chisel or skip tooth on BL??

 

[1project2many]

Haha.

Picture was found in a discussion on BL being raised for goat and sheep fodder. Could be fake but someone did a nice job matching up hooves to branches. But goats really do love to climb, though. Growing up, our neighbor had goats and one would regularly find way onto doghouse, then would jump onto roof of shed in order to look into house. Same goat would also climb the gate and hang off the top. Crazy animals. Use google images and search for "goats in tree."

Here's a link to a couple more and some descriptive text:
http://news.creativeleague.com/2009/07/goats-in-trees
There's also a video on youtube that's fairly easy to find..

 

[longbowch]

Mighty fine advise there sir! Do you fare better with chisel or skip tooth on BL??

I wouldn't use skip tooth if you want to keep your teeth.lol. Semi-chisel works well since its so dirty under the bark.

 

[haveawoody]

Reg,

Don't think the chain type will matter much on long lay around wood.
It's sure to be very dirty under the bark so whatever you use will dull pretty quick.
Good time to have a few backup chains on hand and change as needed or sharpen the one quite a bit.

Cutting rock elm and fallen black locust are a similar adventure in quick dull chains, fallen BL from buggy bark and hard cut resistant wood and Rock elm just because it's a very hard and very cut resistant wood.
Cutting fallen rock elm is best done with dynamite LOL

 

[ReggieT]

Reg,

Don't think the chain type will matter much on long lay around wood.
It's sure to be very dirty under the bark so whatever you use will dull pretty quick.
Good time to have a few backup chains on hand and change as needed or sharpen the one quite a bit.

Cutting rock elm and fallen black locust are a similar adventure in quick dull chains, fallen BL from buggy bark and hard cut resistant wood and Rock elm just because it's a very hard and very cut resistant wood.
Cutting fallen rock elm is best done with dynamite LOL

I hate sharpening chains...

 

[mallardman]

One of my favorite woods to burn too. There is quite a bit around here. The only down sides are chains that dull pretty quick when cutting and the bark smells like crap when it burns. I try to remove it all when splitting. It is also one of the last trees to get leaves in the spring. Had a friend that insisted his 3 trees were dead last doing and wanted me to cut them. I did but there wasn't anything wrong with them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sagetown]

Came across this pic of some BL.

 

[ponyexpress976]

Came across this pic of some BL.

This is a tame one...but it still gives me shivers. Pretty sure these thorns are where the term "armor piercing" came from.

 

[haveawoody]

Reg,
This little tool makes very quick work of sharpening chains.
Works on 12v so usable pretty much anywhere and is easy on chains similar to hand sharpening is.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_21794_21794

 

[turnkey4099]

Mighty fine advise there sir! Do you fare better with chisel or skip tooth on BL??

All my chains are square chisel filed with round file. Never did learn the proper name (?RSC?). The longer ones 20" and down are full tooth, longer ones (24 and 28") skip tooth.

Fun cutting is dry locust in the evening dusk and seeing sparks flying while cutting o

Harry K

 

[turnkey4099]

Reg,

Don't think the chain type will matter much on long lay around wood.
It's sure to be very dirty under the bark so whatever you use will dull pretty quick.
Good time to have a few backup chains on hand and change as needed or sharpen the one quite a bit.

Cutting rock elm and fallen black locust are a similar adventure in quick dull chains, fallen BL from buggy bark and hard cut resistant wood and Rock elm just because it's a very hard and very cut resistant wood.
Cutting fallen rock elm is best done with dynamite LOL

I don't find the chains dulling too fast for good production. Rarely need to change one out in any session. I carry 3-5 chains for of each size (18,20,24,28) and sharpen the ones I used last before the next expedition. I use a clamp-on jig that sets all th angles and depth and do a 20" loop in about 10 minutes including the set-up and teardown time). My criteria for "need to sharpen" is when the chain will not 'self-feed', i.e., just hold ht saw one hand and if it is pulling in and eating down it is fine.

Harry K

 

[windthrown]

BL is great firewood. In my top 5 firewood list. I am burning it now, as a matta of fact. People here in the west often times do not know what it is or how to burn it. I got a truck load of free BL from an arborist last year that was split and dry. He said I would need a really good stove to burn it in. I do. It is fairly common around here in the burbs as yard trees, and also its invasive way out here in the boonies growing in fir stands. Its about the same as white oak for cutting, not as hard as madrone or euc.

 

[windthrown]

Came across this pic of some BL.

Ouch... good photo of the thorns.

 

[ReggieT]

BL is great firewood. In my top 5 firewood list. I am burning it now, as a matta of fact. People here in the west often times do not know what it is or how to burn it. I got a truck load of free BL from an arborist last year that was split and dry. He said I would need a really good stove to burn it in. I do. It is fairly common around here in the burbs as yard trees, and also its invasive way out here in the boonies growing in fir stands. Its about the same as white oak for cutting, not as hard as madrone or euc.

Great...what's your top 5?

 

[windthrown]

Great...what's your top 5?

For available wood species in the PNW: madrone, Oregon white oak, black locust, apple, and Douglas fir/larch (tie).
For wood species when I lived in central and northern California: CA live oak (5 species), madrone, eucalyptus, almond, and OR white oak.
My top ten combined western wood species: CA live oak, madrone, euc, almond, OR white oak, CA black oak, black locust, apple, Douglas fir/larch, red alder. Alder is light wood, but burns evenly and is my top wood for smoking with. I use apple and alder (usually mixed) for 90% of my smoking. Douglas fir is the most abundant wood here in the PNW, and larch/tamarack is tied with DF but grows east of the Cascades. They are commonly lumped together as graded lumber. Madrone is considered by many as the best firewood here in the western US. CA live oak has more heat than any other firewood in the US that I am aware of. Maple would come in ahead of alder if it were not for the smoking quality of alder. Maple is also a good smoking wood, but the most common Bigleaf maple that we have here is not that dense for heating with.

Also my bottom 5: Tree of Heaven (ailanthus), black cottonwood, weeping willow, sycamore, and birch. Birch is OK as firewood, but it has to be split pretty fast or it will rot before it dries. The bark is virtually waterproof. I have a lot of it growing on my property.

 

[GVS]

My parents live on an old farm . There is a good 1 to 2 acre patch of BL in the middle of the woods . The story we heard..was that the old owners years and years ago planted a section of it for use for fence posts . Those fences havent been used for holdin critters for 50 or 60 years...but the posts are all still there ! Not rhoten or anything . My dad had to remove a few last year to make way for a new trail . He cut one of them up to see what it looked like inside after all these years . It was in fantastic shape ! Pretty amazing stuff , and a real learning experience for me !!

Many old farms in the N E had a locust plantation just for makeing fence posts.

 

[1project2many]

Birch is OK as firewood, but it has to be split pretty fast or it will rot before it dries.

What species of Birch grow there? There are several here and some like Yellow Birch are just as rot resistant as oak, while others like gray birch are exactly as you describe. Split and debark or throw out.

 

[coog]

Cut and burned a lot of Madrone, burned a lot of CA Live Oak. Not even close to Osage Orange, which we call Hedge in Kansas. Totally different animal.

 

[ReggieT]

Cut and burned a lot of Madrone, burned a lot of CA Live Oak. Not even close to Osage Orange, which we call Hedge in Kansas. Totally different animal.

I have an Osage Orange fetish...