How long does black locust take to season??

[sean donato]

Your looking at a solid 2 years for locust or white oak around here. Typically ill let the logs sit a year then cut and split. Even then depending on when the locust was cut it may need another year. I try to let most woods season for 2 years anyway.

 

[lone wolf]

Well I do not live in a desert and I will assure you these will be ash before this time next year. Some are Ash now

View attachment 1061284

And it looks like Poison Ivy on some of that Cherry.

 

[freeasaburt]

I've come across the term 'Black Locust' a couple of times here before without actually wondering what species it was. Decided to look it up, and found out it grows here too, as an invasive species, we call it by its Latin name (Robinia).
Excellent wood for all kinds of constructions, a friend of mine uses complete trunks in his (exterior) projects; he burns it too, offcuts etc. , it provides nice heat. Burning anything that was cut green with less than 2 years of drying (properly stacked/exposed to wind) is basically no option here, although I can imagine in drier/windier climates things are quite different.

 

[rancher2]

In my area the seasoning of black locust varies a lot. If its cut and split in the winter when the sap is down. It will be ready to burn the next winter. Seems like we never get wood cut in the winter and it normally summer when we are cutting and splitting. I normally let it season two years then. I try to stay ahead on my wood supply. I normally only burn locust and hedge in the Garn.

 

[capetrees]

Your looking at a solid 2 years for locust or white oak around here. Typically ill let the logs sit a year then cut and split. Even then depending on when the locust was cut it may need another year. I try to let most woods season for 2 years anyway.

You sure you're not confusing black locust with honey locust? Honey locust is MUCH heavier and very wet wood. Black locust is hard an drier, even when alive.

 

[sean donato]

You sure you're not confusing black locust with honey locust? Honey locust is MUCH heavier and very wet wood. Black locust is hard an drier, even when alive.

No, I'm not. if we were talking about honey locust i would have said it would be sitting 3 to 4 years before I consider burning it. We have both around here. I prefer black to burn, simply because it takes less time to dry and the thorns arnt near as nasty.

 

[Bill G]

No, I'm not. if we were talking about honey locust i would have said it would be sitting 3 to 4 years before I consider burning it. We have both around here. I prefer black to burn, simply because it takes less time to dry and the thorns arnt near as nasty.

By the time Black Locust gets to a decent size it is near thornless. The far outside limbs and new growth have the tiny thorns but very few. The Honey Locust are so full of nasty clumps of thorns they get piled with the crawler of excavator. There are some though that are completely thornless which is odd.

 

[sean donato]

By the time Black Locust gets to a decent size it is near thornless. The far outside limbs and new growth have the tiny thorns but very few. The Honey Locust are so full of nasty clumps of thorns they get piled with the crawler of excavator. There are some though that are completely thornless which is odd.

The thorns seem to be regional. The black doesn't get then near like honey, like you say basically no thornsnon the larger branches and the new growth is more like a heavy duty rose thorn. the honey around here doesn't seen to get those 8" spikes you see in pictures. Still gets them big enough to poke a hole in a tire or rip your arm open if you not careful. Often though of planting honey locust as a hedge to keep critters and a-holes off my property.

 

[Bill G]

The thorns seem to be regional. The black doesn't get then near like honey, like you say basically no thornsnon the larger branches and the new growth is more like a heavy duty rose thorn. the honey around here doesn't seen to get those 8" spikes you see in pictures. Still gets them big enough to poke a hole in a tire or rip your arm open if you not careful. Often though of planting honey locust as a hedge to keep critters and a-holes off my property.

Do not plant it as a fence/barrier. It will end up like multi-flora rose did here. Decades ago folks planted it thinking it would become a permanent fence. It was highly invasive and took over. Multi-flora rose is more invasive but Locust is not far behind.

Here is your home states view
https://extension.psu.edu/multiflora-roseOthers
https://www.ecolandscaping.org/07/l...ora-rose-an-exotic-invasive-plant-fact-sheet/

 

[Bill G]

Here is a picture of one of the thorny bastards (Honey Locust). This was taken about a year ago along the south edge of a field I was cleaning

 

[sean donato]

Do not plant it as a fence/barrier. It will end up like multi-flora rose did here. Decades ago folks planted it thinking it would become a permanent fence. It was highly invasive and took over. Multi-flora rose is more invasive but Locust is not far behind.

Here is your home states view
https://extension.psu.edu/multiflora-roseOthers
https://www.ecolandscaping.org/07/l...ora-rose-an-exotic-invasive-plant-fact-sheet/

Yeah they are a real pain to get rid of. I still have a partial hedge row on my property on a real steep hill that I have yet to rip out. Actually contemplated getting goats a few times to chew them up, about the only animal I've seen eat those darn bushes and keep on trucking.

 

[Bill G]

Yeah they are a real pain to get rid of. I still have a partial hedge row on my property on a real steep hill that I have yet to rip out. Actually contemplated getting goats a few times to chew them up, about the only animal I've seen eat those darn bushes and keep on trucking.

The problem with goats is there is basically no fence that can hold them. I think my brother got rid of his. The dang things were always on the road.

 

[capetrees]

Naturally occurring honey locust has the huge thorn patches. The honey locusts that don't have them are genetically altered to no have the thorns, nursery grown. Black locust is nasty when young, lots of 1" thorns along the branches. One they're bigger, the thorns go away.

 

[sean donato]

The problem with goats is there is basically no fence that can hold them. I think my brother got rid of his. The dang things were always on the road.

We always had a few on the farm. Pigmy goats. Not the full sized versions. They were like dogs thay were supposed to eat trash lol.

 

[Bill G]

We always had a few on the farm. Pigmy goats. Not the full sized versions. They were like dogs thay were supposed to eat trash lol.

The son of a guns will eat about anything and still live. It is amazing what they can eat and still live. The resemble some sheep breeds but only in appearance. The old expression of "a sick sheep is a dead sheep" is spot on but sure not true about goats, hard-headed sons of guns. . All the years my sons showed sheep I always opposed goats. I wished I would not have. The dang goat market went through the roof a number of years ago and I was sitting on my hands.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Locust and oak is pretty much all we burn around here unless it's brought in from outside the area. Locust gives off a bitter taste if you smoke with it, not very nice. Not my experience, other friends. If you chip the wood, don't use it in composting for the garden. It has a natural pesticide in the bark.

As far as how long to season? We had a hurricane one year in August, as much locust as you could ever want was blown down all over. I heated with a wood stove at the time. Cut split and burning that December. Very hot, clean burning wood.

Because it dries so fast, watch for twisting and checking in the slabs. A couple of friends decided to mill out a few posts for interior woodworking. The beams twisted like a corkscrew.

I never liked the smell of the smoke from Black Locust so I'm not surprised it is not good for smoking.