Black Locust

[capetrees]

Where I am, BL is the preferred firewood. I grab as much as I can. Dense, not a lot of moisture and splits easy without knots. Seasons out faster than almost any wood i know of.

 

[turnkey4099]

The only reason black locust could possibly be not good firewood is because people try to burn it green. But, to my knowledge, that's true of any wood species. Let the locust dry out. It takes awhile. Simple as that. It splits great, even when green. Many wood species do not, so I say split locust early, expose the grain, and enjoy the heat from dry wood that's almost as dense as oak.

And it will keep forever. I cut every B.Locust I couild find during my "heat with Willow" days. Willow being the only readily availble tree in these parts, Locust only a very rare find. I stockpile that locust and only started burning it 3 years ago - been n the stacks since mid 90s. Even the stuff direct on the ground had no deterioration.

Harry K

 

[Dale]

Everyone I seem to meet thinks it even sucks as firewood.

Broken Toys, you are either:

A). Thinking of a different species of wood.
or
B). Speaking with folks that are completely clueless about wood as a heat source.


The ONLY thing possibly I can think of not to care for would be open burners not caring for the smell, as it's not necessarily aromatic like Cherryor such.

 

[Steve2910]

Broken Toys, you are either:

A). Thinking of a different species of wood.
or
B). Speaking with folks that are completely clueless about wood as a heat source.


The ONLY thing possibly I can think of not to care for would be open burners not caring for the smell, as it's not necessarily aromatic like Cherry or such.

I vote "B". The same idiots who think Oak is king, & think they're saving on their heating bill by burning wood in an open fireplace.

If you burn Locust around here, you're almost in a secret society... I'm all for keeping it that way.

 

[Dale]

Typically in my woodpile there is Locust, and there are distant seconds. And I only burn hardwoods, no Poplar and such. Locust will make you question the viability of your stoves and flue at times.

 

[Outriggers]

Locust is great firewood. In a hot fire it burns with a blue flame. Around here it doesn't seem to get very big, most people just use it for fence posts. When I was in the sawmill biz I dont remember getting any requests for it. Doug

 

[rigandig]

I started in cleaning up the area that was used to feed logs onto the sawmill that has sat here for 15 years or more. This mill was my Grandfathers and has been in the family since the early 1900's. My Dad had refurbished it, ran it for maybe 10 years after he retired, and I got it from him in the mid 90's. Sorry for the longwinded story, but to the point. In all of the rotten wood, there was a 3 foot or so 4x4 that he had cut from Black Locust long before I took the mill over. Out of all the rot and mess the 4x4 is still sound, no rot, and hard as a rock. The worst thing for wear is the ends are cracked a bit. BL is some good wood, for posts or burnin.

 

[CTYank]

Locust is great firewood. In a hot fire it burns with a blue flame. Around here it doesn't seem to get very big, most people just use it for fence posts. When I was in the sawmill biz I dont remember getting any requests for it. Doug

Lots of large BL trees here, so we get practice. I find that, probably because of the high fiber density, it's slow to dry to equilibrium, but worth the wait. If you split it green, the bark stays attached. If not, it falls off.

Even with a pretty hot fire going, I find it necessary to put in a split of maple/ash to keep the flames going with a batch of BL. BL is definitely NOT Match-Light.

That's why there's silver/red maple, pine and such- accelerants for BL.

 

[Steve2910]

Lots of large BL trees here, so we get practice. I find that, probably because of the high fiber density, it's slow to dry to equilibrium, but worth the wait. If you split it green, the bark stays attached. If not, it falls off.

Even with a pretty hot fire going, I find it necessary to put in a split of maple/ash to keep the flames going with a batch of BL. BL is definitely NOT Match-Light.

That's why there's silver/red maple, pine and such- accelerants for BL.

BL is about all we burn during the dead of winter, just stir the coals in the morning & throw in the next couple sticks.

Never cared about flames, since the stove is in the basement... It's all about heat for us, & you can't beat BL for that...

 

[BrokenToys]

Broken Toys, you are either:

A). Thinking of a different species of wood.
or
B). Speaking with folks that are completely clueless about wood as a heat source.


The ONLY thing possibly I can think of not to care for would be open burners not caring for the smell, as it's not necessarily aromatic like Cherry or such.

Dale, Trust me I know my Locust :hmm3grin2orange: .. around here it [like most people said] grows like weeds and a lot of people have the "oak or it's junk" attitude. I have hooked a few of my friends of the near mystical properties of how totally freakin' awesome Locust is and they are believers. People generally being Clueless I would go with. I have tried explaining and everything but at times you just can't explain things to people who know everything. So off I go with my "junk". I posted a few pics of what is left of my driveway in the "post your splitting area" thread with most of it being a giant pile of BL. Even started making borders for gardens with it too.

 

[Blackbruin]

Black locust is great firewood, on the top of my list, have alot of it around here. Burn it, you wont regret it, can be a little hard to split the centers by hand, but you can shave of the ends and work in.

 

[capecodtree]

locust

I sell alot of firewood. people want oak. so I put all my locust logs (20-36"dbh) in the softwood pile to be ground into landscape mulch. it's a shame, but I actually lost a couple of firewood clients because i mixed locust in with their delivery. They thought I was trying to rip them off with a wood inferior to oak. I explained the high btu property of locust, they didn't want to hear it.

 

[Steve2910]

I sell alot of firewood. people want oak. so I put all my locust logs (20-36"dbh) in the softwood pile to be ground into landscape mulch. it's a shame, but I actually lost a couple of firewood clients because i mixed locust in with their delivery. They thought I was trying to rip them off with a wood inferior to oak. I explained the high btu property of locust, they didn't want to hear it.

Give your Oak customers free Locust "samples" when you make a delivery. That's how the grocery store markets new flavors of sausage, cheese, etc. I wouldn't think you'd need to mount the Locust on toothpicks, though...

 

[capecodtree]

locust samples

Great suggestion. I would do it if I had alot of locust, it's probably only 3-4 cord and landscape mulch is easier money than firewood. I will actually be grinding up about half of my stockpiled oak in December. the pile is to big and to old.

 

[missouriboy]

Anyone know if it ever sells by the log load? I might call around to some local mills.

Around here we sell locust logs for pallet lumber which to me don't make much sense. Pallet lumber goes for around .23 cents a board foot. Its worth more as firewood. We cut almost any type of trees to be made into pallet lumber. But walnut makes the big bucks around here.

 

[apattie]

I always burn Black Locust if I have it. It burns when well seasoned like coal. Late last summer when we had Irene, alot of BL came down around here. I was looking at it and it doesn't seem to have a large root system. I would be worried if I had any trees close around the house. If I find trees about 4-5 inchs I cut them and use for stringers to stack my wood on.

 

[howellhandmade]

I always burn Black Locust if I have it. It burns when well seasoned like coal. Late last summer when we had Irene, alot of BL came down around here. I was looking at it and it doesn't seem to have a large root system. I would be worried if I had any trees close around the house. If I find trees about 4-5 inchs I cut them and use for stringers to stack my wood on.

You're right, they have a shallow root system, no tap root. I cut the ones leaning toward my house as soon as I moved in. The ones leaning away I'll get sooner or later, or mother nature will.

 

[Chris-PA]

You're right, they have a shallow root system, no tap root. I cut the ones leaning toward my house as soon as I moved in. The ones leaning away I'll get sooner or later, or mother nature will.

Neither does oak! That was made quite clear to me in last October's Halloween storm when so many of mine just fell over. Wide, shallow root system but no deep roots.

 

[howellhandmade]

Yeah, probably more trees like that than not, now that I think about it -- the ground around here is a lot of clay, so there's no reason to trees to go deep when the water is mostly in the soil on top.

 

[Dale]

Neither does oak! That was made quite clear to me in last October's Halloween storm when so many of mine just fell over. Wide, shallow root system but no deep roots.

You sure you aren't thinking of Maple ? Maple has a shallow root system and the roots typically are exposed on ground surface. Oak on the other hand, is notorious for having a deep tap root.