Black Locust or junk wood?

[ReggieT]

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.

Great info...ever heard of anybody harvesting or burning "devils walking stick/Hercules club?"...I'm kinda anxious to run upon some of this stuff!!

 

[windthrown]

Great info...ever heard of anybody harvesting or burning "devils walking stick/Hercules club?"...I'm kinda anxious to run upon some of this stuff!!

Angelica Tree (Aralia spinosa), grows in the south. Rare, and thorny as all heck. They do not get very big though, so I do not think it would make much in the way of firewood.

 

[windthrown]

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.

Mostly paperbark (white) birch. I felled 4 or 5 here two years ago and made the mistake of not splitting the rounds smaller than 8 inches. It just rotted in the stacks. I had mushrooms and conks growing out of them last year. I split them and they were damp and pithy and half rotted. I burned the last of them this fall in slash piles. I have since found out that the rule of thumb is to split birch ASAP. Some types like black birch are supposed to be better, but I have not come across any here. I have two more birch trees that I need to cut down here that are diseased. I am waiting until spring to do that when I can split them right away.

White and black oaks here rot fairly fast once they hit the ground. The fungus we have attacks them. Similar to why Honey Locust does not grow in the PNW west of the Cascades; it is susceptible to a type of fungal rot here even when they are alive. Live oak in California is susceptible to oak root fungus if they are watered in summer.

 

[ReggieT]

Hmm...for whatever reason...I no longer have any of the other options such as: "dislike, funny, helpful...etc...just a thumbs up or down!!
Anybody else have this going on??

 

[windthrown]

Yah, they updated the feedback buttons today and reduced them to thumbs up and thumbs down.

 

[ReggieT]

Yah, they updated the feedback buttons today and reduced them to thumbs up and thumbs down.

Minds like this @ the helm...oh, well!

 

[windthrown]

Minds like this @ the helm...oh, well!

So you dissed my post?

 

[ReggieT]

So you dissed my post?

Nope...all yer posts have been on fire & timely...was making a wise crack at the refurbishing of the feedback buttons.

 

[windthrown]

But but but my reputation is ruined! Not...

No tons of rep here like the old site.

 

[ReggieT]

But but but my reputation is ruined! Not...

No tons of rep here like the old site.

lol...if it does not stop raining down here, I'm liable to commence sawing up furniture...man I wanna get out & run my saws!!!!
Btw...I see the "smiley/emotion" characters numbers have been greatly reduced as well, huh? lol

 

[1project2many]

Mostly paperbark (white) birch. I felled 4 or 5 here two years ago and made the mistake of not splitting the rounds smaller than 8 inches. It just rotted in the stacks. I had mushrooms and conks growing out of them last year. I split them and they were damp and pithy and half rotted.

Not to drag this too far off track, but the advice for Birch in the 1700's was to submerge your freshly cut trees in running water for several weeks to prevent fungus / rot. There may be something to that. I have split some Paper Birch that was soaked throughout and had been for several years, but wasn't fungal or rotted out and burned as well as any other once it dried.

Hey, Reggie... I'll trade ya some snow for that rain.

 

[ReggieT]

Not to drag this too far off track, but the advice for Birch in the 1700's was to submerge your freshly cut trees in running water for several weeks to prevent fungus / rot. There may be something to that. I have split some Paper Birch that was soaked throughout and had been for several years, but wasn't fungal or rotted out and burned as well as any other once it dried.

Hey, Reggie... I'll trade ya some snow for that rain.

Er, well, hmm...I reckon that would depend on how much snow yer talking about there....
Thats crazy about the "pre-soaked" birch...

 

[ReggieT]

Well dashed out and fired up my 034 with chisel and dug into one 10 ft logs of this BL about 16" and bucked it into 16-18' lengths...saw did a hella va job...only saw 2 sparks fly...wood was extremely dirty.
A bit heavier than I had calculated. Peeled about 95% of the bark off rather easily.

Now the crazy/bad news: My lower back began to spasm & cramp up like I had been laying freaking bricks for 10 hrs!!!!!
It was unreal! I don't know if I'm that bad outta shape or because I was bending continually...but my God it was only one baby log...WOW!

Not Kool at all with this.....!!! Kept on cramping for next 25 minutes...so I left another 12 footer for later....

Pissed! ps...My Pa says it's arthritis....

 

[edw]

there is a blight in ohio that is killing the black locust trees before they are harvestable size............it is the hardest
commercially available wood in north america........... floorin g , truckbeds, fencepost, firewood. i d like to buy some
one inch sawn but it is hard to come by in this vicinity.

 

[windthrown]

Well dashed out and fired up my 034 with chisel and dug into one 10 ft logs of this BL about 16" and bucked it into 16-18' lengths...saw did a hella va job...only saw 2 sparks fly...wood was extremely dirty.
A bit heavier than I had calculated. Peeled about 95% of the bark off rather easily.

Now the crazy/bad news: My lower back began to spasm & cramp up like I had been laying freaking bricks for 10 hrs!!!!!
It was unreal! I don't know if I'm that bad outta shape or because I was bending continually...but my God it was only one baby log...WOW!

Not Kool at all with this.....!!! Kept on cramping for next 25 minutes...so I left another 12 footer for later....

Pissed! ps...My Pa says it's arthritis....

My advice:
1) use semi-chisel in dirty wood (it will stay sharp a lot longer). Why peel the bark? It has about the same BTUs as the wood.
2) ice your back 20 minutes, 2x a day. Ice is your friend. Also take aniti-inflamants like Advil or Aleve. They will reduce the spasms. 30 years of back pain talking here.

Whish I had that kind of BL to process here. I am burning through my seasoned BL in this cold snap. 16 outside and supposed to get to the single digits tonight. My stove is cranking on full, like never before. Has not been this cold here in over 3 decades.

 

[windthrown]

there is a blight in ohio that is killing the black locust trees before they are harvestable size............it is the hardest
commercially available wood in north america........... floorin g , truckbeds, fencepost, firewood. i d like to buy some
one inch sawn but it is hard to come by in this vicinity.

Welcome to AS!

Here BL is listed as an invasive species. It grows in the burbs and city, and out here in the boonies in places that were towns 100 years ago that are now long gone. Actually the BL is the only thing left to show that some areas here were ever settled, now completely overgrown. During the depression they moved the houses someplace else, and then pulled up the RR tracks for scrap iron during WWII. I have offered to remove BL stands from several places for the firewood, but no takers yet. So I get mine from the burbs. No one mills BL here, and most people do not even know what it is. Its a trash species. Madrone is also a trash species, but there are two mills that cut it. My ex has madrone floors in her house. They make beautiful floors, and people come from afar just to look at them.

 

[ReggieT]

My advice:
1) use semi-chisel in dirty wood (it will stay sharp a lot longer). Why peel the bark? It has about the same BTUs as the wood.
2) ice your back 20 minutes, 2x a day. Ice is your friend. Also take aniti-inflamants like Advil or Aleve. They will reduce the spasms. 30 years of back pain talking here.

Whish I had that kind of BL to process here. I am burning through my seasoned BL in this cold snap. 16 outside and supposed to get to the single digits tonight. My stove is cranking on full, like never before. Has not been this cold here in over 3 decades.

Windthrown, I sure appreciate your council. The bark was real soggy, punky, and crawling with some critters. I've been taking some diuretic pills that lower my potassium...and I've been slack on my potassium pills. That usually causes muscle fatigue & so forth...I'll make sure to take em next time! That ice sounds like winner though...hunting down the old ice pack now...lol

I WILL GET THAT OTHER BL LOG REGARDLESS!!!

 

[windthrown]

Roger the punky/buggy bark. The BL I have here has solid bark.

Lower your potassium? Interesting. I take potassium supplements or I get muscle cramps. My blood tests show potassium levels barely above minimum.

I use blue ice flex packs for my back and I keep them in the freezer.

 

[ReggieT]

Wifey...refutes my explanations and says I'm using a completely different set of muscles bending & bucking as opposed to just splitting & stacking...says I need to stretch & use those muscles more...I said; "What are you a female Dr. Marcus Welby or somebody...BEAT IT!" not

 

[windthrown]

You are married to Mrs Marcus Welby? Wow. You are dating yourself. My ex was the opposite and always asked me what pills to take for this or that.

Bending over while working is really hard on the lower back. The problem with bucking is the static position and using a few muscles for the duration, whereas splitting and stacking you are always moving and in different positions, using more muscles. I rarely throw my back out using the splitting maul. But bucking too long with a saw is a problem. I also had to trade my 044 for a 441 to reduce the vibration. Tendonitis is a problem in my left arm. I also want to avoid white finger.