Black Locust vs. Red Oak

[Lignum]

I have had the first chance this winter to burn truly seasoned wood, 2 years to be exact. For the first month I burned the Red Oak and loved every bit of it. Lots of heat, hardly any ash, no muss no fuss. This past month I burned Black Locust, and I have to tell you guys, the Locust didn't impress me all that much compared to the Red Oak. There was 3-4 times as much ash, and the hassle of all that ash really doesn't outweigh the fact it has a higher btu that most wood. Have any of you had the same experience?

I only had to clean out ash maybe 2 times in the month with the Red Oak, an I'm cleaning out the ash all the time with the Locust. What is everybody's opinion on this? When the coals are burning down, I open the vent to burn down the ash to no avail. I have a luxury of burning almost anything I want, outside of Hickory, an Osage Orange. In my stove, any wood performs well, and I confess, if I had the choice to scrounge up some Locust, or Maple, I really would lean towards the Maple. Cleaning out that much ash is something I really don't like to do. The Red Oak has spoiled me I guess.

 

[wdchuck]

Send all your locust to me, I don't mind a little more ash now and again.
When the ash pan gets full, I empty it, of greater value is the btu/lb, which wood makes more/less ash, not important to me.

 

[2FatGuys]

In my experience, locust with one year of seasoning burns EXTREMEMLY hot. If it is left in an area where it can weather, after the first year, it seems to decay rapidly, and gives little heat compared to the other favored woods.

 

[Mountaineer]

The locust of legend

Everyone I talk to loves burning black locust. They've been dreweling over teh huge one in my yard. They say that it is hard to cut and dulls blades though. Have you had this experience? My only problemm with it is that it's offspring come up like weeds and the sticks that fall are full of spines.

 

[2FatGuys]

Cutting it while green isn't too bad. If it is dead or seasoned, it cuts like it is petrified.

 

[Festus Haggen]

75% or so of my wood is black locust, most was standing dead when I cut it, plus seasoned for a year at the least. Burns like iron, never noticed a great difference in the ash amounts.

Black locust will NOT decay rapidly after one year, probably not after 20. Only ever seen it rot in under that time after continuous ground contact. We have fenceposts that are 50 years old and up, the bottom is usually gone, but that locust post will hang until the wire rusts away.

Also, locust is rated right under ash for burning "green", meaning it starts out with a lower moisture content, so will burn relatively cleaner than other woods at the same amount of drying.

I've found it to be hard to cut, easy to split, and wonderful to burn. It is a very very dense wood, a trailer load of that bogs the truck down like nothing else. We don't have a lot of oak or hickory around here, but there's lots of dead standing locust in all the pastures to be cut. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

 

[JeffHK454]

Yep... I live in Cincinnati...I'll be there to pick it up !!

 

[Lignum]

Now, now, I did not mean that I was willing to give up my black gold. I was just seeing if anybody else seen that the Locust produced more ash than other woods, that's all. In so far as rotting, I have never seen any Locust break down. Mostly, the locust on the farm was used for fence posts and firewood.

 

[JeffHK454]

Hey.. you say what you want ...!... I heard come get all this crappy Locust..LOL.

Never really noticed more or less ash , the one downfall is it pops like mad!

 

[Lignum]

I have burned a little Mulberry and found that it too pops. In my stove it is only a problem when I open the door to reload. So what part of own are you from?

 

[Festus Haggen]

It is sparky, have to pay attention while the door is open, the sparks can be big enough to go through a t-shirt or singe hair. I'm not crazy about the smell when burning, not like beech, cherry, etc. And it is horrible on chains, especially when dead. Main reason I started touching up my chain after every tank of gas. Cut some tonight, really dead and dry, lots of sparks. Sounded like I was throwing a xylophone into my trailer!

It all burns....

 

[JeffHK454]

So what part of own are you from?

I'm a westsider...Colerain.

I have roughly a cord of Mulberry that I have mixed in my supply, burns great...one of my favorites.

 

[SWI Don]

I'd still like to try it. I found out that may stash is actually honeylocust. There is some in dad's timber but most of it has been harvested in years past for firewood.

Oh well. I have plenty of Mulberry and Bur Oak to cut.

Don

 

[Brushwacker]

I have had the first chance this winter to burn truly seasoned wood, 2 years to be exact. For the first month I burned the Red Oak and loved every bit of it. Lots of heat, hardly any ash, no muss no fuss. This past month I burned Black Locust, and I have to tell you guys, the Locust didn't impress me all that much compared to the Red Oak. There was 3-4 times as much ash, and the hassle of all that ash really doesn't outweigh the fact it has a higher btu that most wood. Have any of you had the same experience?

I only had to clean out ash maybe 2 times in the month with the Red Oak, an I'm cleaning out the ash all the time with the Locust. What is everybody's opinion on this? When the coals are burning down, I open the vent to burn down the ash to no avail. I have a luxury of burning almost anything I want, outside of Hickory, an Osage Orange. In my stove, any wood performs well, and I confess, if I had the choice to scrounge up some Locust, or Maple, I really would lean towards the Maple. Cleaning out that much ash is something I really don't like to do. The Red Oak has spoiled me I guess.

Mabe it was a colder month and you burned more wood to , if so more ashes on that account ?
It seems to me you get much more ashes with silver and red maples that we have verses black locust or any of the oaks.

 

[Lignum]

I'm a westsider...Colerain.

I have roughly a cord of Mulberry that I have mixed in my supply, burns great...one of my favorites.

Maybe I should watch my wood stacks... I live right behind Lowes, up by Mount Rumpke.

 

[Lignum]

Mabe it was a colder month and you burned more wood to , if so more ashes on that account ?
It seems to me you get much more ashes with silver and red maples that we have verses black locust or any of the oaks.

Hopefully so. The main difference between the Red Oak and the Locust was bark content. The Locust has a lot of bark on it, some pieces are limb type and have bark all the way around. The Red Oak has no bark on it at all.

 

[hornett22]

i'm not impressed with locust either.

i like the red oak better.

 

[JeffHK454]

Maybe I should watch my wood stacks... I live right behind Lowes, up by Mount Rumpke.

Hell, where neighbors!

I live off Day road , right in the path of the MAD COW!

 

[Lignum]

Hell, where neighbors!

I live off Day road , right in the path of the MAD COW!

I live off of Dryridge, about a mile past St John's church. Small world after all.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Agree with Festus

I have to agree with Festus, that locust is a very good firewood that burns hot as haides, but you have to season it for at least a year. It will not even begin to dry rot like soft maple will after two years. Farmers have even used it for fence posts, like osage orange.

I also season oak and mulberry for at least a year--otherwise oak will hiss at you like a snake and mulberry will throw sparks.

Locust has a density that actually exceeds oak, both green and dry, thus reaching the same density as hickory. It's rot resistance is phenomenal, and the best way to burn it is mixed with another faster burning species like maple, hackberry, or birch. Hackberry, BTW, has to be dried for at least a year also, otherwise it won't burn at all. Once dry, however, hackberry burns hotter than maple and just as fast.