Box Elder, Locust, and Osage

[Homelite]

Hello Everyone-

I am a long time reader, first time poster to the Firewood forum. I am a sawmill forum regular. In my search for milling logs, I came across a lot of osage, black locust, and box elder free for the taking. How would you rate these three for firewood. I have heard that they are all good, but tough to split. I really only burn to supplement the furnace during the winter, but enjoy the exercise collecting, splitting, and stacking. It seems as though I have access to as much firewood as I can haul, but don't want to waste too much time and energy on wood that isn't going to give the most heat for the effort.

 

[ray benson]

Hi Homelite,
2 of the 3 you listed are awesome top rated firewood. The boxelder would be at the bottom of my list. But it would be ok to use to supplement the Locust and Osage Orange.The boxelder is light, fast burning , an objectionable odor burning and rots easy. The Osage orange and Locust are highly resistant to rot, take all you can get. Here is a chart on firewood ratings.
http://www.ianrpubs.unl.edu/epublic/live/g1554/build/g1554.pdf

 

[kstill361]

Hello Everyone-

I am a long time reader, first time poster to the Firewood forum. I am a sawmill forum regular. In my search for milling logs, I came across a lot of osage, black locust, and box elder free for the taking. How would you rate these three for firewood. I have heard that they are all good, but tough to split. I really only burn to supplement the furnace during the winter, but enjoy the exercise collecting, splitting, and stacking. It seems as though I have access to as much firewood as I can haul, but don't want to waste too much time and energy on wood that isn't going to give the most heat for the effort.

I have never burned the box elder, but the osage, and black locust are definitely worth it. Just be careful with the hedge (Osage) it will burn extremely hot and it throws alot of sparks! I only use it at night when I'm home, never when I'm gone, if there was a power failure my furnace and home would be toast!

 

[KsWoodsMan]

With an abundance of the Osage and Locust the boxelder can be put to better uses in furniture, carvings and wood turning.

Box Elder is much lower on the BTU scale it does light easily, scraps make for good kindlind to get the denser woods started sooner. If I remember right it was a better looking flame to sit and watch IF you have glass doors or an open fireplace.

 

[danrclem]

I burned a small amount of black locust quite a few years ago and didn't remember much about it. I was able to get quite a bit of it this year and it's only been drying for about six months or so. Most people say that it should be dried between one and two years but so far it's been doing well for me. We did have a very hot and dry summer so that may have let it dry out quite a bit quicker.

I know I'll jump at a chance to get some more. There's a lot of heat in that wood.

 

[Boogieman142]

well, the box elder is all i burn in the spring and fall cause of the cheapness(grandfather wants his lot of box elder clearcut) and it gives out enough heat to get the house well over 80 (3000 sq. ft home)

 

[Labman]

If you want some nice flames, better keep throwing some box elder in the osage orange. I have a huge one in the back yard, and in the fireplace, it just sits there and smolders. It does keep things going.

 

[TallElf]

I would burn solely locust if I could. The only issue is that it seems to take a while to dry out. (They say year, i had one blow down wetter than wet in full plumage. ) log cabin stack in the back yard it didn't draw any soot to the glass on the stove.

I can't speak for osage, but from what I have read, if I could find it, it would be next on the list.

as far as the difficulty splitting, locust as log as not to Knotty will split like a champ, just hit it hard on the outer edge, and it will launch pieces a good 20 ft.

 

[gixxer1237]

osage is on of my favorites. burn black locust a lot to. cut all you can!

 

[Outdoorsman]

I've burned a bit of honey locust, great stuff, black is supposed to be a shade better yet. I'd jump on that.

Osage, I've never gotten much at one time, but wish I could. VERY long burning and burns hot. Does spark more than other woods I've used & I'd suggest letting it cure for at least a year before use for best results. VERY heavy, dense wood. Works the saw and man more than anything else I've cut, even Hickory is lighter. But I'd be just as quick to go after that as the Locust.

Box elder makes a good fire starter but only modest BTU content. A plus for this wood is it's easy cutting, splitting and light to handle. Worth cutting, but I'd go for the Locust & Osage and cut the BE just as part of the deal you've found.

 

[Hayubusa]

Just cut about a cord of Black Locust, can't wait to burn it next year as it is one of the hottest burning you can find...the only downside to dealing with it is that it is the heaviest wood I have ever lifted. Usually I load my truck (Nissan Titan) to the brim with wood and I'm good to go....loading the Locust I realized 3/4 of the way full that it looked like my leaf springs were gonna break!! I actually had to unload a bit before heading home. As far as the splitting goes, it's not easy going like, say, maple but it's not nearly as bad as Elm. Overall, Locust is well worth the extra effort.