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Locust Killa

Member
Apr 21, 2014
21
York,PA
Hi ,name here is Will and new to the forum.Been a scrounger for a couple years IE year before my neighbor had a swamp maple took down so I got about a cord and a half of that and like everyone says it's ok wood burns good and leaves decent coals.The reason I go by Locust Killa is I have found that IMHO the hottest and best burning wood so far and I am on a crusade to get black locust when possible.
Question: I got access to some trees that fell down at a job I'm working on and one I know is Black Locust no problem :) The othe one I have problem identifying, It's either black cherry or black birch, The wood is heavy as hell but does not have the witergreen smell as was described in another thread describing black birch. But it has the bark and inner color like black cherry but to me smells like oak . I will upload a picture and let you guys figure it out as soon as my wife gets back with her android phone.Most likely tommorow. Anyways thanks in advance and have a great evening .
 
Welcome
Get a picture of bark, end Grain, and a split, close up of split is good to
 
OK, we'll be here waiting for the pics. ==c
IMHO the hottest and best burning wood so far and I am on a crusade to get black locust
No Hedge-apple out there, I guess. ==c I haven't burned any to speak of, but have burned a fair bit of BL. Great long-haul wood. Got a couple cords stacked, with more in the pipeline, but Oak is the prevalent wood here. I'll burn about anything with 18+ MBTU/cord or better, though. My stoves will go plenty long on even medium-output woods, and they dry faster than Oak. Starting next season, dry Oak will be in the pipeline and will probably be my main wood from here on out.
 
Welcome! Black Locust is primo firewood no doubt about it. Don't turn your nose up at other stuff though. You need something for shoulder season, and oak, if seasoned, is almost as good.
 
Welcome to the forum Locust Killa.

Hard to say without pictures but you may have some beech there. Also, there is a world of difference between beech, black birch or cherry. Cherry has a very rough bark whereas the the other has a smooth bark. The picture below is cherry.

Cherry.jpg
 
Looks like it could be Black Cherry, but you should be able to smell that...shouldn't "smell like Oak."
 
Looks like it could be Black Cherry, but you should be able to smell that...shouldn't "smell like Oak."


Its bark is really rough, sharp to the point it will scrape you up right good.
It is some tough splitting wood and heavy as all get out has the charachteristics of red oak.I think it will burn just fine when seasoned .Just not sure what it is.
 
Welcome! Black Locust is primo firewood no doubt about it. Don't turn your nose up at other stuff though. You need something for shoulder season, and oak, if seasoned, is almost as good.


Oh by no means will I turn down some good firewood I am just partial to the black locust
we had got during the winter versus the oak we paid for and it kinda sucked because I don't think it was seasoned well enough....but that's another story in itself.
 
Locust will season faster than oak and it is really nice firewood. I've burned locust a year after splitting and it burned pretty well. If you buy oak assume it's going to need a couple years of seasoning after being split.
 
Here ya go
Looks like Black cherry to me ,give it a whiff, should smell mm mm good, oops I guess you did smell it
Still looks like cherry
You forgot the end grain pic :)
 
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I'd say that is cherry, has plated, rough bark with lenticles visible, wood appears to have the red/pink hue of cherry.
 
I'd say that is cherry, has plated, rough bark with lenticles visible, wood appears to have the red/pink hue of cherry.



Update : It's Cherry. Got a fire goin with some leftover kindling and some old maple and then threw some of that wood on there
and it's smelling like cherry wood fer sure.Good chit,I like it :) Why it smelt like oak I dunno I guess after all these years the ol' sniffer is off a bit. The great part about it is it didn't hiss or have any wet stuff off the ends so i guess it was down for awhile. Whatta score.Anyone wanting some the rest of the tree is in the harrisburg area and my only problem is hauling it, Been taking it home a little at a time in my CRV and splitting it piecemeal. Email if ya want to help me get at it.
 
That wood in the picture is Black Cherry. Good Stuff. Not Black Locust good, but still pretty good.
 
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