First time locust burner

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trailrated

trailrated

Feeling the Heat
Dec 8, 2009
343
Maryland
I have about 2 days worth of my seasoned wood left. I cut myself short this year and with the cold weather the stove has been eating through it at a record pace. Anyway, I had to look to purchase wood which I don't normally do. The person that returned my call had a bunch of locust split up.

I head over and it is indeed dry, but could use more season time. The tree has been down about 4 years I'm told so I say what the hell and load up about a cord. I Get home and split some pieces and check with the moisture meter. I'm getting 20-25% and I'm happy with that.

Well, it sure does take this locust a while to get going and I bet I'm losing a lot of heat up the stack. I started mixing it with a couple pieces of my wood and it really helps to get it going. I know locust is very good wood, but I think its to early for the batch.
 
So I loaded up the stove for the overnight with all locust, This load is burning great. Must of been a better coal bed then earlier??
 
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Even when it's dry, it's still slow to establish a new load, similar to some other dense woods but maybe a little more so. I'd feel lucky if I found some 20-25% wood at the end of winter! ==c Even with a good coal bed I'll usually toss some Ash or whatever on the coals, then put the BL on top of that...
 
trailrated said:
So I loaded up the stove for the overnight with all locust, This load is burning great. Must of been a better coal bed then earlier??
Click to expand...
Yup
 
If you lived closer I'd trade you that difficult burning stuff for some easier-burning stuff I have :cool:
 
Locust is similar to Oak as it's not exactly the fastest to light up, but once it gets going it's great stuff. I rarely use it on morning re loads as I don't have the patience to sit and wait.
 
Locust; the wood that's already halfway to being coal.

Likes it's air and I find it to be a great mix in wood. Hits it's stride as other wood in the load is starting to tail off.
 
You would see a big difference if you could mix it with something else. Walnut, cherry, ash....but you only have BL so it will take time for it to take off. I have 15% locust right now but it's been split 3 years. Split your pieces smaller or thinner and it might burn better. Good luck next year. Start scrounging earlier.
 
Thanks fellas for the info. I'm still struggling with the wood for it takes a while to get going. You guys are spot on, especially the comment about it likes air. I have been running the stove with the damper more open but since I'm still figuring out this wood, I still shut it down when leaving the stove.

I was planning on splitting it smaller today but we got 6 inches of snow so that didn't happen. Was out the tractor plowing most of the day.
 
Yep, you can't leave the stove too early with a load of locust in there. Might just go nuclear when you're expecting it to start cruising.
Other than mixing in drier, softer wood the only thing I find that helps is reloading a little sooner on hotter coals.
 
Locust is pretty amazing firewood. Do yourself a favor next time and grab lots of bark from the tree. That stuff dried makes awesome kindling.
 
First time I used locust scared the crap out of me! I wasn't thinking, and loaded a Quadrafire 2700i full of it on top of a hot coal bed. Took a bit to get going, but once it did my stove was walking and talking like no other! I had never heard so many sounds coming from the stove, and don't want to ever again. Luckily I didn't damage anything. Ever since then I do a 50-50 mix of locust with other wood. I normally use it for overnight burns since it lasts longer.
 
First time I used locust scared the crap out of me! I wasn't thinking, and loaded a Quadrafire 2700i full of it on top of a hot coal bed. Took a bit to get going, but once it did my stove was walking and talking like no other! I had never heard so many sounds coming from the stove, and don't want to ever again. Luckily I didn't damage anything. Ever since then I do a 50-50 mix of locust with other wood. I normally use it for overnight burns since it lasts longer.
 
I love locust, but it seems to take a while to season. Many have said it will be ready in a year, but that has never been my experience. My stuff needs a couple years at least and it's split small. I do mix it with other wood to get it going.

Burning all locust in a stove will require some babysitting of the air lever. But if that's all you have, then go for it.
 
trailrated said:
So I loaded up the stove for the overnight with all locust, This load is burning great. Must of been a better coal bed then earlier??
Click to expand...
Locust is my go-to wood for placing on top of a hot coal-bed for this reason. Most other wood burns up pretty quickly but locust likes a hot coal-bed. I don't ever cold-start my stove on locust because it's so slow to get going and I want to save every bit of locust I have for those cold nights where I'm forced to load up on top of coals and still want a long burn...
 
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