burning black locust

Its not dry enough yet. I have the same situation. I have Black Locust that I cut in August, it does not seep moisture from the ends yet it will not bring the stove top temp above 300f. It burns clean and it burns long but it produces little heat. Its also slow to catch fire and it requires seasoned wood close by to keep it going. I also have White Oak that is not seasoned, it spits water from the ends and it will bring the stove top to 450f but it is still not ready. My most seasoned wood is Silver maple which is a lack-luster wood yet it burns longest and hottest. I believe seasoned wood is more important than species.

The wood looks dry, checks in the ends, but it still may take a while to dry out correctly. I have some 2 year old split Locust and it burns quite well now, last year it did not. Just toss a piece in and listen for a hiss, it it does not, then burn it all day long. Once you have a good pile, it will burn very well, an produces a long burn. I personally split the pieces smaller just because I can control the bun easier that way.

I have several cords of 3 year old black locust. It's what I use for the coldest overnight burns. it burns very long and the hottest stove top temps I've had have been with a mostly black locust load. It doesn't light as easily and it does coal really well. I suspect your wood is still a bit moister that optimum.

What ever the issue - definitely not the wood species, that is some decent wood.

we have a lot of locus. How do I know if its Black or whatever. Also, is there a site that has pictures of wood (with bark) to help me learn more than oak, pine, maple.

Well, the two most common types of locust are black locust and honey locust. You will know if you have honey locust because they have killer thorns protruding from their trunks so strong they are capable of puncturing tractor tires. In relation black locust have puny little thorns on their new growth. I've been around plants and trees all my life and had kind of lost interest in trees, yeah..that's an elm, that's a silver maple, blah, blah, blah.. Wood burning rekindled (pun intended) my interest in trees with a whole new purpose; heat! Learning to identify them just by bark or wood color or wood grain is challenging! There are many internet sites, most of them university extension service sites with great pictures on the internet. Just do a search by whatever species you're curious about. I walk in the woods most every day. I try to name each tree just by it's bark, and with years of practice I still miss some. There is surprising variablilty within species so there are many times I have to look up at branch structure, and even times I have to wait for leaves and flowers before I'm positive of certain trees. Don't think I'll ever know all the trees even in my own woods just by a piece of bark on firewood for sure. But I'm gettin pretty good! Had a piece of funky looking firewood this morning that was a bit bigger than I wanted. Wasn't sure what it was til I split it. Maple!, sugar by the bark. Good stuff

I burn alot of black locust. It will ignite easily when fully seasoned. Around here there are alot of trees standing with no bark. When cutting them you hear the ring through the whole tree. It burns like coal. Hot, long and great coaling properties. Its my favorite for overnight burning.

ifyou can get FREE blk locust...by all meens get it !! let it season well, and you will get heat from her, and be glad you go it free

I just dislike having to keep up with the chain saw sharpening from cutting the thing! That stuff dry is like concrete. A few cuts and dull.
I need to learn what choices to make on trees as better use of my time. My Dad had part of the land timbered, so there are lots of fallen stuff around to cut. I wouldn't mind making a little printoff with wood pictures to take along with my chainsaw and my dog.

Show up with a sharp chain and don`t cut into the Earth. Your chain will last. Locust is tuff but so are modern saw chains.

I just started to burn locust for the first time this year. This stuff was laying around the farm for quite some time. Some really heavy pieces and the thickest was only 8".I figured Id save it for these really cold days. To my surprise it has really given me fits. Lots of smoke and can't seem to get my boiler up to 100%. Its really hard looks real dry, but maybe it isn't. I was/am surprised and dissapointed to say the least. I have some seasoned wood, but its wet that burns better. Any thoughts?

barnartist said:

I just started to burn locust for the first time this year. This stuff was laying around the farm for quite some time. Some really heavy pieces and the thickest was only 8".I figured Id save it for these really cold days. To my surprise it has really given me fits. Lots of smoke and can't seem to get my boiler up to 100%. Its really hard looks real dry, but maybe it isn't. I was/am surprised and dissapointed to say the least. I have some seasoned wood, but its wet that burns better. Any thoughts?

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It takes a good hot bed of coals to keep the Locust going in my wood stove. I try to mix it up, add one piece of Ash, or Oak in with the Locust. That has been working out well with me, and my Locust is now over 2 years seasoned out. It is a dense wood, takes a little bit to get it going right.

I just wanted to say black locust is and has been used around my neck of the woods for fence posts. I have personally removed posts from the ground that were in for 70 years and burned them in my stove.....recently. The stuff takes a long time to rot for sure, even when I pulled it outta the ground, with water in the post hole, after 70 years, some of 'em would still be intact, and burnable.

There was a pile of 'em buried under dirt at my property, locust fence posts, and I know they were buried more than 48 years ago, the barbed wire was rusted up pretty good, but the posts were just about right for burnin'

Very interesting on the Black locust and great timing of the post as I have a neighbor tha just had a HUGE one downed by the township road crew. The tree at chest hight was a bout 18" in diameter (or about 5' in circumference). It is the heavest freakin' wood I ever moved. I figure I have a good 2+ cords of the stuff and am looking forward to burning it in '09.

My Dad loves making fence post out of it, but I can't freaking get a wire staple in the darned things without bending it! Maybe I just need to adjust my air feed higher when I try to burn it.
Cut that big tree now man! The saw chain wont be sharp for long in that stuff.

oh, forgot to say that it was already jut into 18-20" logs. I am figuring that some of these things weigh upwards of 125#.

We are burning locust as well, not sure if it is somewhat thornless (saw some thorns but not too many) honeylocust or black locust, I think it's honey locust but opinion was divided. Anyway, it was cut down in early Dec. '06, and cut to length and split within a month. So we started burning it this month and it is obnoxious. We have a lot of pieces that were branches that didn't need to be split, say 3 to 6 inches in diameter. They do NOT like to start on fire. Normally we just turn the air full open for 10 minutes until the fire is going well then turn it down. With the locust we have to hold the door slightly open for a while and then leave the air totally open for a long time. On the plus side, once they get going they burn a long time.

Haven't been sure if it isn't dried out enough or what, but have started only burning it mixed with other wood, or else reloading much sooner (with lots of hot red wood/coals still going full out.) Have started on a different wood pile now instead of emptying this one completely (our normal procedure) that is mostly locust. I am hoping next year I will like it better. Don't notice a sizzle or anything like that, just very slow to start burning, and often have to keep sticking more kindling in and so on. First wood we have had this trouble with, we have awesome draft and normally our stuff burns too fast if anything. But it is really dense so maybe I should think of this as a feature not a flaw. Perhaps it is just wanting more time to season, I don't know.

Locust is very dense and does not catch well in my Homestead either. A very long seasoning time is needed, and it helps to mix in a piece of another species that does burn easy. Red Oak, Ash Maple, anything will due. The wood will last for a long time, it just needs a good hot fire first.

For us woodburners Black Locust should be renamed "Cold Weather Wood". It is often too much for mild temp but the very best choice for really cold weather.

Im glad you posted Some like it hot. Im glad someone else is getting the same reasults as me with similar wood. My first year of burning here, I used allot of that stuff, and now I think that was part of my problem. I always heard my Dad and others talk this stuff up, but im thinking in a conventional stove, it might be OK, but in my gasifier not so much. Now I might put two pieces of it in with the mix. When I used a whole load of it I fought it all day.

There are some Honey Locust lines that had the thorns "bred out of them", so thorns alone won't tell the difference between Black or Honey Locust. Both glow yellow under flourescent light too. I milled some up with the intent to make a (heavy) night table, mostly for the kick of having a glowing piece of furniture. 3 projects away. If you cut the end grain with a very sharp chisel, and look with a lupe, you will see open pores on Honey Locust, closed on Black, much like the difference between Red & White Oak.