Question About Locust Bark

woodburn said:

I usually burn mostly oak. I like to strip the bark for a few reasons- Less attractive to insects while stored, but mainly because the wood ignites better without the bark, and I have heard bark gives very little btu output. However, I got some very mature Locust this year, and the bark is almost like solid wood pieces. Does this bark burn well? Is it any different than burning oak bark for example?

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locust takes a couple years to season i dont know about how well the bark would be better on or off

I got a good load of locust last year from a guy at work that cut a tree down in his yard. You are right that bark has some mass to it. I had a bunch fall off the splits and small rounds. And guess what, I burned it. It actually burned well and I did get some heat off of it. I mixed it with other wood and splits. That stuff will smell like you tossed in a bag of dog $hit when it burns. Smell is nasty. But just as a side note..I was burning and Englander 12 and for the few years I used it I could not get it to burn right no matter what I did. And I have been burning for years. I HAD to clean the chimney three times a season easy. So with that said I really didnt care how much creosote I got from it because I had to stay on top of the chimneys condition anyway.

I've burned cords of the stuff - never worried about pulling the bark off of it - or any other wood for that matter. If the bark does happen to fall off I scoop it up and shovel it in the stove as well. It is btu's that I worked hard to get and I'm not giving them up. As for seasoning - I guess every location is different, but wood I've cut early in the spring (oak, hedge, locust) will be burned this fall after setting through the hot, relatively dry summer.

Love the locust.............. never worried about the bark, and it burns good!

Anyone have any pics of locust wood? I cut and split some unknown wood today that was very dense and hard on my splitter and saw! This wood was also very stringy. I think it might be locust.

Best bet may be to punch up google and search for locust, honey locust, black locust, etc. If it was of this species, it probably had thousands of tiny leaves with a couple dozen grouped on each stem...they almost look like a fern leaf - very distinct. Haven't known it to be particularly hard splitting or cutting. "Very stringy / hard splitting" seems more like elm...ugh!

Locust bark isn't all that dense, and it takes up a lot of space because it's so thick. But it's awfully hard to remove, so it's hard to think it's worth the effort.

Red oak bark, OTOH, is quite dense and has lots of BTU's. I've burned a whole firebox of it before, and it burned a long time and left nice coals. Like most bark it leaves a lot of ash, though.

I burn the bark.
because what else am i gonna do with it?

If the bark falls off in big peices I use it like shingles as ground cover around the garden - keeps the weeds down. Small bits of bark I toss in the compost pile or use as mulch, except for a small amount of "splitter trash" that I dry and use as fire starter (in between newspaper and the small splits - goes up like gas and really gets things going quickly) If the bark doesn't fall off, I don't worry about it, and throw it in the stove with the rest of the wood...

Gooserider

woodburn said:

I usually burn mostly oak. I like to strip the bark for a few reasons- Less attractive to insects while stored, but mainly because the wood ignites better without the bark, and I have heard bark gives very little btu output. However, I got some very mature Locust this year, and the bark is almost like solid wood pieces. Does this bark burn well? Is it any different than burning oak bark for example?

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Unless you've got crazy amounts of free time I wouldn't bother stripping any bark from any wood.

Don't think it is worth the time to strip it off. When dry, I think it burns very well. If I can find some that has few thorns on it, I don't think there is better wood out there considering how it splits, burns, etc. Around here we only season it 8-10 months. Less if it is unusually dry. If you can find dead trees, the bark "problem takes care of itself, and the wood is unusually clean to work with.

beagler said:

Anyone have any pics of locust wood? I cut and split some unknown wood today that was very dense and hard on my splitter and saw! This wood was also very stringy. I think it might be locust.

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Link to locust pic: https://www.hearth.com/econtent/ind...13800_yNwmQOSPykttq5qZ3Qfe&thumb=1&board_id=1

And it does stink when burned, don't think I would ever want to burn this in an open fireplace... Unless you wanted to get rid of unwanted house guests.

It does look really cool after it has burned for a while, it retains its shape and grain til the very end...

Here are some pics of some black locust I just finished splitting. Very stringy and very smelly. Also full of bugs and ants. Nasty wood to work with. Can't wait to get my revenge.

staplebox said:

Here are some pics of some black locust I just finished splitting. Very stringy and very smelly. Also full of bugs and ants. Nasty wood to work with. Can't wait to get my revenge.

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Speaking of smelling funny, the locust arounf here smells faintly of garbage when sawn and split.

I'd take garbage. This stuff smells like it grew on top of a leach field.