For those of you with a lot of black locust...

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derecskey

New Member
Jun 25, 2008
168
Geauga, OH
Ok, we all know the positives of black locust: Relatively low moisture means faster seasoning. Great coals. Good overnight burns. Great BTUs, easy to split.

But what are some of the negatives? Here are some I've experienced this year:

1. More ash than I'm used to.
2. Very squiggly curly branches. This is not a straight tree! Seems like the ones around here grow like Harry Potter trees.
3. Very scraggly bark... so if the bark doesn't fall off, it seems like the bark is actually taking up a pretty good percentage of the firebox.

Thoughts?
 
I can't agree with the ashes, never had the branches only the trunks, 90% of the bark falls off during processing which makes it very easy for me to cross stack it.
Post a picture of your BL.
 
Can't easily light it without a good bed of embers
 
Big rounds are heavy to pick up and put in the trailer.

A good sized spit weighs 20+ lbs.

Can't get my hands on enough of it.
 
Around here you can find plenty of tall, straight Black Locust, and lots of branchy, twisted ones, too. Like a lot of other trees, it depends where they were growing. I don't particularly think their branches are any worse than any other tree for processing, except that there are thorns.
 
Sorry, I can not offer any negative attributes related to stove fuel, however Black locust is undesireable in or near prairies due to their spreading through the root system.
jackpine
 
Wood Duck said:
Around here you can find plenty of tall, straight Black Locust, and lots of branchy, twisted ones, too. Like a lot of other trees, it depends where they were growing. I don't particularly think their branches are any worse than any other tree for processing, except that there are thorns.
Click to expand...
Around here Black Locust doesn't have thorns, Honey Locust does though. I wouldn't walk across the street for it, can't stand the smell of it when it's burning!
 
webby3650 said:
Wood Duck said:
Around here you can find plenty of tall, straight Black Locust, and lots of branchy, twisted ones, too. Like a lot of other trees, it depends where they were growing. I don't particularly think their branches are any worse than any other tree for processing, except that there are thorns.
Click to expand...
Around here Black Locust doesn't have thorns, Honey Locust does though. I wouldn't walk across the street for it, can't stand the smell of it when it's burning!
Click to expand...


Hmm with my stove I never get to smell anything burning unless I go outside and get lucky with a wind gust coming down, if so many people enjoy or dislike the smells of particular woods burning would that not mean there is smoke entering the house ?

Only my second year of burning I am going through a load of Black Locust that I scrounged and luckily the bark falls right off as it is a lot of mass and also must be a 1/4 inch of dirt between the wood and bark, having said that I love it and I will be going out of my way to get more of it, I have a load of Honey Locust to process for next year and that looks just as good minus the massive bark.
 
ChrisNJ said:
webby3650 said:
Wood Duck said:
Around here you can find plenty of tall, straight Black Locust, and lots of branchy, twisted ones, too. Like a lot of other trees, it depends where they were growing. I don't particularly think their branches are any worse than any other tree for processing, except that there are thorns.
Click to expand...
Around here Black Locust doesn't have thorns, Honey Locust does though. I wouldn't walk across the street for it, can't stand the smell of it when it's burning!
Click to expand...


Hmm with my stove I never get to smell anything burning unless I go outside and get lucky with a wind gust coming down, if so many people enjoy or dislike the smells of particular woods burning would that not mean there is smoke entering the house ?

Only my second year of burning I am going through a load of Black Locust that I scrounged and luckily the bark falls right off as it is a lot of mass and also must be a 1/4 inch of dirt between the wood and bark, having said that I love it and I will be going out of my way to get more of it, I have a load of Honey Locust to process for next year and that looks just as good minus the massive bark.
Click to expand...

Your stove is drafting correctly . . . in a normal operation you should not be smelling smoke inside your home. In my own case, it is very rare that there is any smoke spillage.

However, you may smell the wood smoke if and when you're outside fetching another load of wood, puttering around the house, etc. . . .
 
I never smell the smoke inside, it's the smell outside I was referring to.
 
There just ain't no problem with burning locust in my stove, no problem at all. I'll take it third in line behind white oak and hickory. I imagine cherry would come in a close 4th.

Locust burns good, long, and heats well.
 
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