Isn't 2 1/2 years long enough to season?

That's odd. Most say that locust is one of the fastest drying woods.

Black locust has a very low moisture content to begin with and seasons in less then a year usually. I'm going to assume that you don't have a moisture meter. What is telling you it isn't ready?

Are you positive it's black locust? Black locust is generally regarded as a primo firewood

geoffm24 said:

Black locust has a very low moisture content to begin with and seasons in less then a year usually. I'm going to assume that you don't have a moisture meter. What is telling you it isn't ready?

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+1

I uncovered some locust post here on the property that was completely buried under a pile of dirt for 40+ years, bucked the post to length, let it sit for a couple months and it burned fine.

Something else is going on with your situation.

Either it ain't locust, or at the least, it ain't the locust that we have here in Pennsylvania, or it was recently rained on and has moisture under the bark

Locust burns hot and long but you need a real good bed of coals to burn it.. I suggest you get a good oak fire going then add locust to it..

Ray

You cannot burn locust without a really good bed of coals - once it gets going, it's great, but without that coal bed it's a massive struggle to light it.

I burn black locust regularly and have never seen it infested with anything. It is bug resistant and lasts for years. Makes great fence posts. I would also question if it is black locust.

I have read lots of posts here about how hard it is to light Black Locust. Maybe the tendency to light slowly, plus some moisture or punk in the wood, is causing the problem. I think you've figured it out - mix with other woods.

RonB said:

I burn black locust regularly and have never seen it infested with anything. It is bug resistant and lasts for years. Makes great fence posts. I would also question if it is black locust.

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I recently bucked up and split about a cord of standing dead black locus, and the bottoms of two of the logs were hollow and chock full of black carpenter ants. And yes, it is definitely black locust.

The odd thing was that these sections split like rubber wood. The maul almost hit me in the head it came back so hard. All of the rest of the load split like butter by comparison.

I totally agree about locust needing a hot fire to catch well, even when thoroughly seasoned. I usually add it only on top and am usually pleasantly surprised with the heat and coals leftover in the AM.

woodzilla said:

It is up on pallets in partial sun with good air flow. It definitly just smolders, smokes and hisses for awhile before lighting off. secondary burn not stable.

I only have 1/2 face cord of it. unfortunately Its in the Late dec- early jan area of my stacks.

There was some insects under first 1" of wood. never saw them, just some sawdust, which held moisture, which punked some ( not all) of the wood.

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Just some sawdust. Really fine sawdust? Powder Post Beetles leave this but it should not make anything else punky.

woodzilla said:

Yes, very fine dust. some small 3/32 holes. Never see the bugs though!

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My 1st house had them (old house 100+ years old) in the floor boards.. Turned the boards into a sponge.. Had to get an exterminator in when I sold the house.. Luckily I had oak flooring above it so the floors were solid.. They can wreak havoc in your home so I advise you to not store that stuff in the home.. Personally I keep my firewood over 50' from my house and only bring in enough to fill the 42" wood hoop.. Usually enough for several days of burning..

Ray

Have to agree about trouble with black locust. I had a large one dropped on my property exactly one year ago, and I bucked/split it immediately. I even posted on this site about how it read 20% with the moisture meter the day after the tree was dropped. I stacked it on racks in FULL sun with lots of airspace and wind, and let it sit uncovered all this year. Covered it last month. Went to burn it this year and had the same experience as Woodzilla.

Very disappointing.

The bark is really thick and spongy, and I wonder if it is holding moisture.

Put this thread in the scratch your head bin, Black locast is like Oak for me with a hot bed of coals it takes right off, burnt a tree a year ago and it was green when cut and burnt 1 1/2 years later and never a problem with it.

woodzilla said:

Its definitly black locust. Its just the infestation causing some grief. I will be mixing it in slowly to use it up this year. I am as shocked as all of you at the situation. Fortunately I am not relying on it for my only supply. Im sure I will find it easy to mix with the other 5 cords on hand for this year.

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Wonder if the holes were made by the locust borer. Nearly all locust trees have them. They do not damage any other sort of wood.

oldspark said:

Put this thread in the scratch your head bin, Black locast is like Oak for me with a hot bed of coals it takes right off, burnt a tree a year ago and it was green when cut and burnt 1 1/2 years later and never a problem with it.

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Yeah, I'd like to see some pics of this black locust, see if it's the same black locust I have here on my property. I cut it, split it, and burn it, no problems. The stuff turns grey over the years, becomes hard as a rock. I ain't kiddin', I have some fence post that is still in the ground, and still solid, that was put in back in 1950. Matter of fact, one of the locust fence boards just fell off, and it's been 60 years.

I also unearthed a pile of post that was buried for around 50 years and cut 'em up and burned 'em.

I suppose one other possibility is that the various stoves we have are different enough to make a difference. I find the 30NC I have to be very picky about what it will burn, the wood has to be really dry for it to work right, and so perhaps locust seasoned only one year is just not dry enough for it.

I'm still wondering if the really thick, spongy bark on locust is part of the problem. I stacked it bark side up, which may have lead to it soaking up water all year, till I covered it last month.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I'm 100% sure my wood is black locust.