Driest locust I've ever seen
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smokinj
Minister of Fire
steeltowninwv
Minister of Fire
I got some 25 year seasoned locust not to long ago...still solid wood..was used as post on a pole barn
Locust Post
Minister of Fire
barn burner
Member
Yep me too. It's all over the hillside behind my house. Dead on the ground locust with the bark gone.. MC anywhere from 15% to 22%. Just cut it up and throw it in the stove. It's been wonderful. Enjoy your score!
I ran through a cord of similar locust pretty quickly last winter. Same story. Standing dead for a very long time and the bark falling off it as I bucked it up. Well under 20% on my meter, so I just tossed it into the stove. Surprising thing to me is that it just didn't throw out the kind of heat I expected from such dry wood. Shorter burn times than I expected as well. I've always been a big fan of locust, but these logs left me a bit disappointed and confused.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
I cut some yesterday, some on the ground and some standing dead. The majority of it was about 16%. If it looks more brown than yellow-green, it's usually pretty dry.barn burner said:
I'm going to get all I can now. I don't know how much longer I'll have access to this grove.
That stuff is the ultimate firewood IMHO. I still like the softer hardwoods too, but for long hot burns and good hot coal beds, black locust and honey locust takes the cake, followed by elm and white oak.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Elm? Where's the winking smilie? ;-PScotty Overkill said:
I have been burning a bunch of Red Elm this "Winter" though...
Flatbedford
Minister of Fire
That's some good looking wood there. You could split it and toss it right in. Here's the driest BL I have ever scrounged.
This was all pulled out of the woods behind an apartment complex about 1/2 mile from me. I got about 2 cords of standing dead or dead fall BL from here. I cut and split it in April and May '11 and have been burning it with since October '11. All this BL has given mt Red Oak one more year to season. Great stuff, but I have a hard time getting it going when it is warmer outside and I have less draft. Re-splitting very small has helped.
Sorry to hear that business is slow. At least you can be productive with the wood scrounging during the down time.
This was all pulled out of the woods behind an apartment complex about 1/2 mile from me. I got about 2 cords of standing dead or dead fall BL from here. I cut and split it in April and May '11 and have been burning it with since October '11. All this BL has given mt Red Oak one more year to season. Great stuff, but I have a hard time getting it going when it is warmer outside and I have less draft. Re-splitting very small has helped.
Sorry to hear that business is slow. At least you can be productive with the wood scrounging during the down time.
blwncrewchief
Burning Hunk
The drier the better I have found with BL. I have/had about a cord that is all the way down to 9-13%. It burns noticeably better than even 16-18%. My best stuff has the radial cracks pretty much all the way through the splits. The splits look like they are about ready to fall apart however when I have resplit some of them it is almost scary. It is like splitting steel. They almost explode on the splitter and I have had some fly as far as 10-12 feet off the end of the splitter when they pop. Also bigger stuff is a struggle to burn even if really dry. I had some 8x10x18" square blocks and they would burn for 12-16 hours very slowly. I burned one of the 8x10's the other day loaded with 6, 4-6" splits of sugar maple. Cranked it up to 600ish and after 6 hours the maple was just coals but that darn BL block was still 2/3's of its size. Gave it some more air and the house was a little warm so I let it coast down for 6 more hours and the BL was still about 4x5x16 and the stove was 250. Threw 4, 5-6" Cherry splits in, ran it back up to 600 and after 4 hours it was finally all down to coal chunks. So it lasted from 8am to midnight. Generally I like to keep my BL to 5-6" splits max and no rounds over 4". 5-7" I split in half, 8-12" get quartered, over 12" I try to get 4-5" blocks. Oh yea, the other down fall is those who have cut it dead know it is murder on chains.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
Just occurred to me...maybe you're talking about Rock Elm. :gulp: That would be some awesome stuff to burn but the natural range isn't here or where you are...Scotty Overkill said:
It's kind of hard to see but the bottom rounds are "greener" than the ones on top.
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/Hearth/001-17.jpg
Bone dry, with a little Dogwood and Persimmon on the bottom.
http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h407/2bnator/Hearth/002-13.jpg
I think I saw rock elm once on a scrounge. I didn't now what it was. It was about an 8" round and I couldn't split it. There was quite a bit, but I left it not knowing what it was. Thinking back I probably should have taken it, but I don't have hydraulics.
Woody Stover
Minister of Fire
No doubt there's a good reason they call it "rock"; Book said that they used to export it to England to build wooden battleships. :gulp:gzecc said:
smokinjay said:
I've noticed that in my area as well, I wonder what it is about locust that makes it a preferred ant home? I'd say at least 95% of locust trees I've cut and split on my property had major sections full of ants.
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