And I'm on more Black Locust!!!

[bluedogz]

I measured mine with a meter and it measured at 12% moisture, i threw three pieces about the size of your forearm in with one ash split and it really did nothing stove was about 400 degrees. I am getting a new osburn 2000 because this dutch west 2500 insert sucks. I would say i probably put in about 15 pounds of BL in the stove; i have a small fire box of 1.3 cubic ft.

etiger, was that % on a fresh split? The splits you describe are the same size that I give Mrs. Blue to get the stove started when I'm not around, and they meter out at 19-23%. If your numbers and dimensions are accurate that BL should be going up like a candle.

 

[etiger2007]

The split of BL i measured was split for eight months and measured 12% mc, It did burn but not like I would expect. I bought the black locust because I heard it will burn so hot it will amaze you. Like I said in my other post I do have a small fire box 1.3 cubic ft so the three splits of locust and the one split of ash filled her up with a nice coal bed. I also heard it will burn forever; I have the company I bought the stove from coming out because even Black Locust is reduced to coals after an hour and a half. Something has to be up with my insert when i load up red oak it burns super hot but after an hour the logs are becoming coals. I do burn logs on the small side about the size of your four arm.

 

[ScotO]

The split of BL i measured was split for eight months and measured 12% mc, It did burn but not like I would expect. I bought the black locust because I heard it will burn so hot it will amaze you. Like I said in my other post I do have a small fire box 1.3 cubic ft so the three splits of locust and the one split of ash filled her up with a nice coal bed. I also heard it will burn forever; I have the company I bought the stove from coming out because even Black Locust is reduced to coals after an hour and a half. Something has to be up with my insert when i load up red oak it burns super hot but after an hour the logs are becoming coals. I do burn logs on the small side about the size of your four arm.

anything that you split very small (like you said the size of your forearm) is going to burn quickly. When yer splitting make some splits for nighttime or extended burn time. Make 'em big. As big as you can handle and get into yer stove. That's when you will see the magic of BL. I can put two or three big splits (the diameter of my thigh) in our stove at 11:00pm and come 6:20am there is still a huge heap of glowing red coals......splits the size of your forearm, too small for extended burns....no matter what kind of wood yer using.....

 

[etiger2007]

With a 1.3 cf box i might get one the size of my thigh in there then it would probably smolder, why Vermont Castings claims I can get 8 hrs of burn time with this stove is beyond me.

 

[bluedogz]

With a 1.3 cf box i might get one the size of my thigh in there then it would probably smolder, why Vermont Castings claims I can get 8 hrs of burn time with this stove is beyond me.

I can't speak for VCs's claimed burn time, but it seems like something is not working right in your stove. For openers, your splits are too small- those little guys will build up your coals ok, but once you have coals a bigger split is in order.

Also, I'm hoping to see what your installer says upon inspection... maybe there's a leak somewhere? If you've got too much air coming in then I expect your wood will burn faster. With luck, someone will correct me if I'm spouting &$^#.

 

[etiger2007]

Bluedogz I really thank-you much for your tips and concern, I will let you know what we find today after inspection. I will try some bigger splits and see what happens.

 

[etiger2007]

Thanks Bluedogz for your tips and concern; I will surley post what we find out with this stove after inspection. The reason i burn splits on the small side is my owners manual says to burn small hot fires for clearner burning and Ill tell ya the small stuff will get blazing however it dosent last.

 

[bluedogz]

The reason i burn splits on the small side is my owners manual says to burn small hot fires for clearner burning

This is true, but once you have coals, that's as hot as the fire is going to get. So bigger splits on top of coals works.

 

[oldspark]

The reason i burn splits on the small side is my owners manual says to burn small hot fires for clearner burning

This is true, but once you have coals, that's as hot as the fire is going to get. So bigger splits on top of coals works.

+1 That's how its done in the shoulder season, when it gets colder you can have hot fires with bigger splits placed on the bed of coals.

 

[Gasifier]

Hairy vines = pi, wear throw away gloves and shirt an wash up with fels naphtha soap afterwards and u should be fine. Black locust is awesome fuel, seasons quickly and burns great, lots of heat. Funny you say it's heavy, I always found locust to be on the light side, which is another reason I love it.

My dad came up with some old school knowledge while helping me fell some BLs in my yard...
We had PI running up about half the trees, maybe 5 or 6 of them. He took the saw and cut the 3" thick PI vines all the way through, then made a second cut 6" up the vine, removing a segment. We then cut down those trees that didn't have PI on them.
A year later, the PI was stone dead. We cut those trees, and in most cases the PI just fell away.

The oils in pi that cause the rash are still present long after the plant is dead, you still have to be careful. Vines that have been dead for many years can still cause you to break out. But yeah dead vines are easier to remove .

I am not very good at identifying the ivy. I need to change that. We have some poison ivy and poison oak on our property, I think. The reason I know is that I have had two brothers get into it before they knew it. Bad news. I have had good luck cutting in the winter. I like working in the woods in the winter as much as I can. Try to avoid cutting wood the rest of the time if I can. No bugs, nice temperatures, and I have had no problems with the Ivy. There are lots of vines all over our property that grow on the Pine and Ash trees.

Hey, nice score Scoooter!

 

[etiger2007]

Well my stove dealer just left and he is going to re-build my door completely, new handle and harware, new door gasket, new window gasket. He pointed out to me that the gasket is flat on all sides except all along the top ( and the dollar bill pulls out ez on this side). The handle is missing a set screw (and quite frankley it looks bent to me) which is probably why its not drawing the door in as it should. So hopefully this will give me longer burns. He thought he was slick and wanted to measure the moisture content of my wood but I beat him to the punch and whipped out my moisture meter it was kind of funny.

 

[bluedogz]

He pointed out to me that the gasket is flat on all sides except all along the top ( and the dollar bill pulls out ez on this side).

He thought he was slick and wanted to measure the moisture content of my wood

Wow... is there an echo in here?