The evils of black locust -- part 2, with pic

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dave11

Minister of Fire
May 25, 2008
633
Western PA
I and a few others have posted here about trouble burning black locust. The locust I was burning earlier this year was only one year post-splitting, and I hoped that next year it would burn better. But I happened to find some BL at the bottom of the stack of red oak I got hold of last year, and it was cut/split in January 2009, making it two years seasoned.

Take a look at this pic. The split on the lower left is maple, the one on the lower right is red oak. They're both burning fine.

Then there's the big split of BL sitting on top of them, with a nice air channel under it to the back, which usually makes a spectacular fire. The BL is just sitting there like a cold, black nothing.

I've tried burning it all different ways, nothing works. It will eventually go to coals, but any fire that has BL in it is on the cooler side, and is the only time I ever see smoke come from the top of the liner.

I've got two cords of this junk and more to come. I'll be glad to trade for just about anything else. Maybe I'll have to give it away on Craigslist, which feels awful, since I cruise CL for free wood.
 

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I dont know what to tell you other than it is a very dense wood and it looks like a huge piece you have there, how do the smaller splits work for ya.
 
oldspark said:
I dont know what to tell you other than it is a very dense wood and it looks like a huge piece you have there, how do the smaller splits work for ya.

The smaller splits do a little better, but if I put more than one of them at a time in the fire, they still nearly kill it, and I still get smoke.

It burns like wet wood, though everyone swears BL dries so fast. The two year dry split of red oak in the pic is burning fine though, and they were split in the same month.
 
dave11 said:
I and a few others have posted here about trouble burning black locust. The locust I was burning earlier this year was only one year post-splitting, and I hoped that next year it would burn better. But I happened to find some BL at the bottom of the stack of red oak I got hold of last year, and it was cut/split in January 2009, making it two years seasoned.

Take a look at this pic. The split on the lower left is maple, the one on the lower right is red oak. They're both burning fine.

Then there's the big split of BL sitting on top of them, with a nice air channel under it to the back, which usually makes a spectacular fire. The BL is just sitting there like a cold, black nothing.

I've tried burning it all different ways, nothing works. It will eventually go to coals, but any fire that has BL in it is on the cooler side, and is the only time I ever see smoke come from the top of the liner.

I've got two cords of this junk and more to come. I'll be glad to trade for just about anything else. Maybe I'll have to give it away on Craigslist, which feels awful, since I cruise CL for free wood.
Have you put a moisture meter on this unburnable locust?
 
gzecc said:
dave11 said:
I and a few others have posted here about trouble burning black locust. The locust I was burning earlier this year was only one year post-splitting, and I hoped that next year it would burn better. But I happened to find some BL at the bottom of the stack of red oak I got hold of last year, and it was cut/split in January 2009, making it two years seasoned.

Take a look at this pic. The split on the lower left is maple, the one on the lower right is red oak. They're both burning fine.

Then there's the big split of BL sitting on top of them, with a nice air channel under it to the back, which usually makes a spectacular fire. The BL is just sitting there like a cold, black nothing.

I've tried burning it all different ways, nothing works. It will eventually go to coals, but any fire that has BL in it is on the cooler side, and is the only time I ever see smoke come from the top of the liner.

I've got two cords of this junk and more to come. I'll be glad to trade for just about anything else. Maybe I'll have to give it away on Craigslist, which feels awful, since I cruise CL for free wood.
Have you put a moisture meter on this unburnable locust?

It was 20% last year right when it was split, and spent a year in full sun and wind. Now it reads 15%.
 
Seems like the locust might be wet. Maybe try drying a few smaller splits somehow and then see how they burn. Perhaps you can store some small splits near the stove at the minimum clearance distance from the stove so they stay warm most of the time. In march try burning them. Or if you have a moisture meter you could check to see if they are truly dry.

Edit: I see that you have a meter and have already checked and it is dry. I am out of suggestions, having never burned much locust.
 
dave11 said:
gzecc said:
dave11 said:
I and a few others have posted here about trouble burning black locust. The locust I was burning earlier this year was only one year post-splitting, and I hoped that next year it would burn better. But I happened to find some BL at the bottom of the stack of red oak I got hold of last year, and it was cut/split in January 2009, making it two years seasoned.

Take a look at this pic. The split on the lower left is maple, the one on the lower right is red oak. They're both burning fine.

Then there's the big split of BL sitting on top of them, with a nice air channel under it to the back, which usually makes a spectacular fire. The BL is just sitting there like a cold, black nothing.

I've tried burning it all different ways, nothing works. It will eventually go to coals, but any fire that has BL in it is on the cooler side, and is the only time I ever see smoke come from the top of the liner.

I've got two cords of this junk and more to come. I'll be glad to trade for just about anything else. Maybe I'll have to give it away on Craigslist, which feels awful, since I cruise CL for free wood.
Have you put a moisture meter on this unburnable locust?

It was 20% last year right when it was split, and spent a year in full sun and wind. Now it reads 15%.
Wow, should be primo fuel. I would split it smaller and mix it with other burnable wood.
If I was closer I would take it off your hands.
 
dave11 said:
I've got two cords of this junk and more to come. I'll be glad to trade for just about anything else. Maybe I'll have to give it away on Craigslist, which feels awful, since I cruise CL for free wood.
Where in W. Pa . are You located ?
 
I'll take a truckload if you are not too far away.
 
I use almost only black locust right now, cause I harvested it recently, standing dead and barkless. very small pieces on coals, then fat 6" splits, and it burns real easy, fully involved in 5 minutes with the ash door open. Something doesn't sound right. Can you confirm your meter readings?
 
darkbyrd said:
I use almost only black locust right now, cause I harvested it recently, standing dead and barkless. very small pieces on coals, then fat 6" splits, and it burns real easy, fully involved in 5 minutes with the ash door open. Something doesn't sound right. Can you confirm your meter readings?

The same meter reads 35% on the fresh pin oak I've been splitting, and 30% on the 6 month old Maple, so it would seem to be right. Reads 8% on the kiln dried lumber scraps in my shop.

I think my stove is just too tight on air for it to burn well. If I crack the door a bit, the BL burns bright and hot, but of course I can't get any secondary burn that way.

I'd like to find someone who would trade something else for it. Even for poplar, which burns long and hot in my stove because I can turn the primary air completely off. If I end up giving it away, I'll let folks here know first.
 
I would think if you can burn oak yu can burn BL but you might have a point, is your draft real strong.
 
oldspark said:
I would think if you can burn oak yu can burn BL but you might have a point, is your draft real strong.

I borrowed a very expensive draft meter last year, and checked my draft. I don't recall the exact number, but it was just on the high side of where ESW says the ideal draft range is for my stove. But maybe for BL in my stove, I would need a stronger draft than for other types of wood.
 
Dave11- I hate to second guess but are you sure this is black locust? Has it been identified by a few people? It just doesn't make sense from my experience.
 
gzecc said:
Dave11- I hate to second guess but are you sure this is black locust? Has it been identified by a few people? It just doesn't make sense from my experience.
I had that thought also but what would it be?
 
gzecc said:
Dave11- I hate to second guess but are you sure this is black locust? Has it been identified by a few people? It just doesn't make sense from my experience.

I'm sure. Most of it was from a large tree I had dropped on my property, and all the tree guys giving estimates confirmed it was black locust. It has all the typical characteristics. It was even full of the locust borer. And it is really dense and heavy.

In fact, if you look at the split in the pic, the bark side is up, and you can see how thick and furrowed it is, typical of BL. Not many other types of trees around here have bark like that.
 
Last year I had a similiar problem with Black Locust; it was garage-kept and dry but just wouldn't burn very well and was a huge disappointment, knowing that I've burned it before with better results. I never did figure out what caused it but it also soured my opinion of Black Locust. Very strange indeed....
 
I burn lots of BL here (slowly, of course.) Were I near the OP, my truck would be gassed up and ready, once he made it available.

I've found that in my little Morso stove, the pieces can't be too dry, both to get them to light, and stay lit. So, once air-dried outdoors,
the pieces spend a few weeks in the vicinity of the stove before going in. No matter that the trees in question died 1 or 10+ years ago.

The wood seems to retain little pockets of well-sealed moisture, giving you random steam-jets out the side, sometimes pretty forceful.
Just another reason to dry it some more, in the "kiln" mentioned above.

Given all that, and the toughness it presents to saw-chain, if you want some removed, just say so. (At least it splits nicely w/6 lb maul.)
 
Dave,
My experience with locust & red oak that was split & stacked together at the same time is exactly the same as yours. I am burning it in an Englander NC13. I have enough draft to suck the door closed. I just don't think those two little air inlets in the doghouse give enough air to the wood itself.
Al
 
I could get locust to burn hotter by spiting smaller but the big problem for us was the huge and everlasting coals they produced. The wood stove was our sole heat, my wife hated locust. How delightful it would be for her to ID a few splits of willow or Poplar she would hoard aside until she gave the kids a bath.
 
I have only burnt one big load in my summit but it burnt just like my Oak.
 
I don't have a lot of experience, but all I've burned is oak and locust this year and I try not to mix the two anymore for this reason. With oak I can almost completly close off my primary air, but with the locust I have to leave it around 25% open or it will just sit and smolder like in your pictures, it also takes longer to start the fire with locust. An oak load takes maybe 30 minutes and a locust load takes around 40 minutes.
 
I been burning BL for the last month straight. I do agree that it burns differently than the cherry and maple I was burning before that. I have to keep the air open over half way to get a good burn, but it does happen. I do notice it burns a lot hotter and longer than the others, but it was very frustrating learning to get it to burn hot. I have one week of locust left then back to marginally seasoned maple (first year burning).
 
I know where there 20 cords of it!
 
Black Locust does seem to need a lot of air and I never have a problem burning it other than the initial ignition and it is always mixed with other wood to help it going, that being said it always seems (looks) like it is burning hotter than everything else, haven't really burned much this year but I recall blue flames from it, LOL if that means hotter, and it burned a long time, I have some big splits ready to go, I will toss one on a bed of coals tonight to see.
 
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