Weird phenomenon in burning.

[ohlongarmisle]

Bitter cold here -18 wind chills 50 ,65 mph winds.
Brought in 20 year old black locust,was standing dead on neighbor up the road property that long,I cut a huge load 5 years ago.
A straight load of black locust , didn't burn as hot as a mixed locust and white ash mixture. The mixed load burned down to ash, while the full load of locust left a considerable coal bed , which had to be burned down, plenty warm but baffling to me.

 

[bholler]

Bitter cold here -18 wind chills 50 ,65 mph winds.
Brought in 20 year old black locust,was standing dead on neighbor up the road property that long,I cut a huge load 5 years ago.
A straight load of black locust , didn't burn as hot as a mixed locust and white ash mixture. The mixed load burned down to ash, while the full load of locust left a considerable coal bed , which had to be burned down, plenty warm but baffling to me.

I.found the same thing. Locust just doesn't smoke as much so nothing for the cat

 

[ohlongarmisle]

I.found the same thing. Locust just doesn't smoke as much so nothing for the cat

THX, why didn't I think of that.👍 decent wood, but oak and ash definitely , at least in the King seem a little hotter.

 

[bholler]

THX, why didn't I think of that.👍 decent wood, but oak and ash definitely , at least in the King seem a little hotter.

Same in the princess. I actually find cherry and maple the hottest. But they don't last as long

 

[brenndatomu]

To me locust seems to need more air...which would go against max efficiency on a cat stove, no?

 

[Dieselhead]

I wasnt overly impressed with a large amount of shagbark hickory recently burned in my cat stove, although it is up towards the very top of most btu charts.

 

[stoveliker]

I've been burning (my first) locust since yesterday night and don't see a big advantage compared to oak. 3.5 years old.

A bit more secondaries (semitransparent burning gas; Im running fairly hot now) than oak but not much longer burns.
Not much coaling, fine ashes.

Not bad, but with the thick (ridged ->airy) bark I loose BTU density in the stove as compared to nicely straight oak.

 

[Caw]

Nothing beats a full load of rectangular red oak heart wood with no bark for my money. You can pack a ridiculous amount of BTUs into one load. When it's super cold out like now though I prefer red maple and cherry for the faster, hotter fires.

Yes I'm completely biased because I live in a dense red oak forest. 😉

 

[ozarkoak]

Nothing beats a full load of rectangular red oak heart wood with no bark for my money. You can pack a ridiculous amount of BTUs into one load. When it's super cold out like now though I prefer red maple and cherry for the faster, hotter fires.

Yes I'm completely biased because I live in a dense red oak forest. 😉

I feel the same way. I just look at those pieces and all I can think about is BTU. I am biased also for the same reason. Although it would be a hard to win a debate on the side of the cons of oak, red oak forest or not.

 

[bigealta]

I'm mostly red oak too. With limited stack area i need the most great burning btu per cord i can get.

 

[all night moe]

I have/had a ton of black locust this season. Still have half a cord left. Here's my findings. Rates high on the BTU chart but burns like coal.
Slow n steady. That's only if those splits are on a nice, thick, HOT bed of coals. BL leaves coals like few others. Burns with mostly blue flame with a bit of white. Super dense wood ... just look at the end grain. I'm running a conventional furnace dated in '78. You cat owners may find a different experience. When I load for temps like we've been having, I'll put 3-4 big BL splits on that coal bed first. Sometimes I wait before loading anything more. Just a few minutes, and just to watch. Those blue flames are gasification already in progress. There is no burst of flame show unless, a split has splinters attached to it. Once those are burned, it's back to blue flame technology... LOL. Also when seasoned well, the bark is mostly missing on my splits.

I then load easier burning splits that still coal well above. Usually, red oak, sugar maple, ash, and hickory. These are dominate in my area. Sometimes I may put a couple skinny splits of BL on top too. The furnace runs hard. The blower for the ducting cycles via fan limit switch in the WF plenum. It's being operated like a pre EPA woodstove without a key damper. Once its going for a lil while, I choke down the air.
Next reload I'm greeted with another nice bed of coals. I'm not overly burdened with coals for the exhaust exits at the rear bottom before traveling up and out the flue. The incoming air washes over the coals burning them down as they burn the load above.

If you all don't like your BL, I'll gladly take it off your hands.

 

[bigealta]

yeah i never knew the key to Locust is mixing it with other woods. I used to run loads of locust thru my jotul 3 pre epa but it never ripped like the others so i kind of was like lets just do oak from now on. Now im a fan of mixing it, so if available. i'll grab it.

Oh also my neighbor didn't like the smell of it so since i'm friends with them it was no biggie to just go oak. They moved so now some locust is creeping back in.