Black Locust as firewood

[Czaralfred]

Re: questions about black locust as firewood- Here on Long Island I'm blessed with Red Oak, White Oak, and lots of Black Locust as firewood. After Hurricane Irene took a heavy toll on the huge, old Black Locust trees at the abandoned 400-acre Kings Park Psychiatric Hospital, I was able to obtain several cords of Black Locust-huge sections yielding tons of beautiful heartwood. It will take a year of curing, but it will yield what in my opinion is among the hottest and longest burning firewood. Anyone out there wondering about the value of Locust that thry may have, just be patient with the cure time, and get a tight screen if you are using a fireplace.

 

[Muhammad]

Welcome to TBN.

 

[creekbend]

Black Locust rates among the highest BTU's ratings. It is a favorite for firewood. Yes.Yes. BTW welcome to TBN.:tractor:

 

[s219]

Yes, it's good stuff. People around here seem to think it's a weed tree, and it sure is hard on chainsaw cutters. But it's excellent firewood -- I take all I can get.

 

[LD1]

Actually...all three you mention are EXCELLENT for firewood.

That locust comes in @ 26.8Mbtu/cord

The oaks are both 24Mbtu

The only thing common around me that is hotter than locust is hickory @27.7

We rarley see any osage. But that is (I think) the highest north american tree @ over 32M BTU/cord. And almost a FULL 1000lbs heavier per cord than the oaks.

But in all honesty, if I had my choice of the three you mention to cut for firewood, my choice would be red-oak all day long. Mainly for the way it splits. You can split a cord of that in about half the amount of time it takes to split a cord of locust

 

[magicheater]

Black Locust rates among the highest BTU's ratings. It is a favorite for firewood. Yes.Yes. BTW welcome to TBN.:tractor:

You can let it sit on a pile in log form for years and it will still be good. I had the opportunity to get a huge pile of logs that had been sitting for 7+ years. The poplar was dust, the maple where high in the pile was punky. The red oak was starting to show decay in contact situations, white oak fared a little better
But the black locust was still actually green in color inside. It burns really hot, I still have some chunks stacked in a pile.

 

[rmully]

It is great for overnight burns!

 

[Craig Clayton]

I planted a large numbe of Black Locust on my property because the ag board said honey bees really liked them, and I had honey bees at the time. All is fine until you take a chain saw to them. The next year the suckers come back to haunt you, I figure 1 tree will make 30 suckers every time you cut it. If a sucker becomes a sapling then that is times 30. This year my neighbour asked me to look after my escaped suckers/ saplings. I think I may have a job at the neighbours for life because the cattle won't eat them and the only way I have found to control them is with a riding mower. The thorns will go through rubber tires very easily. My riding mower even has homemade ballistic inner liners on the front tires. I have Slime in the rears ( a leak seal product ) and I found a flat today.

Craig Clayton

 

[Briana03]

WELCOME to TBN

I moved your thread to the Related Topics Forum.

 

[Chuck52]

I dropped a locust tree in my yard last fall because it was too close to the house and the leaves were a pain in the rain gutters. It was a thornless variety and I don't know the name, but it clearly wasn't closely related to black locust. It split even easier than the oak I was working up at the same time. Seems to burn fine after only a year of curing, but I'm sure it isn't pitting out the btu's of black locust.

Chuck

 

[mattridessleds]

Black Locust is actually a wood that will burn green also if you are in a pinch and out of seasoned wood. I only have a few black locust trees on my property and wish I had more for my sawmill. It is a extremely rot resistant wood and has been used for farmers fence posts for years along with Eastern Red Cedar up in this area. It will last twice as long maybe longer as modern day pressure treated pine. Defiantly a good choice for fire wood.

 

[turnkey4099]

I planted a large numbe of Black Locust on my property because the ag board said honey bees really liked them, and I had honey bees at the time. All is fine until you take a chain saw to them. The next year the suckers come back to haunt you, I figure 1 tree will make 30 suckers every time you cut it. If a sucker becomes a sapling then that is times 30. This year my neighbour asked me to look after my escaped suckers/ saplings. I think I may have a job at the neighbours for life because the cattle won't eat them and the only way I have found to control them is with a riding mower. The thorns will go through rubber tires very easily. My riding mower even has homemade ballistic inner liners on the front tires. I have Slime in the rears ( a leak seal product ) and I found a flat today.

Craig Clayton

Are you sure you planted Black Locust? I haven't seen thorns on those big enough to pierce a tire. Black also has amall thorns only on young wood, never on the trunks.

Yes, B. Locust is bad for copsing - let go you wind up with a dense forest of small trees, none of any size. My control for the one I took out of my back yard years ago was roundup and diligent spraying of each and every shoot I could find. Took about 5 years before they quit showing. I even had one come up through the joint in a concrete slab inside my closed in 4 season porch 20' away from the tree.

Out here in Washington the Locust Borer is killing all the B. Locust. I am harvesting every one where I can get permission. Best score was a clear cut of around 6 acres plus a grove of 6 in the middle of a field. All big old ones. Currently have 40 plus cords in the stacks - it will be as good 10 years from now as it is today - that stuff just doesn't rot.

Welcome to the site. Lots of good information, stories, lies, etc.

Harry K