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