First of all a big shout out to Eric Wanderweg for the lead. In his area and he wanted me to have it. Easy park, buck and load. Roughly 32 miles, 40 minutes one way. I Dont often travel more than 15 minutes for a scrounge, but my arm didnt need much twisting for this. Not quite a full load. Eric had grabbed the smaller logs recently and a short trip to his place to top it off. You sure you didnt get the vaccine for locust mania Eric? Hey Pricey106 hope this is an inspiration!
I would sure do a road trip Brad. The bark on that stuff just slays me. What great wood, wish we had it like that around here, have only spotted a few small, young ones. I've never seen a mature one here, am at the end of their native range. But I'm looking!
Nice to see it worked out and it was great shooting the breeze with you again. TBH though, it kind of rekindled my strange fascination with the yellow anthracite wood Especially after scoping out the grove down the street and “accidentally” procuring it. Looking forward to getting back at it before too long!
For sure. Glad i was there and that happened. I didnt realize how heavy it was till i backed out to go up the hill. Even in first gear i REALLY had to give her the gas to get moving. For a couple seconds i didnt think she was going to move. Somewhat of a white knuckle ride home in the dark on a Friday during rush hour. LOCUST MANIA BABY!
I guess it was a good thing you ended up being a couple pieces short of a proper “buZZsaw load” then. 32 miles is a longgg way to go weighted down with firewood. The mania must be satiated though. I know you’ll put it to good use and it’ll end up going to one of your loyal customers.
My customers are spoiled with the barkless stuff! Suppose i could let it sit for several months until it comes off. Nope, getting SS tomorrow (hopefully rain holds off for a bit) as i have a rack already started. Should be enough to fill out the half cord.
Split some by hand this afternoon in a heavy drizzle. Didnt feel like dragging the splitter over from next door. Rain got too heavy so i unloaded the rest and called it a day. Rack before And after. Bark is seriously thick on this load. Whats left to split.
Looks good You’re more motivated than I am to be processing firewood in this soupy mess. You’re right about the bark too. Some kinds of BL I come across have thin bark, while on others it’s crazy thick. This stuff reminds me of the BL I got a couple years ago on the other side of Bristol. October Locust with a Cherry on top Maybe it’s the same cultivar/seed source? The BL down at my work in Middletown has much thinner bark.
I WASN'T motivated at all today! Just wanted it off the truck, but been trying to split off the PU, rather than double handle rounds etc. My observation has been fast growing BL has the thicker bark. This had some wide growth rings. If you think about that tree it was unobstructed where it grew so optimum growing conditions. They love full sun. I was tempted to take the bark off, which i partly did on some splits. My unscientific study showed that bark can represent 25% in a stack of BL.
Brad, any feel for the BTUs from the bark vs. the wood? Was wondering about just leaving the bark on. Or will it fall off in your stacks? I can see how it would be 25% of space in a stack with bark that thick and it's a shame to have to remove it. And sure looks cool, lol.
I was taking some bark off yesterday. Ive left green rounds out unprotected and the barks comes off, but it wreaks something terrible when it does. Since i sell it by the cord i will have bark on and barkless cords. This is topping off a bark on cord. Id prefer to scrounge dead/down barkless, but get the occasional score of fresh cut. I wont mix the two. This was my BL bark thread. Black Locust Bark Volume
I remember reading somewhere that the bark on each species has a similar btu as the wood. Obviously lower but the point they were trying to make was it wasn't worth the time to try and remove bark that's not already loose.
BL bark is soft and the wood is very dense so i doubt it in this case. The only wood where the bark would have the same BTU's as the wood is hickory IMO.
Each to their own. I'm sure it doesn't coal up half as good if at all. Probably like burning sassafras. I just know I'm not going to stand there and split bark from wood. If it comes off the wood easily i throw it in the woods. I'm also not going to save bark to burn unless I'm really hurting for wood. Maybe it would work during shoulder seasons? Barkless is much nicer/cleaner but again I'm not going to waist time. Guess I'm spoiled with good wood and plenty of space.
