This is the biggest black locust I’ve come across. To those who have more experience with it than me, is this typical for them when they get big? You can see the parts that rotted and were broken down to an almost soil like material. Biggest log was about 38” in diameter. Tough on a chain as you could imagine.
All the above, plus people tend to drive a far share of nails, tacks, and staples in that size as well!
Sometimes ya gotta take the good with the bad. I’ve been there plenty. Like dad always says.. “it’ll burn”.
IME yes. I cut a load in January of last year like that. More of a PITA than what it was worth. Cant mix too much cull stuff in BL cordage.
Usually unless a large amount of ants have lived in it there’s very little rot besides the bark inclusions. Yeah it looks bad at first. Split it and toss it in the pile. The sun and rain will clean it up quick enough.
This is the way most of it is around here but locust is my most burned and a favorite!! I peel the bark too, if the sap is running it pops off pretty easy!!
When I come across a really large BL log I usually count on some part being rotten out like that. One thing is never give up when you come across a rotten section, because it can be rock solid 2" inches from that part. Just as jo191145 said, dry it out and it's good to go.
I cut up a nice size BL once and it had a very small amount of soft in the center. You can see the base piece on the right in this pic. I did not go up far at all.
What criteria do you use for "waste"? I stacked some bark on BL and three wheelbarrow fulls probably wouldve gone in those bins.
