Finally, I can post a picture of this beautiful wood at a place it will be appreciated!! I couldn’t handle this beast alone, so my buddy helped me cut it up and I helped him sawmill a portion of it with a portable mill. I cut three cord from this single tree and we still have two more logs left to mill. Wood is tough as nails and heavy, but I can’t get over how good the rough cut boards look. Quick question: How long should I let this cure? BTU chart says 24 months, but I’d like to start burning this coming fall.
Love me some Honey Locust... Love the smell of it too ... Split and stack it, and let it set for a minimal of 2 year and 3 years is even better.
Welcome LickingCountyCutter, we love pictures! That is a big tree to yield so much wood. Scotty Overkill has milled some honey locust too. I get a little honey locust from time to time, and I'm going to try drying it in 55 gal metal barrels this summer.
Welcome LickingCountyCutter , you’re gonna like it here, I guarantee it. We like dogs, pics and beer. We also enjoy spending your money on accoutrements to help with your addiction, er, uh, I meant hoard. Lots of wonderful folks here willing to lend advice or a hand. Locust is not a one year seasoning wood however unless you have a kiln in most instances. Split it small, get it off the ground with air flow all around and stack it facing south...Thats a major league performer right there, burning it before its 15-20% MC would be a waste—- Nice to meet you
Howdy LickingCountyCutter! I'd give that honey locust at least 3 years to season. It's well worth the wait. And I've seen some beautiful flooring milled from honey locust. It's great wood for a lot of different purposes. Welcome aboard and keep the pictures coming!
Unless you are drying it in Arizona or a kiln, burning it this year would be a tragic waste of some primo wood. If you need wood for next season cut some pine and it will be good to go.
I’ll see if I can get my buddy to send me some pictures of it. We left some of the slabs with a live edge that are my favorite. I will give you a picture of some shelves we made out of some 1” x 6”. Left shelf is still rough and the right is sanded with one clear coat.
Welcome to the nuthouse, LickingCountyCutter! That honey locust is definitely great stuff, and it's well worth the wait to keep it on the stacks for at least 2 years or more. I once had 9 full cord of honey locust on hand, that's all I burned for alost two winters, and I was really spoiled! We just milled a big one last fall with the Alaskan mill, it was almost 28" DBH. Got some nice planks and a few thick boards to make cant hook, shovel and axe handles with. Talk about a hard job, that wood is tough as nails, it was a workout using the chainsaw mill to do the deed.
Welcome yo the FHC LickingCountyCutter , . I agree, let that sit and scrounge some pine, soft maple, tulip poplar, and ash. You will have more heat from dry wood!
I have access to dead ash that will last me a lifetime, problem is I only have access to it when the crops aren’t growing.
Thanks for all the welcomes!!! I’ve been looking for a forum like this for some time on reddit, unsuccessfully. I look forward to being a part of it!
It's absolutely a good smelling and beautiful wood. Also great to burn as well as an interesting living fossil, those two qualities combined should classify it is a "fossil fuel".
Welcome to the forum LickingCountyCutter Good news for you. In October there is a get-together (assuming it will happen again) just a tad north of you so you might want to keep watch for that one. A great place to hang out with like-minded people and good people they are. This one usually happens early in October. We also have one in MI that this year will be held on May 3-4 and many from Ohio come to enjoy themselves. This will be our 4th time.
Honey locust is a nice wood but I tried burning some this year that was about 1.5 years old but been through two summers. It burned but, not that great. I took some of it and put it back into racks that won't be burned until 2022 or so. At which point it will be 4+ years split. I also lit my chimney on fire with a whole load of it in the stove so I suggest not forgetting about it if you stuff the stove...!!!
Welcome to the group. Great folks from all over the place and walks of life. Plenty of knowledge and a little humor. That is some nice looking wood.
in my experience I cut and split some honey locust 3 years ago, stacked on concrete. I tried burning in the owb after 1 year. no way. 2 years, still no flame. 3 years and its finally burning "ok" but if I could have waited, I'm sure it would have burned better after 4 years. after 3 years it finally feels lighter than when I stacked it.
It's a great wood but I'm not sure I'd scrounge it again due to the fact that ideally it would take 4 years to season, but also those powder post beetles freakin' love it and they absolutely trash my wood stacks with piles of wood dust that's about as fine as talcum powder. They got into my black locust just a little bit, but for whatever reason they really love the honey locust.
