After having a branch from one of our dying black locusts fall on the wife's car, we decided to get them taken down. Well, that was today. I was surprised they were as bad as they were. There's a good bit of decay and the centers were hollow in some spots. It's good we got them out and the guys did a great job keeping everything neat and tidy. I told the them to leave the firewood, which saved us $250. But I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into. It's a bit overwhelming considering it's just me, it needs to get moved to the back yard sooner rather than later, and I wasn't clear on EXACTLY where the rounds needed to go so about 50% of it is on my neighbor's property. It'll be a lot of work, but it's a good situation to be in.
Ok, I'll be the guy to say it..... You can store it at my house! I can help you with that! Awesome score!
Rent a splitter for the weekend and git 'er dun. Not insurmountable if you get at it. Get it off the neighbors place first before they lay claim to it.
Black locust is one of my all time favorites, if not my absolute favorite. EXCELLENT heat, excellent burn qualities. Good score, it will be worth the effort!
Now that is a darn pretty sight. Don't let Scotty know your address and you're to far away from me. That'll keep you busy for at least 2 evenings then what are you going to do.
It splits easy. I was concerned about that. Still thinking I should just get an X27, though. I did an hour or splitting the bigger chunks (the ones in the neighbor's yard) and moving them to the back yard with a wheel barrow. That 8lb maul is too much; my back's gonna pay for this...
Keep splinters out of your hands the best you can. For some reason, whenever I get a locust splinter, the area the splinter is in gets irritated/ sore real quick. I think you will have a good time with it, it splits pretty easy and dries well.
Nice pile. Looks like your backyard is all downhill. Gravity is your friend. With it in your favor it is very very easy to move rounds. The big ones roll and deliver themselves. And wheelbarrowing the smaller ones/splits goes a lot easier when it is downhill.
Rental splitters are a thing of beauty B seriously.... We used to split all by hand and let me say the Fiskars is very nice but it isn't a splitting maul! It does a great job of splitting under 12" rounds for me but if you get knots or just stubborn stuff it is like any other axe. What makes it so nice is it doesn't get stuck in the wood by design and pops back out easily. We would build up a decent pile of large rounds 24" and bigger usually and then once a year in the fall rent a splitter and blast them out. The $50 is worth the back saving. Though I do love my Fiskars it's not good at large rounds.
A fun & good exercise chore ! Upgrade that fireplace to an efficient insert & you may get to enjoy the whole wood burning process
What a great stash of Locust firewood! Looks like they cut most everything about the right lengths and the rot that existed in a few of the centers left all the rest of the wood in great shape. Take your time and hand split it... Good excuse to buy the fiskars...
One thing to know about BL is that it can be reluctant to light up. Adding a split or two of ash or cherry or maple to a BL reload helps. Very nice score and so nearby! I recommend you use the maul each day for 15 min's to a half hour - it will be finished all too soon.
