Honey locust, nothing sweet about splitting....

Spent a quick half hour on the honey locust pile from my tree guy. Man does this stuff split hard. Kinda has that elm and beech feel, stalling my splitter. Take care all

 

I'm thinking that's not Locust, sure doesn't look like it from what I can tell, plus Locust splits real easy nothing like Elm.

 

I just tried splitting a couple big rounds of green Honey Locust that I cut this winter. Me and the Fiskars were not getting much accomplished. I know a fresh cut end splits easier and freezing temps help, but this stuff was stubborn and a bit stringy. Not as bad as some Elm I've dealt with, but it sure wasn't going easily.

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x2 or some hybrid.

 

Honey Locust here has a reddish heartwood and split pretty clean in my experience. And on occasion there is a thorn inside.

 

No doubt about this wood!

 

Months ago I tossed this out to the group and I think a few thought it was an American hybrid of the honey locust. It came to me in a trailer, so I have no idea but it was thornless. It is incredibly heavy and dense, understanding it is full of water. The isocore bounces off of it like it’s a rock. The saw grunts cutting it also, like cutting beech or oak. It was a big yard tree, with a large canopy so there are few rounds(thus far with out a limb etc. I hope this is locust, I have a huge pile of it.

 

My wife's cousin has some thornless variety in their yard and they are huge. I've never cut or split that type. The bark looks like HL. Hard and dense is a good thing. I know the knots are tough, but I'm using hydraulics for splitting. Most everything I split is out of the woods so it's not as "limby" till you get up to the top.

 

We have a very good amount of "wild" HL in our area. Most have thorns to one degree or another. Occasionally I run into one, sometimes on a hillside with other thorny ones, that is completely thornless. I don't know your local trees so can't say for sure, but if it was in this area, I would say your tree is not HL.

 

Any thoughts on what it might be? I know it is not a softwood. Honey locust is what the tree company stated it was. I have no leafs etc to review though

 

There are a couple of pieces in the pics that look kinda close, but the light sap wood band is too narrow and the wood lacks the pinkish tint that we have here. It could simply be a difference in soil type and fertility or genetics. My best guess is an hybrid with a nursery stock cultivar.

 

Makes sense. Based on how dense and heavy it is, it should make good btus in two seasons... I might mix a lot of my ash,beech and hickory in to those stacks, just in case this is a pain to burn. If it’s dry though, it should burn I always say.

 

Can I see some pics of others honey locust?

 

Colors can be off depending on the light when the pic was taken. Could you post a couple more pix of fresh splits and a little closer pix of the bark? Some of the peices in your original picutures look pretty close but it's hard to tell from that far away for me.

 

Look at it this way. If its heavy AND dense then you can be sure it will make good heat when dry....

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That’s the best I have for tonight picture wise help?

 

Honey locust always split easy for me.

My complaint about it is that its soooo heavy.

 

The rounds that are without limbs/knots split easy, but this was a yard tree, so it had a full canopy. Very few pieces without something.

 

Your split looks like the wild HL in my second picture. The bark is similar with out the thorns. I've never been around the thornless domesticated varieties so I'm not very familiar with them. I agree, the knots on HL can be pretty tough.


The last two pix are from when I was trying to figure out what those crazy boring beetles are that were turning my one locust stacks into powder. They were bad a couple summers ago.

 

Thornless hybrid typical city honey locust