Thorny Honey Locust Sighting in Connecticut.

Not really. I think JimBear was the one who originally told me to rake them off with the top side of the bar.

 

Brad, you said you figured it's 60-75 years old and 38" DBH? I am no expert but I would think it's far older than that. Maybe it grows real fast, beats me. That tree is a monster. The thorns look just like we have on water locust.

 

I tend to agree. I don’t think they grow real fast. My parents have a few thornless HL on their property that were planted as saplings in 1970, when their house was built. I’d estimate them at 18-20 inches across at the base. That’s 52 years.

I’d bet that sucker is 100+ years old. I’m no expert though. Not sure if they grow differently in Colorado or not.

 

Whoa. Im trying to think of a use for those. I’m just not in a particularly evil mood today hahaha
Would stick em on my fireplace mantle tho

 

Toothpicks & bar groove cleaners

 

Yikes. They’re nasty! Glad I’m not dealing with that.

 

No expert either. Im going off some HL i scored back in May. The tree was planted early 1970's from what i was told and one log i have pictured was 25" diameter. So 1/2" per year growth would take 76 years. This tree is out in the open with full sun and no competition from other trees. Beneficial for faster growth???
Ill go and cut it down and count the rings to solve the mystery!

 

It was that 36" sugar maple i cut last week. I finished stacking the splits today and they were heavy. That HL I cut in May was heavy too. Big hickory ranks up there too.

 

Playing fetch with the neighbors unfriendly dog?

 

I took out a yard honey locust 3 years ago. It was planted in 1965, so it was 54 years old and it was 3'x4' on the trunk. The branches off of it were 2 foot and there were 6 of them. The thing produced just over 3 cord. Here's 2 pieces of the trunk.

 

I wouldn’t have guessed that they grow wild around there

 

The Honeylocust that is around me is of the thornless variety.

 

Maybe my guess for its age isnt too far off? Have you burned it yet? They say it takes 2+ years to dry

 

I burned it last winter, except one cord I gave to a buddy who lost his brother. It was at 12% moisture, on average. It can be ready in a year, but it's better the longer it sits. We get pretty hot, dry summers here. So, it may season faster here than some places.

 

I have a one cord stack that was CSS May to September 2020. Thinking its ready.

 

3 years for me

 

Certainly not at my altitude. But they do grow wild in the Denver area. I grabbed a whole trailer load of wild HL in Colorado Springs not too long ago.

 

We have tons of it here. I love it for firewood and and straight logs go on the sawmill. It sometimes has a weird rot in it by knots. I definitely use the top of the bar for zingin' off the thorns and try to drop them away from trails in the woods. I keep extra innertubes for the front tires of the tractor cuz I've deflated several with those thorns over the years. So far, no large rear tire punctures, knock on wood...

When cut fresh, I've had to CSS and leave 'em cure for 3 years to get the moisture down to where it burns good in an EPA stove. I've also had to re-stack some of the fresh cut because after the first year in the stacks the borer bugs hit 'em so hard they get a ton of powder between the splits... Enough to severely limit the air flow for drying.

Due to the borers, I normally girdle them and let them stand 2-4 years to allow the borers to do their thing, they go away after the sapwood loses some moisture. Girdling them also removes their canopy from the equation when culling commercial lots. Then I CSS them and they are ready after another 1-2 years of drying. They are slow to give up the moisture, but well worth the wait for heating the house. If you need high BTU wood it does pretty well. I love it when I toss 4 large overnighters into the stove and they burst into flame quickly. I can shut down the primary air and sleep well...

I'm sure there are great alternatives that are easier to process, but lots of that I try to keep for saw logs or commercial timber. Honey Locust is very plentiful here so it is cull wood in the commercial areas of our woods. I can't bear to turn a straight grain 12' long 24" oak or walnut log into firewood...

 

Do you have a moisture tester?

My stuff usually sits for 3 or 4 years, but I was rearranging my split wood spot in the yard and figured I'd just burn it and save me having to move and restack everything.