My black locust splits hard and takes 2 yrs to dry well,I avoid it, way too much tar...I split by hand until I was 55 then gave in to a hyd. splitter and said unto myself" you've been a bit of a fool for many yrs"...I use 15 face cords a yr..
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Wood splitting
- Thread starter RAllison
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mfrade
Well-known member
Yeah, our New England locust is certainly the one wood you don't want to split manually!
I dunno, I'm assuming it's black locust by the bark, thorns on small branches and the wood is greenish yellow. I don't cut them live, but get ones that are either down or need to come down. I don't even really need a maul, just a decent axe, a nice, swift swing and it splits all the way through. Very seldom that I need a second swing to finish it off...
Though I could be wrong on the species. It has all the identifying features but I'm no arborist, just been told since I was a runt and that's what I always thought it to be...
Though I could be wrong on the species. It has all the identifying features but I'm no arborist, just been told since I was a runt and that's what I always thought it to be...
mfrade
Well-known member
And you could be entirely right! I just know that Locust up here is/was a miserable wood to be splitting by hand and sometimes it's no fun with some hydraulic units. An old sawyer/wheelwright who lived next door was helping me choose a piece of timber to use under our barn. He pointed me to this log... I said what do you want me to do with that!?!? He said cut it to fit, I asked what do I put under it? He said "nothing", I questioned his choices and he said "stick it in there and then remove it in 100 years, to cut an inch off the bottom then re-install it!"I dunno, I'm assuming it's black locust by the bark, thorns on small branches and the wood is greenish yellow. I don't cut them live, but get ones that are either down or need to come down. I don't even really need a maul, just a decent axe, a nice, swift swing and it splits all the way through. Very seldom that I need a second swing to finish it off...
Though I could be wrong on the species. It has all the identifying features but I'm no arborist, just been told since I was a runt and that's what I always thought it to be...
I haven't seen a good length of that wood in years around me.
Les is gonna have his fill of splitting by the time he works his way through this pile, the results of the walnut tree that came down last week.
Son Russ is eyeballing the big crotch piece as a source for a top on a coffee table if we can find someone to slab it about 3-4" thick or so.
Son Russ is eyeballing the big crotch piece as a source for a top on a coffee table if we can find someone to slab it about 3-4" thick or so.
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David - That would make one fine table...
Neighbor has a mill and thinks he can do the saw job providing we can figure a way to secure it to the table.
There are enough pieces of that crotch there to make 3 or 4 and maybe more depending on size.
Thinking I could drill the holes for the legs on my mill when/if the time comes.
I have no clue as to how to build a table like that but my youngest is getting pretty handy at being a finish carpenter here as of late.
Check out the sun room he paneled with hickory sawn from trees on his 7 acres that went down in the derecho 2 years ago
There are enough pieces of that crotch there to make 3 or 4 and maybe more depending on size.
Thinking I could drill the holes for the legs on my mill when/if the time comes.
I have no clue as to how to build a table like that but my youngest is getting pretty handy at being a finish carpenter here as of late.
Check out the sun room he paneled with hickory sawn from trees on his 7 acres that went down in the derecho 2 years ago
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- Chris “CӞ” Claussen
walnut is both beautiful and BTUtiful, such a useful material.
Fahrwood & for wood, squirrel bait & lathe great.
Ver her, ver him, verneer; I wish I had some here!
good luck with that table!
Around here (so.mi) black locust was very commonly used for fence posts prior to treated lumber.It's tar content is very high and resists rotting for many yrs as well as being a strong grain wood.Much better than cherry or maple...
I was putsin' about on the internets of things one evening relative to my Land Rover's PTO and found an interesting attachment of an auger-styled log/wood splitter.
Has anyone seen or built one for their Cub? Looks like just the ticket for my citrus, pecan, mesquite and mulberry though watching videos, I'd not care to go at heavily burled wood.
Has anyone seen or built one for their Cub? Looks like just the ticket for my citrus, pecan, mesquite and mulberry though watching videos, I'd not care to go at heavily burled wood.
I wonder if that isn't kinda hard on the rams not having them of the classic *backhoe* configuration where they are in fact retraced when the bucket is in the fully downward position.
I'm not beating down on the wood, just inserting the edge of the bucket in the slot and a slight angling and the log pops.
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good idea!
sounds like a lot of bend over time,close to the ground...ouch
Nope
Been doing a lot of that here lately!
And, at 78, thanks to all that exercise, feeling pretty darn good this morning, If I may say so.
Cleaning up 3 HUGE, mostly dead ash trees that literally exploded when they hit the ground!!
And, at 78, thanks to all that exercise, feeling pretty darn good this morning, If I may say so.
Cleaning up 3 HUGE, mostly dead ash trees that literally exploded when they hit the ground!!
David,when the "borer" came thru and wiped everybodys ash trees it left a huge amount of excellent firewood .That's all I burned for about 5 yrs. However if they were too far gone like you said they exploded when they hit the ground .The dangerous part was hoping upper limbs didn't let go while you were cutting and crack your head a bit. Ash lumber can be gorgeous...
We had the same issues with the Dutch Elm disease back in the60's-70's.
They would get so rotten so fast and folks would wait until the last minute to get them taken down and they were really dangerous at that point.
Our streets in this little burg were mostly lined with them arching up and over the streets.
Really beautiful in their heyday and many were completely shaded most of the day.
I have a few pic's from those days I could scan and [post if anyone would be interested.
I was in Camp McCoy WI that summer and spent lots of weekends at home doing that kind of work w/my Dad and oldest brother.
They would get so rotten so fast and folks would wait until the last minute to get them taken down and they were really dangerous at that point.
Our streets in this little burg were mostly lined with them arching up and over the streets.
Really beautiful in their heyday and many were completely shaded most of the day.
I have a few pic's from those days I could scan and [post if anyone would be interested.
I was in Camp McCoy WI that summer and spent lots of weekends at home doing that kind of work w/my Dad and oldest brother.
mgwin
Well-known member
Charlie,
With that kind of heater, why are you busting the logs?
With that kind of heater, why are you busting the logs?
