Black locust?

[Bill Tindall]

For being such a hard wood, black locust grows tall very quickly. We heated with it for years. If you’ve never cut it before, you’ll think your chain saw is dull.  It cannot be split by hand, and even with a hydraulic splitter, the wedge has to be driven to the last inch. Even then, the two pieces have to be torn apart from each other.  In the stove it burns very hot and leaves almost no ash. I never tried to use the wood for anything else.

Your recalled experience with locust differs from mine.  

Locust is one of the most easily split woods there is.  This trait enables this exceptionally rot resistant wood to be used for fence posts.  There is a robust market here in East TN  for the production and sale of split locust posts and rails.  One can have a seven foot locust log with many knots.  Stick a wedge in its end and with a few blows it will reliably split the length. Quarter it and it will easily yield 4 posts.  I have about a dozen split posts I made recently awaiting cooler weather to fix failed posts in farm fencing.  

As an aside, while straddling a locust log I was driving a wedge into the end when I felt something on my thigh.  My hand came back covered with blood.  A thin disk of steel spalled from the wedge and cut clean through my thigh.  (in spite of keeping my wedge tops ground which should avoid this risk. I now split posts with chain saw chaps on )

As firewood I find it makes the most ash of any wood I burn.  I have seen sparks fly from a saw chain when cutting dry locust.

[jteneyck]

For being such a hard wood, black locust grows tall very quickly. We heated with it for years. If you’ve never cut it before, you’ll think your chain saw is dull.  It cannot be split by hand, and even with a hydraulic splitter, the wedge has to be driven to the last inch. Even then, the two pieces have to be torn apart from each other.  In the stove it burns very hot and leaves almost no ash. I never tried to use the wood for anything else.

My experience is the same as Bill's.  Black locust splits easily which was another reason it was used for fence posts, besides it's almost unparalleled rot resistance.  Despite what many report, I've had no trouble sawing BL on my sawmill; it doesn't wear blades any faster than any other species.  Nor have I had any trouble with it in my shop; I actually like working with it especially when you get to the sanding stage.  Sanding it creates a talcum powder like dust that is very pleasant on the skin.  Probably not good to breathe, but I try to avoid that with all woods.   

I think you might be thinking about trying to split elm.  Elm has interlocked grain making it almost impossible to split.  That's one reason it was used for the hubs of wooden wagon wheels.  

John

[Petertaylor]

Interesting that our experiences with black locust are so different. The tree I’m calling b/l has beautiful clusters of blossoms in June, and the resulting pods have lots of beans in them.

[jteneyck]

Interesting that our experiences with black locust are so different.  The tree I’m calling b/l has beautiful clusters of blossoms in June, and the resulting pods have lots of beans in them.

Good pictures of black locust trees and flowers:  Link

John