Black Locust

[dgdrls]

Can anyone weight in on stumpage prices for black Locust in Central NY region?
I didn't see it on The DEC stumpage report

Thanks
DGDrls

[woodtroll]

I am not in NY but Black Locust is a low value species. May get used for blocking or pallets. I have sold some as pulp, firewood and fence posts.
It was lumped in low value species prices.

[SUNYESF]

A local mill outside of Syracuse, NY buys it as "scrag". $1.5 per linear foot.

[dgdrls]

SUNYESF,

I assume $1.50 L.F. whole log?   
So a 10' log would be $15.00

Thanks
DGDrls

[Al_Smith]

Every specific type tree has a special usage if you can just find it .As stated earlier  black locust makes a dandy fence post or just about anything that sits out in the weather .Live stock gates for example .

In colonial days they used it for door jams or window frames providing they had a window to stick in it .

There's not much demand these days for it other than firewood which it rates right up there with hickory .You could make pallets or cribbing ,that type stuff .

They also used either green locust or hickory for pins on post and beam barns etc .It would probabley make great decking for a machinery trailer too come to think of it .

[tyb525]

Some woodworkers love it, and it is very rot resistant.

[doctorb]

I find it grows and seeds itself very well during droughts.  My lawn can be brown in August with many, many little seedlings of black locust sprouting up.  I let the black locust trees on the fringes and edges within my property grow and then use therm for firewood.  Splits OK, low moisture content in the green wood.  Seems to be a little brittle though, as limbs come down often in the wind.  I have never heard of a use for black locust other than fencing and firewood, and that's good enough for me.

[Phorester]

In my neck of the woods black locust has no commercial value except for fence posts and a small market for firewood, although it's one of the best firewoods you can use.

Decades ago it was planted often in lawns to fertilize the grass, as it is a legume and fixes nitrogen in the soil.  Used a lot for mined land reclamation planting in VA for the same reason, plus being a pioneer plant species so it's good for recently disturbed areas.

Because of that it will seed in prolifically in abandoned fields in the bare dirt spots and especially clearcuts.  It's usually the first tree that seeds into recent prescribed burns, sprouting within 3 - 4 days after a burn in the hot spots where the ground was pretty much scorched by the burn.  One of the trees we have to do a herbicide release spray for, to knock it back so the planted pine seedlings can grow above it.

[Magicman]

Back in the telephone company open wire days, the cross arms were treated Pine, but the pins that held the glass insulators were of lathe turned Black Locust.

[ibseeker]

Same in the power industry, I put a lot of locust pins up before I learned where they came from.

[Ron Wenrich]

I find it grows and seeds itself very well during droughts.  My lawn can be brown in August with many, many little seedlings of black locust sprouting up.  I let the black locust trees on the fringes and edges within my property grow and then use therm for firewood.  Splits OK, low moisture content in the green wood.  Seems to be a little brittle though, as limbs come down often in the wind.  I have never heard of a use for black locust other than fencing and firewood, and that's good enough for me.

I think you'll find that the seedlings come from root sprouts more so than from seed. 

[Phorester]

MAGICMAN;  My father had a construction company that put in underground telephone lines. Occasionally they would also contract to take down the old overhead lines that they were replacing with underground, and bring the crossarms and poles to my Dad's company lot.

One summer in my early teen's I had the job of removing all those insulator pins and insulators so the crossarms could be used for fence posts.  The stacks were way over my head. I did that for several weeks.  That was my first realization that there was different types of wood. Dad knew what the pins were made from.  I was pretty impressed with his knowledge.  Those locust pins were much harder and smoother than the creosote treated wood of the crossarms. This being my first experience up close and personal with wood products, I marveled at how they could get the screw threads into each pin.

I also remember piling those insulators into big piles.  I probably threw hundreds of those things at the pile, my goal being to break as many as I could.  All colors. Don't remember what Dad did with all those insulators. Now they sell for several dollars apiece, with price based on color.  If only we know what would be valuable decades down the road...............

[doctorb]

Ron-

That's interesting.  Thanks.  I'll have to investigate that more.  Certainly, there are mature black locust trees in the areas where I see the seedlings, and I never considered that all these younguns were root sprouts before.

[Magicman]

Root sprout trees have no tap root and that is why they are so unstable.  Black Locust will completely consume clearcut areas and render them completely worthless.

[Ron Wenrich]

Depends on what you call worthless.  Black locust is a legume, and it is great for fixating nitrogen in the soil.  Its a pioneer species, and quickly dies off when there is competition.  I have yet to see an overaged black locust stand.  Rarely would you see one in mature woodlots. 

Usually, you would see large trees around homesteads.  I've been told by old timers that they were used to keep lightning away from the buildings.  Locust worked better than other trees.

When I was in school, they took us to a strip mine where they planted black locust for reclamation.  It worked better than most and got the site ready for the next generation of trees by improving what little soil there was. 

[gspren]

  Most of the Locust on my farm is in the steep part of the pasture where it never gets mowed and I don't think there is any in the wooded areas that were not pastured. Why is it that splinters in your hands from locust trees fester quicker than oak or cherry splinters? Those are my 3 most plentyfull firewoods.

[Magicman]

Depends on what you call worthless. 

I was referring to an area that is clearcut and will be planted with SYP seedlings.  If it is not treated with a herbicide to knock the Black Locust down, the Black Locust will overstory the Pine seedling and smother them out.

That exact situation happened on the 200 acre RMS property East of my Tree Farm.  It was replanted without spraying, and I doubt that there are a dozen Pines per acre.  A person could not walk through that worthless mess.  I talked with the RMS manager and he told me that their only option now is to bulldoze the entire area and start over.  Due to the cost involved, they have no idea what to do. 

[doctorb]

Magic-

Are you calling my front lawn worthless?  Tell that to the tax man!

[Magicman]

The tax man doesn't consider the acres of Black Locust that I have "worthless" either.   

[sandhills]

I never knew they were a legume and put nitrogen back in the soil, around here there are quite a few tree lines that were planted, and I'm going out on a limb here (yes pun intended) after the thirties that have a single row of them in the middle.  Don't know if that was the reasoning or not, but it would explain it I guess.