Honey Locust Firewood

Warning: do not confuse Honey Locust with Black Locust and assume they're the same firewood. They're related, but Honey Locust is its own beast, and a seriously good one. At 23.7 million BTU per cord, it quietly hangs with the upper tier of hardwoods without getting the recognition it deserves.

Heat-wise, Honey Locust matches Post Oak and Bitternut Hickory at 23.7M BTU/cord. A dry cord tips the scales at 3,825 lbs. The coal quality is excellent, which is what really matters for overnight burns. You load it up, shut the damper down, and the firebox stays warm for hours. If you're heating with wood as a primary source, coals are everything.

Here's one of the best parts: Honey Locust is easy to split. Unlike its cousin Black Locust firewood, which is notoriously tough and twisted, Honey Locust generally behaves itself on the chopping block. A 6 lb maul and straight swings will pop most rounds. Low smoke and few sparks make it a tidy burner indoors too.

Plan on 18 to 24 months of seasoning time. The green weight runs about 4,640 lbs per cord, so there's a lot of moisture to drive off. Split it early, stack it right, and let two summers do the work. Worth every day of the wait.

Honey Locust is common across the midwest, northeast, and south. It's a yard tree in a lot of suburban neighborhoods, so tree services often have it available cheap or free. If a neighbor's getting one taken down, make friends fast. Use our cord calculator to figure out how much volume you're actually getting from that pile of rounds in the driveway.