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I don't know how close they are but I have one stock out of Bois D Arc. It sure is pretty to my eyes. HARD. Dense. I think they have to be kissing cousins and since I"ve seen mesquite stocks not come apart on 2506 Mauser of a friend I'd bet locust is hard enough for a stock. I bet Art will comment.

We had a super mild winter here, so not much to replenish. I only burned 2 cords total. I already had the in rounds from last fall. I’ll get to splitting it soon and stacked.

Beech is by far my favorite species we have here. No locust, but I wish we did. Do have lots oaks but beech still comes out on top, super clean too when bringing in the house.

Never seen an Al wedge. Don’t seem durable enough. How’s it hold up?

Ted
Black Locust would be a mistake for stockmaking... it is about a third heavier than walnut and very hard. It is more stable than a lot of woods and would not be a problem there, but the ring-porous structure is always a mess to deal with on stocks. And it is very obviously ring porous. It is hard and very difficult to shape because of it. It also has some issues with the difference between shrinkage rates on tangential versus radial faces. So all movement would have the potential to create problems.

If you are looking for something different that looks like it try screwbean mesquite or even osage..

I was thinking the same thing. If I need a wedge to split a short piece, it is usually pretty gnarly and takes many heavy blows. My steel wedges show the abuse. It would seem like aluminum would just mush out.

Hardly ever use them anymore since I built a hydraulic splitter.


Jerry

Boys, that is a good question. How durable is an aluminum wedge.




Ochsenkopf,"Ox Head" of course this thing is German. I love German stuff. The design is brilliant, shaped like a regular wedge, but it does a 45 degree twist.
As you hammer it in, it twists and the wide part of the wedge goes sideways. Really good at splitting tough wood.
However, as you can see, the head of the thing is starting to get beaten up. I have used it on about 100 pieces of wood.
Now, the Wood Grenade to the left is steel. It has had the same amount of use and the head is beaten up a little, but not as badly as the Ochsenkopf.

The Wood Grenade works really well it is easier to start than a wedge, in fact, you can start it just by dropping it 3 feet onto the wood, like throwing a dart.
The Ochsenkopf works a little better than the Wood Grenade. The Ochsenkopf costs $65 and the Wood Grenade costs $20, in fact, you can buy the Wood Grenade at Lowes.

I am not sure why the Krauts made the Ochsenkopf out of aluminum.



Here is my wood stove cranked up right now on the locust I cut yesterday. 49 degrees and raining all day it is wood stove weather.
This locust is 19 percent moisture, you are supposed to be down to 17 percent, but this locust is burning pretty well.

Over the past three or four weekends I got a hickory and two maples cut split and stacked to dry. Have a nice white oak and a red oak from earlier in the year. And, another white oak that needs cut down, standing dead. Oh and an ash tree about 24" that we got cut split and stacked. Few more and I'll be good for 2 or 3 years. I really enjoy getting firewood in.