Locust doesn't pop much usually, but it does a bit sometimes, kinda depends on the log. Hedge is like a sparkler, but oh so hot, and locust can pop too if it gets a bunch of air so you kinda gotta be careful loading sometimes, a small price to pay. If I'm doing hedge or locust that wants to pop I usually turn the damper way down for a bit first, load for a bit until it's popping then close it up a bit again, and load in quick cycles stopping if it's popping. It takes a little bit more time but you don't fight the sparks nearly as much that way. Locust is a weed here so there's a surprising amount to get, and it's pretty easy to split by hand even. It dries fast I've noticed, which is a plus for me, and obviously it won't rot so long dead trees laying on the ground are still great wood. Even fairly green stuff won't hiss water, but it'll burn much hotter dry obviously, and be much easier to light, but you can get away with burning greenish stuff if you leave the door cracked until it's roaring and leave it on high until it's coaling up, usually a couple hours or so.
Slow to get going because it's so dense, but it just cranks out the heat. I got afterburner air on my insert, once you burn it off and really get it going you can dial it back a bit, but it needs more air than others so halfway is about as low as i usually like to go on straight locust since my insert is so tight, unless i have a good bed of coals from ash or something that tolerates less air. If you cofire with ash or another low air tolerating wood you can turn it all the way down and it'll run you out of the house it's so hot, the lighter wood and their coals keeping the heat up on the lower settings to keep burning off the locust. Earlier this year i did this on accident, dialed all the way down it was over 85 degrees in the front room, maybe 40 outside
The coals will lightly glow, it'll look burned out but it's just pumping the heat out, the after burn pipes burning off co without a visible flame. Coals up beautifully, great to last all night since it doesn't burn up quickly, you can wake up to a cold stove and knock the bits around and you'll have a pile of glowing coals still, I've had them almost a day later, toss on some kindling and leave the door cracked and you'll have fire in a few. I've burned more locust than any other wood since i put the insert in, so I've been lucky because with my small stove the locust makes it work like a bigger stove. I think it's about the highest btu wood you can get, and it's easy going and forgiving characteristics make it really nice to deal with.
Here's two chunks with a bit of soft maple on a bed of locust and hedge coals, that's with the door closed for about 30 min, an hour or so after this i turned it to halfway. Lately I've been putting the logs on the coals with a bit of kindling for quicker lighting, and then some more kindling on top of it all to get the afterburner air going hot quicker, leaving the door cracked till its all going good, seems to get the locust going better since it can be a bit sluggish to light. I've also been doing 2 straight in and one skinner one on top turned 90 degrees like a lintel, the coals all piled in the middle, locust really seems to tolerate bigger air gaps well so i can do a smaller fire if I'm not needing as much heat from it, but still have enough pieces to use the shape of the logs to make it burn better by bouncing the heat to each other. No other wood I've tried even comes close to the burn time that locust gives me, which for a small insert is kinda my biggest problem.
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