(I know its an old thread, but the following info could be useful to someone doing a search)

I just started a whole bunch of black locust seeds. I collected them last fall, and stuck them in my freezer. In April I used a sharp razor to cut open the pods. I only kept the biggest, healthiest looking seeds from the biggest pods. I nicked/shaved a small piece of the OUTER seed casing (do not cut the green inner seed), then submerged them in warm water overnight (12 hours). They should swell up a bit, I think you could keep them submerged for longer, probably 24 hours, if they haven't swelled, you should wait longer (maybe remove the ones that swelled and leave the others).

Then I wrapped them in a wet paper towel, kept wet by placing one end in a small jar of water to wick up to the rest of the paper towel (seeds NOT under water). Most of the seeds germinated after just 2 days. I planted the ones that germinated and they are growing well right now.

Note that this technique works well for most seeds with a hard outer shell including many tree seeds. Often when directions say to be patient, germination can take 3-4 weeks, you can use this method to get germination in 3 days (I've done it with strawberries for example and slow to germinate tree seeds).