Black Locust

[Trax]

Anyone ever mill Black Locust going to use it for a deck any advise ? I tried a search but it wasn't working

[Larry]

I've used it for a deck on a gazebo.  The hardest part was finding good trees...seemed like once over about 12" dbh they start getting heart rot.  Use a band with something less than 9 degree hook angle.

I like to saw it...the smell reminds me of cinnamon cookies.  Yum yum munch munch. ;D

[Chris Burchfield]

I've used them as fence post.  Amazing how fast any category within this forum can go to food.  Any color my wife picks for the interior of our house is food oriented.  French Onion, Vanilla Frost, Lemon Whatever.

[Chuck White]

It should hold up well for decking.

Around here, the Amish refer to Black Locust as "the permanent fence post".

I've sawn quite a bit of it with Wood-Mizers .045  10° blade set at .025.



edit:  10° is probably not the best blade for the job, but it's what I have on hand.

[Dave Shepard]

I've not used it for decking, just heavy posts and planking for fences and corrals. Saw it with a 4 degree .055 band. I hate the taste of black locust, like pickles and pepperoncini peppers. Gives me heart burn and nausea, and that's just from the windborn dust. And no you wisecrackers, I'm not eating it. :D

[tyb525]

I love black and honey locust; two of the best woods IMO. I saw as much as I can get. If you can get them from the woods, they are usually pretty decent, although some are a little rotten in the middle.

And old saying goes, when you put in a locust fence post, put a rock on top. When the rock wears out, it's time to replace the post.

I like the smell of it, it is very unique. Tangy almost. Honey locust is a beautiful wood, a rich bright red/orange that nearly glows when it's planed. Also extremely hard when dry. A locust deck would last decades.

[Magicman]

Our Honey Locust will rot.  Black Locust will hold up very nicely.  I use it for trailer decking and bridge decking.  You gotta drill holes for fasteners.

[HOOF-ER]

How come, if Black locust is so rot resistant, it gets heart rot. Inquiring minds want to know. ???

[Magicman]

It is....it does.  Maybe because large trees are also old.  Most of our 12"+ trees have bad centers.

[oakiemac]

I'm surprised that people posted they liked the smell of black locust. When ever I saw it the smell reminds me of cow urine ???

[SwampDonkey]

Maybe it reminds them of being out in the cow shed. :D

I'll take northern white cedar, it also gets heart rot in sizable trees, but it is also very old. Old cedar snags killed by beaver floods will stand a lifetime in the muck.

[Sawyerfortyish]

I got a 150 6x6 posts I gotta saw today. I hate sawin black locust. Sparks fly from the blade and it takes the edge right off and you have to sharpen more often. The worst part is the dust. Everyone in the mill gets sick to there stomach. There's a green haze that hangs in the air about chest high.

[inwoodcutter]

I HAD a bunch of black locust I had cut to make a nice picnic table. One day I went out to the lumber stacks and noticed it was missing. The farm hands had grabbed it and used it for siding on the feed lots. They cussed every board as they predrilled/broke bits/still bent nails. Now they've learned to ask me which boards they should use.

I like black locust although I don't get to saw alot of it. One of the neat things about it is it GLOWS in black light. I'm supposed to make someone a bar out of it.

Dan

[Ron Wenrich]

I just cut 200 3x5x8' posts today.  Vertical edger really works good for grabbing an extra post in some of the logs.  Took a couple of hours.

[Toolman]

Around here, the locust falls victim to black ants. The majority of locust I've cut had black ant colonies inside. I always suspected that contributed to it's rot. Just my theory. An old timer told me that locust should season for a few months before you plant a post in the ground..they supposedly "may" rot if u don't. Also, always remove the bark before putting a post in the ground. This could lead to premature rot. I put about 15 green posts in the ground years ago and they started sprouting shoots!! They did that for a whole summer till they gave up due to me removing the shoots. I suspect thats why I find locust trees growing in rows on old farm fencelines. You can't beat that wood for strength and longevity. My grandpa cut a big locust tree down on the back side of my property over 20 yrs ago. He left the stump about 3 ft. high and had a concrete bird bath sitting on it. I believe that stump is harder than that concrete birdbath... :D

[tyb525]

Granted, HL is less rot-resistant than BL, but it is still very durable.

[woodmills1]

we have so little locust up here, I miss it got to know it in WVa.  great tree long lasting. Smells weird yes yes.  All I see here of any size is twisty and and centered.  and did I say a great firewood

[Ironwood]

Voids and some "rot" but usually from the locust bark borer and then the ants move in. Very common to have scarring and voids. IT is said prior to the arrival of the borer (like 1800's) that locust would be THE most desirrable wood in our forest, even better than cherry. I helped line up a container for a guy who sold it to some germans, $1 on the stump. Land owner was HAPPY. I just connected the dots and didnt get too involved as that kinda thing aint my area of expertise.

I have two monster black locusts that I need to mill, perhaps 30-34". Voids no doubt, but should be interesting. Also, "accidentally" found some flitches the other day that I thought were long gone, way at the back of my lumber piles, 15-22" wide 8' long.

Ironwood

[tyb525]

IMO, the voids can be okay, or the can be worked around, when you are making unique pieces of furniture. And that's what I cut most of it as, unique pieces of wood, most of them flitches. Of course if you're going for the standard grade lumber, it can sometimes be hard to get much of that from a log.

[Magicman]

I use wide flitches for my bridge decking.  I want cracks anyway, and they can be "arranged" and chainsaw trimmed to fit.  I don't know how long they will last..... ;D