Black Locust

dad2nine · July 27, 2007, 09:39:43 PM

Found a nice clean 34" diameter Black Locust to quarter saw, pretty stuff but it's about like sawing a brick ;D About every 50 BF requires a spin on the band sharpener

Thanks

Dodgy Loner · July 27, 2007, 10:09:24 PM

I want some!!!

...but I'll let you do the sawing ;D

blaze83 · July 27, 2007, 11:07:29 PM

nice looking wood, I guess it's not just for posts anymore :D :D

Don_Papenburg · July 27, 2007, 11:20:08 PM

Use of a circle mill eliminates the frequent sharpnin sessions.

mike_van · July 28, 2007, 06:09:23 AM

dad2 - Do you cut dry ? I've found locust really lacks the moisture a lot of woods have, running a lube system could help a lot.

woodbeard · July 28, 2007, 08:01:40 AM

Wow! I am truly jealous.
Any black locust over 12" around here is half rotten, and the other half shaky.
The little I have seen is gorgeous wood.

Larry · July 28, 2007, 12:39:19 PM

I like sawing black locust...it has a pleasant aroma that reminds me of fresh cinnamon cookies.

You might check the tooth angle on your blade. I can normally saw 250-300 bf with an 8 degree tooth. If I have more than 300 bf to saw I'll sharpen to a 4 degree tooth and get a little longer run time.

woodworker9 · July 30, 2007, 06:25:27 PM

Hi, I'm totally new here, and this is my first post. I'm a custom woodworker getting very close to pulling the trigger on a new sawmill.

Regarding black locust, some very fine furniture and cabinetry have been made from the stuff. There exists an extremely expensive conference table in the White House made from Black Locust. It is extremely hard, and you need to sharpen tools frequently, but it's not too bad to work with, and the wood looks absolutely beautiful with an oil finish.

I'll continue to lurk, and love this site. I'm learning a ton about milling here.

Jeff

Dave Shepard · July 30, 2007, 06:37:44 PM

Welcome woodworker9! No need to lurk, we don't bite. ;D
What kind of mill are you thinking about? Swinger, band, circle? Enquiring mind want to know (as they say ;))

Dave

Greg · July 31, 2007, 11:33:33 AM

Quote from: woodbeard on July 28, 2007, 08:01:40 AM
Wow! I am truly jealous.
Any black locust over 12" around here is half rotten, and the other half shaky.
The little I have seen is gorgeous wood.

Woodbeard,

Me too. Whatever it takes to grow good black locust lumber trees - we ain't got it 'round here :-\

Even the smaller ones rot standing, lucky to get decent firewood out of many.

Wonder if any genetics/improved lines in black locust have been done. Sure would be nice to be able to grow/mill some fat healthy ones.

Greg
in SW Ohio

Dave Shepard · July 31, 2007, 03:41:26 PM

Strange that the trees rot standing when the the last 50 years as fence posts. ???

Dave

woodworker9 · July 31, 2007, 07:45:53 PM

Thanks for the welcome. I'm going to purchase a Lucas Swing Mill, and I intend on getting the slabbing attachment. Alot of the furniture I build is done so using large slabs. I've been relying on another local individual with a mill that I have taken my logs to, but he has become unreliable. I have some pretty good sources for hardwood logs, and it will be a nice compliment to my woodworking business.

I have a Bobcat 863, a 16' dump truck, and a dual axle trailer, so I can pick up logs. With the economy the way it has been, I've been a little slow, business wise, for the first time in 20 years, so I am just waiting for things to pick up before I commit the money. I'm hoping to find a nice used mill, and also someone close by who operates a swing mill that I can go see in action sometime.

I'm sure I'll have quite a few questions once I get everything in place. I'm glad I found this site.

Cheers,

Jeff

woodbeard · August 01, 2007, 06:19:46 AM

QuoteStrange that the trees rot standing when the the last 50 years as fence posts.

Yeah, it must have something to do with the moisture content. Other rot resistant species do the same, like redcedar and sassafrass. Not osage orange, though. Nothing seems to affect that stuff.

Brad_bb · August 01, 2007, 04:33:36 PM

I have tree in the yard at the farm that the top branches were snapped over in a strong microburst last week. It has small oval leaves and used to give nice filtered shade. It produces pods for the seeds. Is this a locust tree based on what I'm describing? Where it's snapped over you can see the very white sap wood and the dark orange heartwood. It's at least 20 inches in diameter. Not sure if I should trim it and try to get it to come back, or wait til winter and cut it down. The trunk is still solid and intact. I plan on getting up there this weekend and trimming the broken stuff and sealing it with tree seal. Don't mean to hijack the post, but it looks like it was answered.

Riles · August 01, 2007, 05:09:07 PM

Any thorns?

Dave Shepard · August 01, 2007, 08:59:06 PM

Welcome Brad_bb! Sounds a little like honeylocust.

Dave

Brad_bb · August 02, 2007, 11:44:52 AM

No I don't see any thorns. I'm wondering if this is a hardwood? I'll try to discern this over the weekend as I finish cutting and trimming an hauling the broken branches to the burn pile.
Yes this was my first post to the forestry forums. I came over from the timber framers guild forums. I'm a relatively new timberframer. I attended the intro course at the Foxmaple timberframing school a few months ago. My interest is to build my own house and garage and workshop. I'm going to design and start cutting my workshop first, then my car garage, then house last (typical guy thing I know, but hey, I'm single

and the workshop and garage are needed as staging and storage for building the house.

dad2nine · August 02, 2007, 10:58:32 PM

Hey guys thanks for the replies. This black locust log had been laying around in the log yard almost 3 years. It was dry as a bone but oddly very little end grain splitting. The bug had just about clean off the sapwood but didn't touch the heart wood. I was hunting a pecking in the log yard when I stumbled across it. Not knowing what it was I asked the guy who owns the log yard what it was he said fence posts. :

Still not knowing what it was, I set it aside till one of those forestry guys came in and I asked him what it was, he ID'ed it for me as Black Locust.

I was going to sell the lumber after Scott dries it for me but I have decided to keep it for myself and make a desk out of it. It smells a lot like pumpkin pie when I was cutting it.

It's true that Black Locust glows in the dark under a black light at least this one does...

KGNC · August 03, 2007, 08:27:03 AM

I had a friend that thought black locust would be ideal for a deck floor. He had someone make him some tongue and groove flooring from green wood. It worked out ok for the deck but I don't know that it was worth the effort. He stacked the extra up in the barn. A couple of months later it looked like a pile of snakes.