Kentucky Coffee tree

[thurlow]

Sawed my first ever KCT last week;  very scarce around "here";  have only seen maybe 3 in my entire life.  Wind storm blew this one down on a fence row about 4 years ago.  Had to move it off the fence, so hauled it home, intending to cut it for firewood.   When I sawed the first block off last week, it was still solid, so I carried it to the mill.  The larger logs are red oak.   

First slab; the cant squared at 13 inches.

One of the red oak........17 inch cant,  which is all my little mill will saw.

Making sawdust..........serious sawdust!

Picture of hinged ramp/skids allowing access to carriage

[Mr Mom]

     thurlow.....Is there a reason that they call it a coffee tree??
     Never heard of that kind before.
     Very pertty grain.


     Thanks Alot Mr Mom

[Larry]

I've sawed some.  It is prone to shake round here.  Grain and color is lot flashier than red oak.

Had some I couldn't sell one time...took it to a consignment auction.  The auctioneer and crowd mistook it for red oak.  Brought more money than I thought possible.

[crtreedude]

Pretty interesting looking stuff.

One of the things that always interest me is that there is some wonderful woods that almost no one uses - nothing wrong with them, but names get recognized and then everyone wants the "hot" wood of the month.

[beenthere]

MrMom
Seeds have been used as 'coffee' beans, or substitute.

See kentucky coffee tree

[SwampDonkey]

I've heard of them, but never laid hands on one. Of course we don't have them in New Brunswick, but they are in southern Ontario, but probably rare. They're closely related to locusts I guess.

[crtreedude]

We have lots of coffee trees (really shrubs) here, but I don't think they are the same...  :

I found this about the Kentucky Coffee tree.

http://www.treehelp.com/trees/coffee-tree/gymnocladus-dioicus.asp

It is also considered at risk in Canada - must be Stumpy's fault!

[thurlow]

This may have been the "hardest" log I've ever sawn;  of course, I don't saw a lot that have been down for 4 years.  Kept thinking it reminded me of honey locust.......color, texture, density, etc.  After a couple of hours in the sun, the red oak begins to bleach out;  the KCT retains more color.  When I got in that night, I looked it up and found out it's 1st cousin :D to honey locust........

[sawyerkirk]

I have only seen one tree of it in my 34 years. I sawed it up about 10 yrs ago to build the back deck on my house, untreated, still as solid today as then

[pigman]

I have sawed a total of two Ky coffee trees. Sawed a nice one last fall for a customer. We slabbed some of it for table tops, small tables since it was only about 18inches in diameter. I tried to buy some of it, but he thought it was valuable since I wanted it. :