locust – been told it will ruin tools
old_idahoan
| Posted in Wood and Materials on
i have a almost free supply of locust lumber. it seems to me that it would make fine furniture. been told tho that it will eat up my saws and tools. any-body with experience working it?
Replies
Idman...
You weren't mis-informed IMO. Make sure your tools are very sharp before you tackle it and plan on re-sharpening after you do if you get into significant amounts. It's not as bad as lignum-vitae (used to make bearings on ships propellors), but you will still find it be a challenge.
If it's free.. whatever you do, don't turn it down. ha.. ha...
Regards...
Sarge.. jt
Edited 1/25/2007 11:25 am ET by SARGEgrinder47
Sarge is right about the hardness. You have to be prepared to do some sharpening. Onth other hand, I have done a lot of work with Osage Orangem which is even harder. It has not wrecked my tools or chain saw. They just need to be sharpened regularly.
By the way, black locust is extremely decay resistant in weather, and so makes excellent outdoor structures and furniture. The Brooklyn Botanical Garden has various things including a very nice old arbour made of locust; has been standing for decades.
Here on my property I could use all the black locust I could get, but it is uncommon around here.
Honey locust is another matter.
Hi again,
I think I said all of this in reply to your question about building a workbench, but here goes again. It is very hard, but no more so than a good piece of white oak. It varies alot from piece to piece. Fast grown stuff is noticeably heavier and harder than wood with tightly spaced growth rings, much like other ring-porous woods like oak, hickory, and ash.I have worked with it every day this winter in rebuilding a small schooner, and find it good to work with. It will dull your tools faster than white pine, but I don't find it any worse than any of your harder hardwoods. It has alot going for it. It's extremely strong, about as stable as cherry, steam bends like magic, and better pieces are quite pretty. It holds paint and varnish very well and takes a nice finish. The only thing that's not so good is that large clear pieces are hard to find, because the trees don't prune themselves very well as they mature, so you get alot of ingrown dead branches and bark. In bigger, older trees you get alot of wind shakes, which leaves the wood good only for firewood, but it makes really good firewood. In fact it's in my stove right now. Go get some, and discover a vastly underappreciated resource.
I don't know about the firewood part. I can't keep the stuff going. It does burn hot and forever. I have a black locust tree on my property and seems that I have been told needs to come down (going hollow on the inside). Stuff will not split very well etiher. Glad it can at least be used for something.Dan Carroll
For firewood black locust may need several years seasoning to be well dried (after splitting) and it does take some softer wood to get going... once at this point though black locust logs (especially the heartwood) burn like solid coal... RED HOT and for hours.... melt your stove if you aren't careful.
Black locust is a lovely wood. It is hard. It tends to splinter. It is much superior to pressure treated wood for outside use. With a clear finish it has a honey color.
I brought 1000 ft sq to the Mennonite lumber yard in Montezuma Va to mill into T@G flooring. They were too nice to tell me to never come back. However, I suspect they were glad to see me leave. They told me they had to sharpen every tool in the shop that touched it.
Frank
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