Black Locust

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

Finally got to cut something North American this weekend so I spose you'all be familiar with this timber? 3 small black locust logs, that has been laying around the yard for the last year. It has to be the softest thing by far that I have milled.

Intriguing grain

Here's the whole shebang plus a Aussie swamp Sheoak log that I dug out of the woodchip pile.

Close up of the swamp sheoak.

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

Here's my drying shed.

Stacked and stickered ready for drying.

The bigger slabs under the locust is from an increasingly rare Western Australian tree called "Tuart" - it's very hard, dense and very fibrous. It is and incredibly strong timber. When it is stressed Tuart absorbs silica into itself. This tree has quite a bit of borer and so was very stressed and so was extra hard. After cutting two slabs and I had to change my chain.

tomtrees58 · Jun 14, 2008

nice man the fine saw dust kills your eyes tom trees

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

tomtrees58 said:
nice man the fine saw dust kills your eyes tom trees

Do you mean the dust from the tuart? yes it does make a lot of fine yellow dust, and it does affect your eyes. Not too bad though, got the wind taking most of it away from me.

The black locust made lotsa very nice coarse chip?

woodshop · Jun 14, 2008

BobL said:
Finally got to cut something North American this weekend so I spose you'all be familiar with this timber? 3 small black locust logs, that has been laying around the yard for the last year. It has to be the softest thing by far that I have milled.

Nice... I love Black locust, and don't turn down anything over 12" here of the stuff when I run into a strait log (it often grows twisted and slightly curved, often because of where it tends to grow). Not much you can do with it from a furniture standpoint though in this part of country. Nobody wants a traditional Shaker side table made of locust. It is interesting wood though, and I love working with it. VERY durable in the ground, almost up there with osage orange. However... maybe you have a different variation of the tree if you say it's soft. Locust here is pretty tough stuff to mill, almost like hickory or pecan. It is not soft at all, quite the opposite. The tree we call black locust here is Robinia pseudoacacia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_locust

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

woodshop said:
The tree we call black locust here is Robinia pseudoacacia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_locust

That's exactly what these were according to Arboristes (Jeff) and son (Ross) who picked up these logs.

In terms of being soft, some of this was my reaction to coming from a much bigger, "nard as nails" Tuart, while the Robinia logs were only 12 -15" diameter, and about 4-5 ft long, so the Robinia seemed like the softest thing I have ever milled.

woodshop · Jun 14, 2008

BobL said:
That's exactly what these were according to Arboristes (Jeff) and son (Ross) who picked up these logs.

In terms of being soft, some of this was my reaction to coming from a much bigger, "nard as nails" Tuart...

That's right Bob... I forgot you folks down there have wood that acts more like it's aluminum to your chainsaws and mills.

opcorn:

Curious, is there a lot of black locust down there? In some parts of the country here black locust is considered a weed tree because it's quite invasive. Unlike cherry, walnut and other furniture woods, it does not need great soil or perfect conditions to grow. Similar to ailanthus which will literally grow in almost any conditions and tolerate drought and pollution, robinia will sprout and grow in all kinds of junk also. Like ailanthus, we find them sprouting from the cracks of sidewalks or in humus poor junky soil. It's definitely a survivor.

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

woodshop said:
Curious, is there a lot of black locust down there? In some parts of the country here black locust is considered a weed tree because it's quite invasive. Unlike cherry, walnut and other furniture woods, it does not need great soil or perfect conditions to grow. Similar to ailanthus which will literally grow in almost any conditions and tolerate drought and pollution, robinia will sprout and grow in all kinds of junk also. Like ailanthus, we find them sprouting from the cracks of sidewalks or in humus poor junky soil. It's definitely a survivor.

Robinia became fashionable and widespread garden plant about 30 years ago and that fashion lasted for a decade or so. One of the reasons it was introduced was exactly what you mention above in that it will grow in almost anything and Australia has vast regions of very poor soils. The fact that under stress (which happens fairly often down under) it sends out suckers did not suit many gardeners meant that many were pulled out but it is of course now well and truly established..

Dai Sensei · Jun 14, 2008

Great looking timber there Bob.

That Robinia looks similar in colour/grain to Blackwood, except that lovely root ball grain action it has going. What's the plan for the timber? That root ball end would be great for turning.

BobL · Jun 14, 2008

Dai Sensei said:
Great looking timber there Bob.

That Robinia looks similar in colour/grain to Blackwood, except that lovely root ball grain action it has going. What's the plan for the timber? That root ball end would be great for turning.

I presume you mean Tasmanian Blackwood? The texture looks very similar to blackwood but the colour is a bit yellower. One thing for sure - its a lot softer than Blackwood.

No specific plan, although when one of the guys that visits the milling yard turned up yesterday he took away a pice to mount a large stuffed crab on!

Re: Turning, yep, I agree. There is one more small log that I'm going to cut the root ball off before I mill it.

aquan8tor · Jun 16, 2008

BobL said:
That's exactly what these were according to Arboristes (Jeff) and son (Ross) who picked up these logs.

In terms of being soft, some of this was my reaction to coming from a much bigger, "nard as nails" Tuart, while the Robinia logs were only 12 -15" diameter, and about 4-5 ft long, so the Robinia seemed like the softest thing I have ever milled.

It may be soft compared to some of the silica-bearing woods that you have down under, but its not soft by any means, at least IMHO. Hickory is a lot harder, IME. I find it to cut really nicely if it is green, and the chain is sharp. Dry, on the other hand, it is not fun to work with. You can't drive a nail into it without predrilling. That said, it does split relatively easily for firewood when its dry. I think I found this janka hardness scale chart from you, but it may have been another aussie on the site.....

http://www.sizes.com/units/janka.htm

Edit: wrong chart. here's the one I was thinking of:

http://www.timber.org.au/resources/Revised P1.pdf

BobL · Jun 16, 2008

Stuff I have milled and its seasoned side hardness;

Robinia/Black Locust Hardness 7.6 kN
Jarrah 8.5
Karri 9.0
Box Brush 9.1
River Red Gum 9.7
Tuart 11.0
Wandoo 15

Hickory/Pecan is 8.1

Actually I just realized I have milled something softer than Robinia, I have milled some sweetgum, that was definitely softer but it was also 3 times bigger in diameter so it didn't feel that soft.

Hardness is only one aspect of cutting. For example, Tuart has very tough fibrous wood that is tough to cut, and it contains silica particles and a resin that quickly gums up the chain. Tuart's janka hardness even when green is 9.5 versus Wandoo which is 9.9, but I think tuart kills a chain a bit quicker than Wandoo.

woodshop · Jun 16, 2008

BobL said:
Robinia/Black Locust Hardness 7.6 kN
Jarrah 8.5
Karri 9.0
Box Brush 9.1
River Red Gum 9.7
Tuart 11.0
Wandoo 15
Hickory/Pecan is 8.1

Well now you have me curious... what does wandoo look like? What does one do with something that hard? Does it come in large boards? I suppose it's pretty heavy if it's that dense, no? I tell ya what... some day I gotta get myself down there to Australia if only to check out some of the unique wood species you have there. I actually have an old girlfriend that became a commercial pilot and moved down there about 10 years ago... think the wife would go for me going down there for a social "visit"? You know... to check out aussie wood.

BobL · Jun 16, 2008

Wandoo (White Gum) is a fairly bland looking timber that is highly termite resistant and so it was milled extensively for anything that had to go in the ground like fenceposts. It was also used for Commercial Tannin Extraction.

Here is a link to more detail

I don't have any pics handy of the boards I milled but the handles of the knives on the RHS is pretty close what it looks like freshly milled.This piece comes from a bit of 2 x 4 off the doorway in my shed when I had to make the doorway bigger to get my table saw inside.

The older it gets the darker it goes. A couple of years ago I picked up several 70 year old fence posts which were pretty cracked, but I managed to extract some reasonable bits and pieces out of it for hand tools and knife handles etc.

woodshop · Jun 16, 2008

BobL said:
Wandoo (White Gum) is a fairly bland looking timber that is highly termite resistant and so it was milled extensively for anything that had to go in the ground like fenceposts. It was also used for Commercial Tannin Extraction.

Here is a link to more detail

Thanks Bob, I knew you'd point me in the right direction. Looks like Wandoo makes some beautiful handles, especially the old stuff that turns dark. Wouldn't it be a prize to find an old large beam from say and old barn out of the stuff? I REALLY enjoyed that link above... lots of interesting facts and info on the unique timbers down there. Call me strange, but that's the kind of website I get lost for hours poking around in. Before ya know it, it's time to hit the sack and I got nothing else done... so much interesting "stuff" but so little time to play... but not complaining.

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