[Greenbuilding] Black Locust instead of Ipe

[Chris Koehn]

My experience working black locust is limited to Wisconsin (where it was widely planted during the CCC days) and to urban salvage, and so trees grown elsewhere under different conditions may behave differently. The logs I used proved to be quite unstable once sawn and dried: twisting and warping beyond useful purpose. 
Timber left in the round retains more of it's internal stress and is thus more stable than wood that is sawn. Since my bad experiences trying to saw black locust I've used it in the round to good effect. It is very rot resistant. The wood is stringy and can be difficult to work, but fence posts require little machining..

Chris Koehn
TimberGuides Design & Build

Sacie wrote: "When we lived in Virginia, Black Locust was the post of choice.  Out here
in Kansas, Hedge is (Osage Orange).  Both last forever in the ground,
though the latter lasts even longer than that.  This article about using
Black Locust which can be sustainably harvested, rather than Ipe, which
isn't, is compelling."