[Greenbuilding] Black Locust instead of Ipe

[Sacie Lambertson]

Interestingly, the working properties of Black Locust and Hedge are very
similar, as is the description of B. Locust in that article.  Out here I've
heard of a few who actually make furniture with Hedge.  Obviously not fine
furniture.  We have used the wood from this gnarly tree for all our stair
railings and for our towel racks.  It is a magnificently beautiful wood
when it ages.  We recently cut into thin slices some very old Hedge fence
posts which with little effort will make nice coasters for east coast
relatives who don't know this wood except at it relates to Kansas.   Sacie

On Wed, Nov 16, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Chris Koehn <chris at koehn.com> wrote:

> 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
>
>
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