Coffee Bean

[RonB]

I just bought a small load of assorted hardwoods from a SE Kansas mill/ dealer. He had some Coffee Bean, also called it Buckeye, and he said it came from Kentucky. I bought 5 or 6 nice wide planed boards about

8 to 10" long. Widest is about 12". It has an attractive Oak or Ash- like grain pattern but it is much redder. He told me if finished with oil or varnish, without stain, it would provide a natural color similar to cherry but it wouldn't oxidize. It feels like it is a little lighter than Oak and it is supposed to machine well.

I have Googled and found opinions that are all over the place with regard to machining properties. Has anyone here have any experience with this wood? How does it work? Any favorite finishes?

Thanks.

RonB

[Lew Hodgett]

------------------------------------- Ohio is known as "The Buckeye State".

A Buckeye is defined as a "Worthless Nut".

Don't know why but it may have something to do with the tree.

Lew

[RonB]

Coffee Bean is supposed to be poison when raw.

[dpb]

On 11/9/2011 5:37 PM, RonB wrote: ...

...

I've never tried anything with it; nothing I've ever heard would give me much incentive.

If you learn something different, it'll be interesting to know.

--

[Doug Miller]

Sounds like the dealer doesn't know his products very well. Coffee Bean, aka Kentucky Coffee Tree, and Buckeye are two *very* different things.

That description sounds a lot more like coffee tree than buckeye, but if I were you I'd Google for photos of both, so you can verify which you have.

No experience with either coffee tree or buckeye, so I can't help you there, but I think your first step should be to find out which of the two you actually have.

[RonB]

I have Googled Coffee Bean and Kentucky Coffee Bean and have found close up pictures of wood that looks like mine. Some say it works well, others say it doesn't. One says it works a lot like Hickory, which means it might be a little difficult. With this variance of opinion I was hoping someone here had some experience and tips.

BTW, at least one of these sites also referred to it as Buckeye.

Confused -- but will be working with it in a day or two.

RonB

[Doug Miller]

Weird. They're not remotely similar.

[mgh]

While buying oak and cherry from a local sawmill in 2005 I came across Kentucky Coffee Tree. Knew nothing about the lumber. The dealer said these trees were planted as ornamental shade trees in the local town about a hundred years ago and now were dieing off. The mill was selling the material for a buck a BDFT. I bought 75 BDFT of 8/4 material and built a workbench top 2"x30"x 84" with a 4" apron from the stuff. Nice heavy bench top and it has stayed flat. I liked working this wood; it machined OK, worked well with hand tools and took an oil finish well. I would use this lumber again if I could fine the material.

MGH

[RonB]

OK - More research and what I bought was Kentucky Coffee Tree. Pretty wood that is supposed to finish up nicely. Comments I have seen so far range from "nice to work with" to "hardest thing I have every put in my saw mill".

Anybody else have experience?

I probably will tomorrow.

RonB

[dpb]

I had never heard of it...

Go to following link and do search for it...didn't find a way to get a direct link from the search result to post, sorry.

[Fred the Red Shirt]

Buckeye is the name of the nut that grows on the Horse Chestnut tree. The nut looks like a Buck's eye, and is not edible by people.

I never heard the tree called that before -- sort of like calling oaks 'acorn trees'.

But since you've verified that what you have is Kentucky Coffee tree wood, that's irrelevant.

[-MIKE-]

Probably calling the wood by that name. I've often heard people refer to Hickory as Pecan.

[clare]

Buyckeye is horse chestnut, isn't it? Nice looking wood but not terribly strong from what I remember.

[Swingman]

Same Genus, different Species. One is, more often than not, sold as the other. AAMOF, mills make no distinction between the logs when milling, and they are not graded separately, so you pays your money and gets what you got. :)

[Robatoy]

was showing me 'tulip wood' and I saw the green streaks and I said: "you mean poplar?" He said: "Sure"...LOL Lately I have been intrigued by olive wood. The colour...wow... NO idea yet how it works, but sure can be pretty.

[Jim]

"RonB" > 8 to 10" long. Widest is about 12". It has an attractive Oak or Ash-

I have worked several pieces with Kentucky Coffee Tree. It works like walnut and has a bit of chatoyance. Its a nice light rose tone untill oil finish touches it, then it resmbles red oak in color.

I used water base urethane with no stain and the wood kept the slightly rosey hue. Very nice.

Kentucky Coffee Tree is the state tree in Kentucky. The leaves and beans strongly resemble Catalpa.

Jim in the Bluegrass

[Steve Turner]

Yeah, my local supplier (Fine Lumber in Austin) puts it all in the same bin marked "Hickory/Pecan". I kinda wish they wouldn't do that. Yes, they are related and the lumber is similar, but they ain't the same. I have a big stack of Shagbark Hickory (from Missouri) drying in my shop right now, and it's quite different from the batch of Texas Pecan I had a few years ago. One look at the trees themselves and you can tell that the lumber isn't going to look or behave the same. Shagbarks have very tall and straight trunks with very little canopy until you get near the top (sometimes 60-80 feet), whereas Pecans spread out much earlier and much wider. In my case, the Hickory is darker than the creamy colored Pecan, and appears to be more stable as well. Temperature and humidity changes cause more movement in that Pecan than any other wood I've used.

[RicodJour]

No experience working with it, but there's one growing in the front yard. Had a tree guy out to thin out some stuff a few years ago, and he pointed out two trees on the property that are rare around here. One was the Kentucky Coffee Tree, and the other a Mimosa. I thought the first was a locust or some such - a weed, and the other I couldn't see for the vines growing all over it. Now they're my two favorite trees. It's funny how someone telling you you have something rare tends to make you value it more. Kind of like the Antiques Roadshow, but in wood. ;)

R

[Doug Miller]

That is incorrect. Buckeye is the name of the nut that grows on the buckeye tree. The nut that grows on the horse chestnut tree is called, unsurprisingly, the horse chestnut.

Buckeye (Aesculus glabra) and horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) are related, but distinctly different species. I used to have one of each in my yard, but the horse chestnut died a few years ago. FWIW, horse chestnut makes damn fine firewood.

[Doug Miller]

Same genus, different species.