Black Locust?

[Toller]

I did a search, but it didn't answer my questions...

I just bought a bandsaw and have been playing with it on black locust firewood I had. I cut it into "lumber" and then used the bandsaw to cut a large spoon out of it. The firewood has been sitting split in a sheltered location for 2 years, so I figure it is pretty dry.

Is the yellowish green color permanent, or will it change over time?

I know it is extremely outdoor resistant, but I understand that is due to the tyloses it forms. Does it have any chemicals in it that might be toxic?

[fredfighter]

I think it will fade to brown.

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[joeljcarver]

Black locust was sometime used to make nightsticks.

Before that, it was used to fashion pegs to anchor the mortises on post and beam construction. Originally called "tree nails", but pronounced "trenal"

(My copy Thomas Corkhill, _The Complete Dictioary of Wood_ says it was a pin of cleft oak ... used to to secue the planks of a ship's deck ... )

But that's the Brits. In the US, we can use them for barn raising or whacking someone on the noggin.

Joel Jacobson

[charlie b]

Under eight or ten coats of dewaxed garnet shellac, ohne pound cut, it looks like this.

Without any finish it looks like the pieces in the foreground of the first pic on this page

And the top of this drawer unit for a mortising machine with several coats of blonde or super blonde, I forget which, shellac.

The wood does have an odd smell and while sanding left a slightly unpleasnat taste in my mouth. No rash, runny nose etc, though.

The stuff I have - and I've still got about 400 bf of it, has very little clear wood, there are pin knots all over the place. But because of the changes in grain direction, the finished wood is very active, changing its look as you move around it.

Have tried to turn some of this stuff but the grain running all over hell makes it tricky.

charlie b