black locust, arguably the best tree for outdoor building

[paul wheaton]

I interview Alexandra King, Brian Kerkvliet and Mark Vander Meer about how awesome Black Locusts are. 

Good fodder for ruminants, excellent bee nectar, the best wood for outdoor furniture, fence posts, pole structures, and the handles for many tools.  Fast growing and tolerates all sorts of awful conditions.  And one of the very best firewoods.

http://www.youtube.com/paulwheaton12#p/u/0/du9LeeYX1o8

[Alan Gage]

It's not liked everywhere, it's like a plague in some areas here. Kudzu of the north. Ok, not quite that bad but it's not welcomed by many.

http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/rops1.htm

Alan

[MountainDon]

.... like salt cedars in the SW, a plague

[Don_P]

I like the wood though. For timbers it is hard to beat, makes beautiful flooring as well. The frame for the open pediment I posted a week or so ago was black locust. I cleared out a grove of it and Ailanthus last spring. I sawed the locust into boards, timbers and firewood. We gave over 20 truckloads to the church to distribute to the needy. It is very common to have rotten pockets inside the tree caused by a fungus the locust borers take in with them. Those timbers were used as bed liners in the garden, they'll probably last as long as treated timbers and have no chemicals to worry about. The high quality timbers will be used in construction. It is a very strong wood with low shrinkage as it dries due to the high extractives content, which is also what makes it rot resistant. It wears like iron. where 3,000-5,000 psi concrete is a typical strength the end grain of locust can be as strong as 10,000psi.

Many sawmills will not saw it as it can cause respiratory distress... yup natural chemicals can be every bit as dangerous as synthetic ones. It is short lived usually maxxing out at about 45 years and can form pure stands that are hell to get rid of. It is not unusual to have it grow a foot between mowings in my front yard.