# Has anyone ever milled/worked with buck thorn?



## Treecycle Hardwoods

I was recently contacted by a land conservation group about milling mature buck thorn. It is invasive here in Wisconsin the group wants to raise awareness bout the invasive species by producing lumber from the plants and getting it into woodworkers hands for a fund raising auction. I told them it was a great idea! I have participated in similar events to raise awareness for EAB in ash trees. The problem is I have viewed the stuff as a weed and never really gave it much thought as to what type of woodworking qualities it may have. The guy said they have located several patches with trunks 8-12" in diameter. This is the absolute smallest I could mill I am looking for info from anyone who has worked with the wood from buck thorn, or has milled and dried it. I promised the gentleman I would get back to him after I learned more.

Thanks in advance for any input on the subject.

Greg


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

I checked out the dendrology at VT website and found that the 2 likely suspects we are talking about milling are here

Armed with what i learned I went to Phinds website and learned a little about the wood here

Still looking for some personal experiences if there are any out there?


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

Here is a cool article on buckthorn from the west coast.


This is a cool fact page from the wood-database.com website about buck thorn. 

I'm starting to think i should be looking into milling some of this on my own...


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## hobbit-hut

I can't help answer your questions haveing never worked with or even seen it. I did go to Phinds web site. The first thing that caught my attention was the end grain look good. Then the finished pieces were quite attractive. That end grain bowl with the tight rings was cool.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

hobbit-hut said:


> I can't help answer your questions haveing never worked with or even seen it. I did go to Phinds web site. The first thing that caught my attention was the end grain look good. Then the finished pieces were quite attractive. That end grain bowl with the tight rings was cool.



I agree! I was surprised to find as much info as I did about the species. I am most eager to gather info about drying the stuff. Only found one article about that and it lacked info about what makes dry quality boards easier. The way it was written seems like it will be tough to get anything of decent length from it.


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## arkie

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> hobbit-hut said:
> 
> 
> 
> I can't help answer your questions haveing never worked with or even seen it. I did go to Phinds web site. The first thing that caught my attention was the end grain look good. Then the finished pieces were quite attractive. That end grain bowl with the tight rings was cool.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I agree! I was surprised to find as much info as I did about the species. I am most eager to gather info about drying the stuff. Only found one article about that and it lacked info about what makes dry quality boards easier. The way it was written seems like it will be tough to get anything of decent length from it.
Click to expand...


I have seen a pepper mill made from a piece that had a little bit of eye burl in it.


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## HomeBody

I've got a bunch of it growing in my woods. Small trees with nasty thorns. My biggest is about 8". I cut one last fall but haven't milled it yet. My Illinois tree book says the wood is very hard and lists "tool handles" for uses. I also cut another small tree called a shadbush. Same deal. Small dia., hard wood, used for tool handles. Gary


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## phinds

If you DO end up milling it, I'd be interested in picking up some small pieces, cutoffs even, for more pics for the site. Looks like drying it may be your biggest problem. I see that Eric (The Wood DataBase) doesn't mention it, but drying is supposedly difficult.


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## WoodLove

well if you decide to mill it im down for trying out a piece.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

phinds said:


> If you DO end up milling it, I'd be interested in picking up some small pieces, cutoffs even, for more pics for the site. Looks like drying it may be your biggest problem. I see that Eric (The Wood DataBase) doesn't mention it, but drying is supposedly difficult.



I would be happy to get you some samples. I spoke to the guy at the land conservation group and explained what I had learned. He will relay the info to the remainder of the board and report back to me in a month or so. I will keep you posted if I get the job or not.


I may have another source if plan A falls thru.


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## phinds

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> phinds said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you DO end up milling it, I'd be interested in picking up some small pieces, cutoffs even, for more pics for the site. Looks like drying it may be your biggest problem. I see that Eric (The Wood DataBase) doesn't mention it, but drying is supposedly difficult.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I would be happy to get you some samples. I spoke to the guy at the land conservation group and explained what I had learned. He will relay the info to the remainder of the board and report back to me in a month or so. I will keep you posted if I get the job or not.
> 
> 
> I may have another source if plan A falls thru.
Click to expand...


Sounds good. Thanks


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## HomeBody

Here are some pics of the end grain of the Male chicken-spur thorn I cut last fall. The color is a bit too yellow due to incandescent lighting.

This was a 6" tree and I count 42 growth rings. Can you say "tight"? Gary
[attachment=17852]
[attachment=17853]
[attachment=17854]
[attachment=17855]


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

HomeBody said:


> Here are some pics of the end grain of the Male chicken-spur thorn I cut last fall. The color is a bit too yellow due to incandescent lighting.
> 
> This was a 6" tree and I count 42 growth rings. Can you say "tight"? Gary



This is encourageing news! Was it cut fall of '11 or '12? Some of the pix I dug up doing research show some major end checking. Your little cookie there seems to be doing very well. How have you been storing it? Did you wax it at all?


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## phinds

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> This is encourageing news! Was it cut fall of '11 or '12? Some of the pix I dug up doing research show some major end checking. Your little cookie there seems to be doing very well. How have you been storing it? Did you wax it at all?



I'm not sure if you have now changed to talking about Male chicken-spur thorn or you believe you are still talking about buckthorn. I'm pointing out, just in case, that the two are not related.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

phinds said:


> Treecycle Hardwoods said:
> 
> 
> 
> This is encourageing news! Was it cut fall of '11 or '12? Some of the pix I dug up doing research show some major end checking. Your little cookie there seems to be doing very well. How have you been storing it? Did you wax it at all?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I'm not sure if you have now changed to talking about Male chicken-spur thorn or you believe you are still talking about buckthorn. I'm pointing out, just in case, that the two are not related.
Click to expand...


good observation. Different species for sure. I think there are multiple species that grow in the country. Male chicken-spur is not growing in my area that I know of. I couldn't find any info on the VT website either.


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## phinds

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> good observation. Different species for sure. I think there are multiple species that grow in the country. Male chicken-spur is not growing in my area that I know of. I couldn't find any info on the VT website either.



I should have been more specific. Different species can be very closely related if they are in the same genus. Male chicken-spur thorn and buckthorn are not only not in the same genus, the are not even in the same family. In other words, the ONLY thing they have in common really is that they are both wood and using one to discuss the other is not likely to lead to anything useful


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## HomeBody

My apologies. I thought the OP was about Male chicken-spur. I'm trying to gather samples of the smaller local species of trees, many of which have thorns and got confused. Gary


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

HomeBody said:


> My apologies. I thought the OP was about Male chicken-spur. I'm trying to gather samples of the smaller local species of trees, many of which have thorns and got confused. Gary



no worries. I would still like to know what you did to keep that small cookie from crackin


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## HomeBody

Treecycle Hardwoods said:


> HomeBody said:
> 
> 
> 
> My apologies. I thought the OP was about Male chicken-spur. I'm trying to gather samples of the smaller local species of trees, many of which have thorns and got confused. Gary
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no worries. I would still like to know what you did to keep that small cookie from crackin
Click to expand...


No secret. I went out to the barn and cut a fresh cookie, sanded it and took pics of it for phinds. A wasted exercise as it turns out. Now it's back in the barn and probably cracking as we speak Gary


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## phinds

HomeBody said:


> No secret. I went out to the barn and cut a fresh cookie, sanded it and took pics of it for phinds. A wasted exercise as it turns out. Now it's back in the barn and probably cracking as we speak Gary



I never think of taking great pics of wood as a waste of time. Makes you that much better next time. Had Male chicken-spur thorn been on the site I would have happily stolen your pics


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

HomeBody said:


> Treecycle Hardwoods said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> HomeBody said:
> 
> 
> 
> My apologies. I thought the OP was about Male chicken-spur. I'm trying to gather samples of the smaller local species of trees, many of which have thorns and got confused. Gary
> 
> 
> 
> 
> no worries. I would still like to know what you did to keep that small cookie from crackin
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> No secret. I went out to the barn and cut a fresh cookie, sanded it and took pics of it for phinds. A wasted exercise as it turns out. Now it's back in the barn and probably cracking as we speak Gary
Click to expand...


Ahh I see! that explains the impecable quality displayed in the pix LOL!


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

I finally got some buck thorn to saw up. I will gather more info on the species and post everything i end up sawing in the for sale section later this weekend or early next week. The guy said he has more piled up on his dump site if i wanted to pick thru the pile. He is going to start keeping them longer for me when he gets a removal job.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

I was wrong this is likely not buck thorn. I believe it to be black hawthorn after studying the thorns, bark, and a twig I have. After looking up thorned trees/shrubs and comparing pix this was my best guess. I looked up black hawthorn wood and the first hit on google was an old wood barter thread from last year. No pix in that thread but I posted some of the ones I took.


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## Nate Bos

Hey Greg, I think they are referring to European Buckthorn. It is an invasive tree here and it grows everywhere! I can only get it about 7 in. diameter but I take anything big that I can find! It is awesome wood to turn! It is very dense, and the color ranges from very purple sapwood to orange, to a deep yellow heart. I will post a pic of a bowl that I made with the wood.


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## Nate Bos

Nate Bos said:


> Hey Greg, I think they are referring to European Buckthorn. It is an invasive tree here and it grows everywhere! I can only get it about 7 in. diameter but I take anything big that I can find! It is awesome wood to turn! It is very dense, and the color ranges from very purple sapwood to orange, to a deep yellow heart. I will post a pic of a bowl that I made with the wood.



Shoot, I guess I don't have any pics right now, I will get some of the tree and the wood next week.


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

Yip you are right nate. Very invasive in my area if Wisconsin. Our DNR works pretty aggressively to eradicate the stuff when it is still small. The biggest I have heard of is in the 12" range. Any pix you could share would be great.


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## Nate Bos

Here are the pics. As you can see it is a really neat wood. It is somewhat similar to Osage. The sap wood usually has a band of red and purple which can make really nice design opportunities.


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## Nate Bos

If you get a big supply of this stuff you could probably sell or trade it:woohoo:


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## Treecycle Hardwoods

I hope to get ahold of some but most if the time i deal with tree services to get logs and buckthorn is so small it ends up getting chipped. :(


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