# what species of locust is this?



## brown down (Feb 19, 2013)

I was told this was honey locust but after getting down there, i am pretty sure its not honey locust i believe its black locust????
there is a giant pile of this stuff 
can anyone help


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[attachment=18688]


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## Kevin (Feb 19, 2013)

Looks like BL to me too. You lucky dawg that's a nice haul. BL is a great wood in many ways and is beautiful too.


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## brown down (Feb 19, 2013)

well there is about 5 tons plus of it, my buddy is bringing up another load this weekend. i didn't even put a dent in the pile there is that much, hopefully will have the saw running soon, i have never worked with this stuff! you want some :lolol:


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## Mike1950 (Feb 19, 2013)

We have a lot of locust here. It was planted as a street tree because it is very drought resistant. shallow roots really raise hell with the sidewalks. Mothers house had lots of them. When they paved the street most of the large locusts got cut down by the city. There was a guy that wanted to buy them for firewood. Dad wanted to keep them to burn in the fireplace. Gramps said sell- it won't burn in FP. For years dad had me split it into small pieces-not easy and tried to burn it in FP. finally dad took it to the dump. I love using it in stove burns great. have not built anything with it- pretty wood though.
PS- I agree for sure BL.


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## hobbit-hut (Feb 19, 2013)

[attachment=18690][attachment=18689]I made these log drums out of Bkack Locust.


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## Kevin (Feb 19, 2013)

Jeff you'll love black locust. I would love to get enough from to you to make a xylophone with! here's a great article on Woodweb about it. Worth a read.


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## brown down (Feb 19, 2013)

wow who would have thought that this is some of the most durable wood out there! I think i will take whatever i can get! only problem i am foreseeing is milling it. no way will i be able to mill that with my bandsaw. chainsaw will be the only way i see possible. most of my chains are sharpened to a rip chain, which should add to the longevity of them but i guess i will just have to give it a whirl! heck some of the logs that are down there are 2 - 2 1/2 ft diameter! they are unbelievably heavy heck i thought that was just the moisture due to them being fell a couple of weeks ago, guess i was wrong!!


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## Vern Tator (Feb 21, 2013)

BL is cool to turn, I have seen guys turn natural edged bowls, an then fume them with Ammonia. The heart wood turns black and the sap wood stays white. Really a cool look. HL turns a sickly green when fumed, I won't do that again.


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## Kevin (Feb 21, 2013)

Jeff you really need to find a local sawyer as much wood as you mill. The problem with milling small turning blanks with a chainsaw is they are so "unflat, unsquare, and ungainly". It's difficult to find the centers so they must be squared up and that is very difficult usually because they want to flop around. If you continue to use a cs to cut blanks I suggest you fabricate a simple mill so the blanks come out with straight, flat, and closer to 90 than what you're getting free-handing. It really would be worth the effort for you IMO.


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## brown down (Feb 22, 2013)

Kevin said:


> Jeff you really need to find a local sawyer as much wood as you mill. The problem with milling small turning blanks with a chainsaw is they are so "unflat, unsquare, and ungainly". It's difficult to find the centers so they must be squared up and that is very difficult usually because they want to flop around. If you continue to use a cs to cut blanks I suggest you fabricate a simple mill so the blanks come out with straight, flat, and closer to 90 than what you're getting free-handing. It really would be worth the effort for you IMO.



I am still on the boarder of fabricating a mill or buying one..... the price they charge up here for a sawyer to come out is ridiculous and even taking it to the one mill wouldn't be cost effective either, they are around $ 350 hr
for that price and the amount i saw i might as well build one of my own. just on the fence as to what would be the best design, either a bandsaw mill or a chain sawmill??? what do you or anyone suggest?


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## Mike1950 (Feb 22, 2013)

I own neither but band would be my choice.


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## Kevin (Feb 22, 2013)

brown down said:


> Kevin said:
> 
> 
> > Jeff you really need to find a local sawyer as much wood as you mill. The problem with milling small turning blanks with a chainsaw is they are so "unflat, unsquare, and ungainly". It's difficult to find the centers so they must be squared up and that is very difficult usually because they want to flop around. If you continue to use a cs to cut blanks I suggest you fabricate a simple mill so the blanks come out with straight, flat, and closer to 90 than what you're getting free-handing. It really would be worth the effort for you IMO.
> ...



$350 an hour? That can't be right. I don't do much mobile milling but I charge $75 hour and down here that's higher than average. You must be talking about what a commercial circle mill charges. You don't want to take them to a circle mill anyway you don't have enough logs. If you have a couple semi trailer loads then taking them to a circle mill starts to make sense. 

You need to find a local with a band mill who will charge by the board foot (usually between .25 - 35 cents), or by the hour, or will mill on shares. They all over your area you live in hardwood heaven and there's band mills out the wazoo there has to be. Call Woodmizer and give them your zip and they'll give 3 or 4 names of the nearest WM sawyers. 

Also you can use the resources on Daren's Sawmill Finder Page. 

Bandmill vs CSM? If you can go the bandmill route it's the easy choice. The only two advatages a CSM has over a bandmill is CSM is quicker and cheaper to fabricate or cheaper to buy. The other advantage is the width of cut a CSM can make can be wider with a CSM with a large enough power head and long enough bar & chain, but then it starts getting close to a basic bandmill price bought new because you can get into a bandmill starting at around $4000. 

A bandmill is the easy choice unless you would mill only occasionally. JMO.


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## brown down (Feb 22, 2013)

Kevin said:


> brown down said:
> 
> 
> > Kevin said:
> ...


you know me i am constantly getting timber, so i think the bandsaw mill would be my best bet. the amount i saw in a year would prob buy a mill by the time i pay someone to come out and saw what i have from time to time year round. and yea i was talking about a circular saw for $ 350 an hour, but i believe most that have portable mills charge a minimum of $ 2-300 just to come out. you have to bear in mind where i live, first in the middle of no where and also the cost of everything, i think building or buying a mill is my best bet! ok now heres the real question... Say i were to build or buy a mill, what is the recommended horse power motor for that? almost everything i deal with is hardwood! 10 hp or higher??


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