Does Black Locust have a tendency to crack during curing when sawn into 6″x6″ posts? Thinking of using BL for 12′ porch posts and installing green. What about warping? They would be sawn from the center of logs about 12″ diameter so the heart would be in the center.
6×6 treated pine usually cracks badly. Only other option i can think of would be WR Cedar which is pretty pricy. The BL is available for the cost of sawing.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy
PlaneWood
Replies
You could cut it into 2x6's for easier drying and then laminate it when it's dry.
Mike,
If you think pine cracks wait until you see hardwoods do their dance, to the tune of "twist and crack". Walnut should work fine outside of the pith, : ' >, shoot at 0.35/bd. ft. should not hurt too much. Why I've seen corral gates out of fas walnut! Your son can brag about his house that has walnut porch columns.
Looked for you to call this week-end, I guess it must of been a quick trip, you missed the white stuff...Dale
Edited 12/29/2002 10:15:45 PM ET by Dale
Black LOCUST, Dale, not Black Walnut!!!
PlaneWood by Mike_in_KatyPlaneWood
Hey Mike,
Either you misunderstood my message or ??? If you have the pith in most hardwoods if not all the hardwoods is going to crack and other undesirables things. I was suggesting if you can not use the BL because of the pith then, use a small percent of your BW.
BTW, is my memory foggy or don't you have some decent white oaks on the North facing slope south of the house place? White oak w/o the pith would work well for a porch column. One other consideration you may wish to consider, most hardwoods don't accept and hold paint well in an outdoor environment.
Dale
Edited 12/29/2002 10:12:38 PM ET by Dale
here in chicago i found 6x6 roughsawn wr cedar for around 9$ lf w/ free delivery. is that more than the price of the locust?
$9 a what? per linear foot?
Down here (Houston) a 10 foot WR Cedar 6x6 costs about $70.00.
The cost of sawing out the same 6x6 BL would be about $7.50 ($0.25/bf).
My concern is whether or not the Black Locust posts of this size would crack after installed.
My dad used lots of smaller Black Locust for posts when I was a kid, but I can't remember if they cracked or not. I just remember having to go back later and re-staple the barb wire where ever the staple hadn't penetrated the heart wood. The sap wood rots away pretty quickly.
PlaneWood by Mike_in_KatyPlaneWood
My limited recollection of BL is that it cracked a lot when done as you are proposing. I recall an appearance type issue only, since the cracking did not seem to interfere with it functioning well.
I have cut green BLocust and air dried it. It stayed fairly straight when stickered and weighted. I dried it quite slowly in a cool, shaded wood lot under a tarp.
Most Locust here in Virginia are in diffrent stages of dying and regenerating. There are parts that look old and are surrounded by newer wood. I don't have too much hope that you will have something really pretty out of this, but if you get the wood cheap enough you can give it a try.
frank
I know that whenever we found BL trees we cut them down so the bridge crew could have them to cushion the blow on the pile driver. In other words the stuff is tough as nails.
good luck on drying it.
View Image
September 11, 2001. Remember This Day.
Matt Matheny 1st officer
South
Shore Chapter SCRC
Southern
Cruisers National page
SCRC #187006
AMA #390204
Click Here for a calendar of events
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled