Black Locust Urn

[Russell Neyman]

363398

The friend who gave this chunk of wood to insists that it's black locust, and it certainly looked like it before I turned it. Now, not so sure. The piece acted like it under the gouge: stubborn, a little chippy. Inside was a bleep.

[John K Jordan]

Nice shape.

To ID the wood look at the end grain.

If the end grain looks a lot like black locust, it could possibly be osage orange, also hard and heavy and often confused with black locust. A sure way to tell if it is black locust is to hit a piece of the unfinished wood with UV light. A 365nm light is best. Black locust will fluoresce with a distinct green/yellow glow. Osage and most other woods will not.

The block of wood on the right here is black locust (the one on the left is red heart):

363399

If you don't have a good UV light and still have a small piece of the wood (just need maybe a 1/2"-1" square piece showing the end grain, can be fairly thin) send it in an envelope I'd gladly take a look.

JKJ

[Bill Jobe]

Whatever it is, it's a beautiful piece of wood.

[daryl moses]

Whatever it is, it's a beautiful piece of wood.
X2!! I've never turned black locust so I can't identify it but is certainly a very nice piece!! Well done!

[Russell Neyman]

Nice shape.

To ID the wood look at the end grain.

If the end grain looks a lot like black locust, it could possibly be osage orange, also hard and heavy and often confused with black locust. A sure way to tell if it is black locust is to hit a piece of the unfinished wood with UV light. A 365nm light is best. Black locust will fluoresce with a distinct green/yellow glow. Osage and most other woods will not.

The block of wood on the right here is black locust (the one on the left is red heart):

363399

If you don't have a good UV light and still have a small piece of the wood (just need maybe a 1/2"-1" square piece showing the end grain, can be fairly thin) send it in an envelope I'd gladly take a look.

JKJ

Amazing information. I'll see if I have any of it left. I fear I tossed the scraps into the wood stove, though.

[John K Jordan]

Amazing information. I'll see if I have any of it left. I fear I tossed the scraps into the wood stove, though.

Something that helps in the long run is save small pieces of each type of wood that you use and label with the correct name if known. Make sure to have a least several rings of the heartwood on the end grain side. If I'm not sure of the species I label with "unknown" or "[my best guess] ???". Eventually you will have a library of samples to compare. The wood identification page on the Wood Database has instructions for examining the end grain, under section "7": http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-identification-guide/

Hoadley's book "Identifying Wood" and to a lesser extent his book "Understanding Wood" is also a good reference. I can highly recommend the second book to any woodworker for other reasons.

JKJ

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If you think it might be Osage Orange, take some of the shavings and soak these in water, the water will turn yellow if it is Osage Orange, this yellow used to be used as a dye.

Very simple way to eliminate or prove Osage Orange as a contender here :)

[Russell Neyman]

Actually, I've turned a great deal of both orange osage and black locust, so I'm familair enough to recognize them. I checked back with my friend who provided the original bolt of wood, asking him, "--are you sure?" and he insisted that's what it was. I guess the lesson to be taken from all of this is that there are, indeed, those exceptional trees out there, probably influenced by mineral content in the soil or some other exposure along the way.

Postscript: I realize now I neglected to note the size, 6" wide by 7 1/2 tall.

[Damon McLaughlin]

Its a beautiful piece. Black locust is my favorite wood to turn, right now I have a huge amount of it.

[John K Jordan]

...I guess the lesson to be taken from all of this is that there are, indeed, those exceptional trees out there, probably influenced by mineral content in the soil or some other exposure along the way.


A valuable lesson! I've seen huge variations in even different parts of the same tree at the sawmill.

This page shows many pictures of black locust, most of them typically bland and sinilar. But look at some near the bottom! Some turnings there too.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/locust,%20black.htm

JKJ