I first noticed this widowmaker 2 years ago while I was tapping some sugar maples in this stand. It snapped free from the trunk last fall but got cantilevered in the other tree. It ended up being an exercise in roping and ratcheting. It took 4 rounds of pulling and blocking to get the widowmaker out of the other tree. And the trunk was leaning towards the phone lines, 180 degrees from where I wanted it to go. I was hoping to get some nice furniture quality lumber out of the trunk but it's rather crooked and has some heart rot. It'll make some fine pallet skids for my firewood though.
Expeditious as always, Curry! Glad ya got it down safely, man... I'm sure the Beard had something to do with it!
Sure does... I think I was breaking more of a sweat operating the ratchet than I was hauling the wood in this heat!
Nicely done, brother! were ya lookin to make some outdoor furniture out of it? Never thought of using locust for that. Dang good idea though! Rot proof. No stain required.
Yeah, so far its coming in really handy for outdoor stuff. I've got a piece on my bench now that I'm planning to resaw into some new slats for one of my park benches. But from what Ive seen its really stable, dense, nice looking lumber. It machines really nice too. I'm surprised its not more popular - Ive never seen any for sale.
I've never seen any for sale as lumber either which is weird because it literally grows like a weed here. Although it seems If they are not growing in a dense canopy they wanna grow crooked. Around me everyone uses the straight ones for fence posts and dock supports. I've mentioned it before, but my main house support posts in my basement are 8" locust poles and my house is over 100yrs old. They show absolutely zero signs of rot. And I'm sure they have seen their fair share of standing water at one point or another through the years
There are a couple of sawmills west/northwest of Albany that specialize in black locust lumber, timbers and posts. Other than those, I've not seen it for sale anywhere else. I used 6" diameter BL poles for my second woodshed, just buried them 4' deep and I'm sure they'll outlive me. I have a nice stash of smaller diameter locust now (6-14"), some of which I will saw into boards, some will be fenceposts and the really crooked stuff becomes firewood. I sure wish I had more of the stuff on my property.
