Posts: 3,066
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2004
08-20-2017, 09:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-20-2017, 09:24 PM by TomFromStLouis.)
I agree that any glued joinery suggests you begin with air dried material. If you use green wood then use timber frame joinery like pegged mortise and tenon. I would saw it 8/4 and attempt at least a few QS boards even though movement in drying is not large.
The sapwood does feed Powder post beetles so you might trim it off.
Posts: 1,189
Threads: 0
Joined: Jun 2003
Location: Wakefield, MA
Roy Underhill of the Woodwright's Shop on PBS has shown how to use green wood for a seat and dried wood for the leg. A wet wood mortise would tighten around a dry wood tenon as the wet wood dried and shrank. But you are using all the same wood for all the parts, so it might be better to let it all dry before you make the furniture. Black locust is really resistant to decay, so it's a good choice for outdoor furniture.
Posts: 22,222
Threads: 0
Joined: Nov 2002
(08-20-2017, 02:14 PM)jteneyck Wrote: Thanks Steve. Black locust is an under appreciated wood. We all know it is very decay resistant but not many know it is also very beautiful when finished, and it's not nearly as hard to work as often is claimed. I am more than a little jealous of the OP's good fortune. That is a monster black locust for my locale, and should yield a lot of nice lumber. I've only had two or three logs to mill and am down to just a few small remaining pieces.
John
The best mallets I have ever made used turned black locust for the heads and black walnut handles:
Rip to width. Plane to thickness. Cut to length. Join.
