In the summertime of 1971, my new bride and I had been on a tight-budget honeymoon, tenting beside Wolf Creek, a woodland stream in Oregon. One morning, I observed that the tree we had slept below was coated with seedpods, like small peas. It turned out to be a black locust tree, and earlier than we left I collected most of the seeds.
The earlier yr I had accomplished a four-year hitch within the Navy and returned to the USA from three years being home-ported in Yokusaka, Japan. Whereas there I had turn into enamored with Japanese tradition and particularly with bonsai, the artwork of cultivating miniature bushes. I had discovered in Japan that bonsai are usually not particular dwarf species, simply common bushes grown in small pots and trimmed to remain small.
I used to be desperate to attempt rising bonsai myself, and after we obtained house from our honeymoon, I planted these locust seeds in little pots on our house windowsill. The seeds had been black with very arduous shells, and as I discovered in my go-to reference—The Woody Plant Seed Guide, printed by the U.S. Forest Service—locust seeds require scarification with a view to germinate. That explains locust bushes’ penchant for residing by streams; tumbling over rocks within the water apparently produces small accidents to the seeds’ arduous shell casing, permitting water to penetrate. The guide advised scraping the seeds over sandpaper to make them permeable to water. I did this, and the seeds germinated shortly.
Just a few years later, my spouse and I purchased some land and commenced constructing our house on it. A pole constructing in a forest, it’s one thing of a tree home, and constructing it was a time-consuming, long-term mission. Consequently, I now not had the time to take care of all my little potted bushes, which required every day watering and different tending, so I briefly planted them within the floor.
Years handed in a blur, and in some unspecified time in the future I noticed that my little locusts had been too huge to be put again into bonsai pots. So I left them within the floor subsequent to our home, they usually simply saved rising—and rising.
Forty years later, my “bonsai” had been approaching 50 toes in peak. When certainly one of them started leaning over dangerously, I lower it down and sawed it into lumber. I used my chainsaw to chop the trunk into manageable lengths after which to tear the logs in half. Once I had items sufficiently small to deal with safely, I ran them by means of my 16-in. bandsaw, producing 9/4 planks. After a couple of years of air-drying, the honeymoon locust was prepared to begin a brand new life.
However what to make with it? Through the years, at any time when I discussed that I had some black locust timber, my listener would say one thing like, “Yeah, good for fence posts.” True, however I couldn’t deliver myself to make use of it that manner. One man wished to make new ribs for a classic sailboat from my assortment. That me, however I didn’t have sufficient to swimsuit his mission.
Thus far, I’ve made some carving mallets and different small instruments, in addition to a Moxon vise. Black locust is a dense hardwood, heavy and sturdy, a sort of old-brass yellow in colour. Working it may be described as considerably troublesome. It may be hand-planed however calls for a really sharp blade. Although in all probability not the only option for a kitchen desk, it does make nice instruments.
Not many woodworkers have the chance to comply with their wooden from flowerpot to sawn planks.
I contemplate it an incredible privilege to have had this opportunity.
Joe Scannell works wooden in Novato, Calif.
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