Southwestern hardwoods

[Haynie]

I remember reading somewhere, someone was saying that they only worked with hardwoods they had locally available in the southwest US. I have been trying to wrap my head around this for quite some time.

In my first attempt at grad school focusing on the archaeology of the American Southwest we worked within the geographical boundaries of Nevada on the west Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and the western half of Texas. Texas was too freaking big and over lapped with the southeastern cultures. California was west coast. Using this geographical area I can only think Mesquite, Pecan maybe and Iron Wood as "local" usable Hardwoods. I guess you could include scrub oak but that does not produce usable wood unless you need fire wood. What am I missing? Or, is this geographical area larger than I am looking at?

 

[MesquiteMan]

You may be thinking of me. I only work with woods (materials) locally available in Central Texas. I don't even include the Southwest! There is a LOT of stuff out there that many overlook. That is reason I came up with the worthless wood concept.

 

[George417]

You may be thinking of me. I only work with woods (materials) locally available in Central Texas. I don't even include the Southwest! There is a LOT of stuff out there that many overlook. That is reason I came up with the worthless wood concept.

And you do it so well.

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

 

[Haynie]

No, it was not you, but I will add you to the list. It was one of those aimless google searches that lead from one link to another to another until, like aimless driving in a city, you end up someplace you have never been before, but much less dangerous. It was in a wood worker's profile.

As for the worthless wood, it is a cool concept and makes for cool items but I am not sure it is practical when you need like 50 board feet.

 

[sbwertz]

There is a difference between NATIVE southwestern hardwoods, and AVAILABLE southwestern hardwoods. A lot of people have planted their favorite trees in their yards, and these woods are available to us. I use mulberry, ash, texas ebony, pecan, acacia, mesquite, olive, palo verde, and many others. The trick is to befriend your local arborist!

 

[MesquiteMan]

As for the worthless wood, it is a cool concept and makes for cool items but I am not sure it is practical when you need like 50 board feet.

This is very true! I do, however, do things other than small items using just wood that is not cast. I have my own sawmill and make my own lumber. Some of the wood I use/used as lumber:

Mesquite (of course!)
Pecan
Hackberry
Tx Elm
Chinaberry (not native but plentiful)
Escarpment Black Cherry
Black Walnut
Escarpment Live Oak
Spanish Oak
Osage Orange

With each of these, I have milled well over 200 board feet. Of course with mesquite and pecan, I have milled over 6,000 bf.

 

[Haynie]

I have family in east texas (just south of Dallas). Last time we were there someone was removing an old Pecan orchard. I am jealous of the wood availability back there. Not jealous of the humidity.

 

[MesquiteMan]

East Texas is VERY different than where I am! East Texas has a full blown timber industry with big and small commercial mills, pulp mills, and lumber wholesalers. We don't have any of that here. We are more like the typical Southwest and they are more like the East Coast. There are a few very small specialty mills around doing Pecan and Mesquite but that is about it. Oh yeah, we don't have near the humidity they have either! It is certainly higher than Arizona though.

 

[Haynie]

The humidity gets to high for me in eastern New Mexico. Trees where I live are pretty nonexistent except for what people have planted around town for shade. People seldom take them down, when they do they keep them for heat. Kind of a bummer.

 

[1080Wayne]

Mark

The link below will give you a complete list of woods for your area (after you spend a day or two sorting out the grasses , flowers etc) . Anything that has a stem which will dry down to the diameter of your thumb should be fair game for pens .

State Search | USDA PLANTS

Probably more efficient to do it this way

http://plants.usda.gov/adv_search.html

 

[TellicoTurning]

As for the worthless wood, it is a cool concept and makes for cool items but I am not sure it is practical when you need like 50 board feet.

This is very true! I do, however, do things other than small items using just wood that is not cast. I have my own sawmill and make my own lumber. Some of the wood I use/used as lumber:

Mesquite (of course!)
Pecan
Hackberry
Tx Elm
Chinaberry (not native but plentiful)
Escarpment Black Cherry
Black Walnut
Escarpment Live Oak
Spanish Oak
Osage Orange (Bodark)

With each of these, I have milled well over 200 board feet. Of course with mesquite and pecan, I have milled over 6,000 bf.

I didn't know Chinaberry wasn't native to Texas.... I grew up there and I think we had a chinaberry tree in just about every house we lived in (as share croppers we moved a lot, so there was a lot of houses)... I thought the trees had a soft pith center and weren't good for much except for ammo for the slingshots when the "berries" were still green...

And never heard of Osage Orange until I got into wood turning... it was always Bodark where I grew up and made the best fence posts... hard to keep the ax sharp cutting them though.

 

[Haynie]

Mark

The link below will give you a complete list of woods for your area (after you spend a day or two sorting out the grasses , flowers etc) . Anything that has a stem which will dry down to the diameter of your thumb should be fair game for pens .

State Search | USDA PLANTS

Probably more efficient to do it this way

Advanced Search | USDA PLANTS

Pen material is not a problem. On the other hand I need 50 BF for something. Whole different ball game when you need that much.

 

[Jgrden]

Methinks Desert Ironwood from Blithe should satisfy your thirst for SouthWestern hardwood.

 

[crabcreekind]

Mark

The link below will give you a complete list of woods for your area (after you spend a day or two sorting out the grasses , flowers etc) . Anything that has a stem which will dry down to the diameter of your thumb should be fair game for pens .

State Search | USDA PLANTS

Probably more efficient to do it this way

Advanced Search | USDA PLANTS

Pen material is not a problem. On the other hand I need 50 BF for something. Whole different ball game when you need that much.

I would suggest osage orange, it is no where near the price of DIW and can (im guessing) be found easily in texas?

 

[MesquiteMan]

I didn't know Chinaberry wasn't native to Texas.... I grew up there and I think we had a chinaberry tree in just about every house we lived in (as share croppers we moved a lot, so there was a lot of houses)... I thought the trees had a soft pith center and weren't good for much except for ammo for the slingshots when the "berries" were still green...

And never heard of Osage Orange until I got into wood turning... it was always Bodark where I grew up and made the best fence posts... hard to keep the ax sharp cutting them though.

Nope, Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) is actually an invasive and originally came from Asia. It is very common around here and considered a trash tree. They do have a soft pith but they make great lumber! Chinaberry is in the mahogany family and has most of the same characteristics as other true mahoganies. Wikipedia has a fairly good write up about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melia_azedarach

 

[Haynie]

Methinks Desert Ironwood from Blithe should satisfy your thirst for SouthWestern hardwood.

I thought abot that and it would make a killer piece of furniture but, at 179.00 per 1/2 board foot for 8 quarter stock that is only 10 inches long, it would be an expensive rocker to build.

I am thinking I will not be doing this out of local hardwoods. Ah well. Cherry is nice.