Thread: Black Bean timber any good?

Never used it myself, but have seen some great furniture made from blackbean.

Bob....Black Bean is a beautiful timber to work with and makes great furniture...I have made several pieces from it and have no regrets.

The dust can be very irritating to some, have not had the chance to turn any but would think it would be great.

Cheers

John M

Yes agreat timber hampered only by its reputation for toxicity.

Some people seem to cope with it, others don't. My uncle bled from the nose when he worked with it ( The only time he worked with it!)

A mate had a very bad case of puffy eyes and sore throat after sniffing in some fine dust.

The advice is to ALWAYS wear brething ang eye protection!

Take care and good luck.

Blackbean is a beautiful timber and can have fantastic grain, but the dust is a problem for alergies.

How big is the tree? Keep in mind Blackbean has a large useless sapwood and your trunk needs to be bigger than 200mm to get your first 1mm of the nice timber. I'm told it needs to be >80 years old before it produces good useable timber for slabbing.

All the best.

The tree is quite large - probably close to 1m in diamater at the base. The problem is that it forks at about 1m above the ground, so slabbing won't be that useful after all. It then has 2 branches of about 60cm in diameter that are not straight. It will probably just get chipped when the road gets done, so if anyone wants it, let me know and I will get the workers to cut the big bits into lengths that will fit on a ute/trailer. I am in the hills between Lismore and Mullumbimby.

Originally Posted by zanev00

The tree is quite large - probably close to 1m in diamater at the base. The problem is that it forks at about 1m above the ground, so slabbing won't be that useful after all. It then has 2 branches of about 60cm in diameter that are not straight. It will probably just get chipped when the road gets done, so if anyone wants it, let me know and I will get the workers to cut the big bits into lengths that will fit on a ute/trailer. I am in the hills between Lismore and Mullumbimby.

It sounds like it will have some useful and possibly beautiful crotch grain in the large trunk piece before the branches.
If you lived closer I would put my hand up for this piece, then ask Malcolm Ward to cut it up for me. Someone will get a possibly lovely specimen.
Cheers
SG

Originally Posted by zanev00

The tree is quite large....so if anyone wants it, let me know and I will get the workers to cut the big bits into lengths that will fit on a ute/trailer. I am in the hills between Lismore and Mullumbimby.

Yes please

I am in Thailand at the moment, but will be back Monday. I also have that week off and Easter so would be able to come down. When are they clearing?

The forks have the best grain, and a tree like that should have spectacular grain, the best just below the fork. Do not rule out slabbing, would make some great coffee table type furniture.

Cheers

A nice species for woodwinds too. Turns nicely and is very stable. The only drawback is the toxicity of the dust while working it, but masks do come in handy sometimes.

Originally Posted by dai sensei

Yes please

I am in Thailand at the moment, but will be back Monday. I also have that week off and Easter so would be able to come down. When are they clearing?

The forks have the best grain, and a tree like that should have spectacular grain, the best just below the fork. Do not rule out slabbing, would make some great coffee table type furniture.

Cheers

Council have told me it will be early May....but it is the council, so I am not holding my breath. If you give me your number via private message, I will contact you to orgnise it.

Blackbean is a prized timber and it would make a superb table top and other furniture. It is quite valuable as its habitat is along streams and river banks and technically cannot be logged. Trees more than 20 metres from the banks can, most have been taken already. Make the most of what you have as it will increase in value to become an heirloom.

Originally Posted by zanev00

Council have told me it will be early May....but it is the council, so I am not holding my breath. If you give me your number via private message, I will contact you to orgnise it.

so how is the timber grain ?
cheers nick

Originally Posted by nickbluedog

so how is the timber grain ?
cheers nick

The wheels of the council move slowly...I still haven't got a definite start date. Unfortunately on closer inspection on the weekend, when I climbed through all the rubbish, I found that the large section of the trunk is rotted almost all the way through from the one side...so sad.

yea blackbean is a great timber but the dust is poisinous. even though its got rott i think you should still get as much good timber out of it as you can