Kentucky Bean Tree, Coffee Bean Tree?

[james glenn]

I just recently cut down a tree in front of our old farmhouse that I was told is a Kentucky Bean Tree. After researching them, it sure looks like one. Which leads me to two questions:

1. It never produced any actual bean pods. Now this I am guess is because it was the
only tree of its species in the whole town (that I know of) and never cross pollinated?

2. What is the wood good for? Is it worth sawing up into lumber for projects?

Thanks for any input.

Jim

[Chip Lindley]

Amazing! I learn something every day! Here's info from www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/kytree.htm

About the Kentucky Coffee Tree

The Kentucky Coffee Tree is one of only two remaining species of Gymnocladus in existence. (The other is in China.) Gymnocladus means "naked branches," which the Coffee Tree has six months out of the year.
The Coffee Tree is a legume, a flowering plant that produces compound leaves and pods containing seeds that are edible. (Although Coffee Tree beans are poisonous to humans unless roasted thoroughly.) The plant produces green-white unisexual flowers that attract insects to provide cross pollination. The seed pods are 6 to 10 inches long and usually appear in late summer and sometimes last throughout the winter. The beans are packed in a green gooey substance in the pods, and are also protected by a hard, dark green-brown shell. The seed pods are only produced by female plants.
The Kentucky Coffee Tree is a medium to large tree, usually reaching a height of 75 to 100 feet and a diameter of 2 1/2 feet. The largest Coffee Tree on record is located in Morgan County, Kentucky**, at a height of 78 feet tall and over 17 1/2 feet in diameter. The trunk of the Coffee Tree is short and divides into two to four secondary branches which are almost parallel to each other. The bark is dark gray and has rough projecting fissures. Young growth is stout often coated with a crusty film and fine hairs. The Kentucky Coffee Tree usually lives to be about 100 years old.
Found mostly in the midwest, the Kentucky Coffee Tree prefers deep, rich bottomland alluvial soils. The largest specimens can be found mostly in moist hollows on limestone soil, but the plant is tolerant of various soil types.

From http://tinytimbers.com/specie_coffeetree.htm

Main Uses
The wood of the Kentucky Coffee tree was prized, being called "Kentucky Mahogany" for its rich color and dense grain. It was used for furniture, cabinets, interior millwork, fence posts, railroad ties, and rails, general construction, railway sleepers, bridge timbers, sills and fuel.

General Description
The wood of Kentucky Coffee Tree is ring porous, resembling Ash, Honey Locust or Sassafras. Its sapwood is narrow and yellowish white, while the heartwood is light red to reddish brown. The wood has no characteristic odor or taste. It is hard and heavy, with a coarse, straight grain. For about 6 months of the year, the tree lies dormant, leading to the name Dead Tree or Stump Tree.
Kentucky Coffeetree.jpg

Interesting wood. Saw it, dry it and make something nice with it!

[Gary Radice]

I am typing this on my desktop that I made 30 years ago out of Kentucky coffee tree wood. It ages to a wonderful reddish brown color, works and looks a little like ash but is not quite as dense. It grows mostly only in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, so you have a relatively rare "domestic exotic". The pic shows my desktop, finished only with a coat of wax.One of my favorite North American woods. You are lucky. Do something nice with it!

[james glenn]

Thanks for all the information guys. It sure seems to fit the description pretty close. Around here it seems similar to a black cherry tree, but appears the wood is better. The core was rotted to about 3-4ft up, but then I got 3 16ft logs with the smallest being 18"+/- at the butt end. So there should be a good amount of lumber.

Anything I should do while they sit, possibly for the winter, to protect them from splitting or anything?

I'll keep you updated when I get them cut and take some pictures.

Thanks again

[Kevin Stockwell]

It's a great landscape tree as well. Although it is found in the wild only in bottomland, it grows in essentially any soil. It is becoming common as a street tree since it has no disease problems and grows in tough environments. Much beter tree than a Honeylocust, and provides the same kind of filtered shade with its bipinnately compound leaves. An interesting fact--the seeds are hard as rocks, and contain a substance poisonous to most animals. The exception? Elephants! So, the theory is that the mammoths used to eat the pods and spread the seeds around. The tree would have been widespread in those times. With the mammoths gone, the trees only grow near wet areas, rivers, etc. When the seeds are exposed to water for some time, they will soften and germinate. I've planted probably 10 around my place. I used my horse hoof nippers to nick the seed coat, then they germinate readily. FWIW!

[Chip Lindley]

...I got 3 16ft logs with the smallest being 18"+/- at the butt end. So there should be a good amount of lumber.

Anything I should do while they sit, possibly for the winter, to protect them from splitting or anything?

James, air-drying roughsawn lumber is pretty well documented in the archives here. Paint the ends of your boards with the recommended Anchorseal, or just plain ol' latex paint. Some use RustOleum Industrial Aluminum alkyd. Any coating is better than nothing at all.

Stack your new lumber pile very straight with 3/4" to 1" stickers between each layer. IF you stack it flat and straight, boards will dry that way. Cover the top of the pile with tin roofing or plywood to keep rain from soaking straight in. Leave the sides open to the air. It's a good idea to put the best boards in the center of the pile. Put marginal boards on the bottom layer and around the outside edges.

Plan on leaving your pile stacked for at least 12 months for 4/4--2 years for 8/4. Then you can bring boards inside your shop to acclimate further before milling them. Perhaps your sawyer knows of a source for kiln-drying your coffee tree wood. That will speed things up lots! Best of Luck!
Merry Christmas!
~Chip~

[george wilson]

Many years ago,Gibson Guitar Co. called the wood they used on their fingerboards "coffee wood". It was a rather featureless,dark brown wood. I would call it rosewood if I came across it,but it really had no color variations,or figure that I can recall seeing. My 1954 J-45 has the same dark brown,featureless wood.

Anyone care to take a stab at what wood it was? It was open pored like Brazilian rosewood. Definitely does not resemble the wood being discussed here,nor would it have the growth ring patterns.

[james glenn]

Well, I am finally about to saw up this Coffee Bean tree, and there seems to be a lot of it!!!
I am thinking about selling a little of it locally, but cannot find prices of it for comparison. The
hope is to give a decent deal to some local WW's, but still help offset the cost of having it milled.

I did find this site: http://tinytimbers.com/lumber_rgh.htm
but nothing else.

Any ideas????

Thanks
Jimmy

[J. Greg Jones]

There is a sawyer advertising kiln dried Coffee Tree on the Lexington Craigslist for $2.50/bf, no minimum. The wood looks very nice-I've been tempted to get some of it to try on a project.

[james glenn]

There is a sawyer advertising kiln dried Coffee Tree on the Lexington Craigslist for $2.50/bf, no minimum. The wood looks very nice-I've been tempted to get some of it to try on a project.

Thank you.

[Joe A Faulkner]

Same price in West Lafayette IN. http://www.cassenstrees.com/forsale.htm