Laburnum ?

[OldWood]

I wombled a bit of abandoned wood from the local county park this morning, and think it might be laburnum (450mm x 200). I have some well dried laburnum so know what the wood looks like, but the dried bark isn't much help. The bark on this is an olive green colour with small vertical aligned lumps (pustules?) which are pinkish in colour.

It would have been cut this winter I guess so is wet (to say the least). I would like to split it down the middle which has some rot - axe & wedges or bandsaw, and if the latter how do I make a sledge for it ?

Rob

 

[Dodge]

Remember that Laburnum is like yew - All parts of the tree are poisonous so take care!

 

[RogerP]

Remember that Laburnum is like yew - All parts of the tree are poisonous so take care!

Dead right (sorry), but ...

"Laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides)
All parts of this tree are poisonous, in particular the bark and seeds."

 

[jurriaan]

I would go with the third option: chainsaw.

 

[OldWood]

Carrying on the 'all parts of this tree are poisonous', what's the position about turning it then ? The suggestion is that great care has to taken and all sorts of masking worn.

By the way, I rather deliberately avoided the chain saw option, not because I don't have one (double negative there ), but because the chainsaw wastes too much wood, but I'd forgotten when I rejected that option that there is a bit of rot down the middle so the chainsaw will be in fact be the way to go - thanks. Thought that still raises the boggie of THIS WOOD IS POISONOUS !!

By the way, no one has helped with the identification - does fresh Laburnum have olive green bark with pinkish protrusions ?

Rob

 

[coille]

Carrying on the 'all parts of this tree are poisonous', what's the position about turning it then ? The suggestion is that great care has to taken and all sorts of masking worn.

By the way, I rather deliberately avoided the chain saw option, not because I don't have one (double negative there ), but because the chainsaw wastes too much wood, but I'd forgotten when I rejected that option that there is a bit of rot down the middle so the chainsaw will be in fact be the way to go - thanks. Thought that still raises the boggie of THIS WOOD IS POISONOUS !!

By the way, no one has helped with the identification - does fresh Laburnum have olive green bark with pinkish protrusions ?

Rob

Young growth Laburnum bark could be described as olive green, the older stems are ruddy brown. Pink bits dont ring any bells. If you have cut through the timber somewhere and it (the timber, not the bark) looks like an olive green then that's a good indication its laburnum. If you leave those cut ends for a month or two they will start going brown and after a year air drying could be really dark brown - then its definitely laburnum.

I have never had any ill effects from working with laburnum but if there is ever any problems it would likely be as a result of ingesting bark, so wear gloves when handling the unseasoned timber if you are sensitive and wash hands after. I suppose green turning of the wood should be treated with caution. The main horror stories related to laburnum being poisonous are to do with children and animals eating the flowers or the seed pods. Eat enough and it can be fatal. Treat the dried hardwood like most tropical timbers (with which it has great similarities as a timber) - dont inhale the dust or ingest through handling and then eating etc without washing hands first.