Robinia: a replacement for Sweet Chestnut & cedar?

[SteveA]

We've planted a small seed bed of Robinia pseudoacacia as it's a good nitrogen fixer and is very durable. It's thought to be a good replacement/ alternative to Sweet Chestnut.

 

Question: Would it also be a good alternative to Western Red Cedar?....as a durable building material (for exterior cladding, etc).

 

Cheers, Steve

 

Robinia pseudoacacia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Stubby]

Its very good fire wood ......

[SteveA]

Its very good fire wood ......

 

Yes, I read that as well. Cheers.

[devon TWiG]

Many years ago I think someone looked in to the possibility of large plantations of them , the timber was referred to as golden oak , and was touted as being the next big thing, but nothing came of it though , would not like to be working that all day ( thorns !) I have seen plenty of it in France but not sure if it has a commercial application . Nice wood though !! I use it for turning when it is available , and large pieces are not necessary.

[born2trot]

Purely from a tree climbers perspective they are without doubt a very tough and hard wood , any torn branches and limbs take on that durable look similar to sweet chestnut , pines etc taking a long long time to rot ..

[SteveA]

Yes, I guess the thorns are a bit of a downside, but not impossible to live with.

[born2trot]

Not all of them have thorns , most of them are ok to climb ..

[se7enthdevil]

if someone can propagate a large tree with no fluting of major defects then they are on to a winner.

 

the problem with robinia is it often flutes too much to be of use on a large scale and sadly ends up as firewood.

 

it still can be used for posts and would make very good cladding in my opinion but seems to be worth more in a mixed bag of hardwood...

 

are there any tall, wide, unfluted, cylindrical varieties?

[spandit]

Don't get the nuts, mind

[Aicchalmers]

Don't get the nuts, mind

 

Do you still get a decent crop of chestnuts with medium-rotation sweet chestnut coppice?