Woodworker's Journal 2008-32-6, страница 43

The Best Little Timber in Texas

By Rob Johnstone, with Tim Knight

Gnarled and twisted by the dry climate and harsh elements of the Southwest, mesquite is a lumber that may not be familiar to many woodworkers.

Perfectly suited to its environment, mesquite provides not only lumber, but also shade and food from its seed pods (photo above). Its characteristic shape is easy to see in the tree (photo at left) and on the chainsaw lumber rig (photo below).

Paul A. Mislretta, ' S.'V -l Purest Service. Bvgtoood.org

43 December 2008 Woodworker's Journal

"Mesquite is a small bush that grows out in west Texas where there are no trees. Since those folks have never seen a real tree, they actually think a 3" stem is saw timber. To call a mesquite board 'lumber' is an elastic statement (as in, a real stretch)."

Rut then T found out about Tumacacori Mesquite Sawmill (www.mesquitedesign.com) in Arizona. There, owner Art Flores has a stock of mesquite lumber that is quite impressive. Mesquite, as it turns out, has a beautiful color and stunning figure. The color, when finished with a clear topcoat like shellac or polyurethane, is a warm brown-orange and red

I have to admit that, previous to my decision to build a magazine project with this species, my most intimate experience with mesquite was pulling its nasty little spikes out of various and sundry sections of my anatomy while bird hunting. Beyond that, it was most familiar to me as a complement to the barbeque briquettes over which I prepared the fruits of my outdoor labor. In fact, I held an opinion very close to a fellow who e-mailed me his notion of the wood, after hearing about my decision to build with mesquite.