Anue

A unique experience even for me.  First time my supplier told me what he had I was curious to say the least and every time I look at it I'm still amazed.  You see there really is such a thing as a Kentucky coffeetree.  The lumber has an oaky look but very grainy.  What really separates this wood from a lot of others is that while you are working with it, it still has the reddish look as the background has.  Only after it has oxidized for a while will it turn yellowish brown.  One other unique quality of this wood is that it actually has a  fluorescence when first cut.  This wood has a bright deep yellow glow when expose to a "black light"  Very pretty.  Unfortunately it doesn't last long, only a few hours after each cut.  There are only a couple of dozen woods exhibiting this quality to any significance in North America. and most of them are in the Locust family like the coffeetree. 

For the curious, they really did make coffee from the seed.  The tree grows a pod on it about four to five inches long by one inch wide and about three quarters of an inch thick.  Inside the pod are between three and six beans, roundish in shape (more so than a lima bean) and when dry are very, very tough.  They (early American settlers) used to collect the "beans" roast them, grind them and brew them like coffee.  Some obviously learned the hard way about the need to roast them because they are poisonous if not roasted.  Most Locust trees have a pod but most are longer, narrower and thinner and most of their beans are flatter.

The wood has a great tactile sensation to it.  The grains are harder than the surrounding fibers and so when working the wood the fibers get worn away deeper than the grains and you are left with a ribbed texture.  Very different, indeed.  Does make a pretty horse.