Honey Locust for selfbows???

[Scrub_buck]

I have this nice honey locust tree if I want it.  It has a bunch of spines on the trunk, but they are dead and come off easily when twisted.  Would the pin knots from the spines go into the heartwood, or would they just be in the sapwood?

I have a friend with a port. sawmill that is willing to saw up the logs into dim lumber for either belly stock or maybe even for laminations for a glass bow?

Its about 14 inches in diameter at 6 foot, and maybe has 20 feet before it branches.  Its a pretty good looking and straight tree if you can see past the spines!!! 

Any comments are welcome.  If the heartwood is riddled with pin knots from the spines, I might just let this one pass.  Come on those of you with H. Locust experience ... is it worth the trouble to fire up the chainsaw?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[bcbull]

YEP  IT S WORTH THE TROUBLE  BUT ILL BE QUICK TO WARN YA BRO  DO NOT GET STUCK WITH THEM SPINES  THEY LL MAKE YA SICK AS HELL  WHAT I DO IS LEATHER GLOVES  A FACE SHILD AND EYEP ROTECTION I SAW THE DAMN SPINES OFF WITH THE SAW  JUST MAKE SURE  UR PROTECTED DONT GET STUCK WITH EM   THEN TAKE THE TREE DOWN  YOU LL PROBLY HAVE SOME  KNOTS FROM EM IN THE SAP  USE THE HEART WOOD  IT  MAKES BUTIFUL BOWS  BUT IT S A BITCH TO GET TO HA BROCK

[Dean Marlow]

Honey locust is beautiful wood. I seen a honey locust selfbow at Mojam this summer. It was a fine  bow. Try and get a couple of staves out of it and make a selfbow if you can.

[wodpow]

Is it dead sure looks dead is there any saw dust around the base?  Borer moth can smell that wood  after it dies must ferment  when it breaks down, and draws the borer moth from miles away if it has set through this whole season they got it.

[bcbull]

wodpow  very good point  happend to escape my  brain haha it  sure doesa look dea d thanks for pointin that out  if  it s dead i wouldt waste the time to get it  brock

[Scrub_buck]

I do not think the tree is dead.  It was living in the spring when I cruised the timber anyway.  There is no sign or border dust at the base of the tree.  Why do you all think its dead? 

[coyote pup]

Honey Locust is tricky. I have attempted several HL bows and none ever got to shooting stage. I was working with a stave of it from a tree about 8" in diameter a few months ago, and was trying to chase a ring down to the heartwood or at least close to it. As I was getting near, the stave seemed really strong and resilient, like it would make an excellent bow. But I wasn't able to get a ring chased all the way without getting lost in the swirls and fades in and out that the rings make. And the only time I tried one of pure sapwood, it was next to junk. The mass to strength ratio was awful and then it cracked so I junked it out.

 

[bcbull]

ok in the pic s  it appers dead lol  maybe  just cuz it s fall  but anyway  if ya cut it  i say  dont even fool with the sap  or chasin a ring on it  go to the center use the heartwood i have a buddy brett landon  he s made  em that way and they are very nice shooting and butiful to look at  thats also the one deans refering to at mojam   i say go for  it  it s worth a try  brock

[bcbull]

springbuk  another thing id  do is when ya get it  down  i would defintalu  have ur buddy saw some into lams  if ya can do glass bows  they work butiful  very nice in color   for that  and the glass makes em plenty strong   just use the core  heartwood for ur self bows   brock

[wodpow]

why I was thinking dead was the fact because that the lower thorns seem to have lost that hard smooth outer cover that they have when their alive and most times the thorns keep growing all the way to the base dead thorns to me mean somethings wrong with the tree I have seen the thorns over a foot long at the base of really large trees and really hard to twist off. Sometimes wet roots for a length of time will partly kill a tree. but I would  cut it and give it a look see but thats just me and I have wanted to try that wood out  for a while.