locust sapling

[luke the drifter]

i found an almost perfectly straight locust stave about 60 inches long.  please forgive me as i do not have pictures to illustrate what i am about to ask.  i cut it down from the neighbor's property.  the heartwood measures about 4 inches from the butt end and tapers down to 2 and 3/4 inches.  is the heart wood what i am after to make a bow or are these dimensions too small to work with.  will the white wood be just as good to work into a bow?  any other advice?

[Cacatch]

You can make a Black Locust bow with sapwood on or off. It sounds like you have enough wood to do it wither way. Black Locust can make a fast hard hitting bow with either, and I am not sure but I believe native BL bows often had sapwood backs. They do make a pretty bow with a sapwood back. Really it's up to you. As for other advice, LUCKY YOU on finding such a nice Locust stave! 

CP

[aero86]

does black locust have spines or thorns on it?  i believe i might have some here, but i might be confusing it with mesquite trees..

[Pat B]

aero, I believe both have thorns. On locust the saplings have thorns all over. As they mature the thorns disappear from the trunk but remain on the smaller limbs. I've never seen a mesquite that I know of.
  I think a locust sapling, along with other hardwood saplings would have been used for Native bows.

[Hillbilly]

If you have enough wood, take it down to the first good heartwood ring. If not, a ring or two of sapwood on the back will probably work. With that length, I would probably go with a design that bends slightly through the handle.

[TRACY]

What kind of diameter are we talking about? I think that will determine what you can and can't do with sapwood/heartwood. My better osage bows are nothing more than 3" sucker shoots from old stumps, BL would also be an excellent sapling bow. Good luck and post pics when you get it bending.


Tracy

[El Destructo]

does black locust have spines or thorns on it?  i believe i might have some here, but i might be confusing it with mesquite trees..

Black Locust has thorns...but they are small .... short and at the beginning of a leaf cluster...where Honey Locust has large...long Thorns all the way up the Trunk and on the Branches.....and Aero...where and the hell do you live that you could mistake a Mesquite for a Tree...... .....they are scrubby little bushes compared to a Locust...or any other Hardwood...unless its a Sapling....If you have Mesquites as big a Black Locust....you give Me a Call....cause I am on my way to cut me some Bow Wood....

[aero86]

idk!  lol, im still getting into the whole plant identification thing.  i think now the stuff ive been seeing is locust though..

[jonathan creason]

Actually, BL doesn't have "true" thorns.  That's where the scientific name Robinia pseudoacacia comes from.

I'll be danged, I actually remembered something from my dendrology class.

[luke the drifter]

tracyf,

i have about 4 inches of heart at the butt end and it tapers down to about 3 inches at the small end.   are these measurements adequate to get started? 

[George Tsoukalas]

Around here there are no thorns on the trunks of BL. Th very best scenario for BL is take of the sapwood. All of it. If there is not enough heartwood for a bow the next best scenario is to get as close to the heartwood as  possible. That's sapwood that is about to become heartwood so i is denser an and stronger. Jawge

[El Destructo]

No Thorns on the Trunk of BLack Locust...only Honey Locust...Black Locust only has what looks like small thorns where theLeaflet branch off of the Limbs...