True, he's not the infamous "Squirrel slayer" that got off to a Rocky start here, but there are a few more similarities between the two besides the name. He may know a little more, but it would be best if he understood all he knew before offering up advice on certain things. Keep at it slinger. When you get some experience, all that stuff you've read will really start to make sense. That's when you can offer advice to somebody just starting and feel good knowing for a fact that you haven't led them astray.
As far as the yellow locust goes, I would assume its a honey locust. Pretty wood, but nowhere nearly as good as blacklocust. Wide and flat is the way to go. Josh