Honey Locust Bows

[Bkingston216]

I just acquired a log 18" in diameter out of honey Locust. The grain is straight, there is no twist to it, but there are some waves in the grain in parts and knots in the middle of the wood.I got'er quartered and will be excavating staves here within the week. She's also sealed with paint.

Any tips for honey Locust? I know the keep the belly perfectly flat,

[riverrat]

"keep the belly perfectly flat" no, keep it tillered evenly. perfectly. flat is a way to gain a easy to see tiller. i dont agree with the "flat" stuff. as for its the only way to tiller it. but if your newer, flat is the way to go. heres a question. when you tiller the bow flat on the belly. does the edges of that flat belly do anything? no! sooo, if you got rid of those edges, im talking a little bit here what happens? you loose limb weight correct? so now theoretically if the limbs weight less they should move faster back to brace  ? so in the end you end up with what i call a lensticular type tiller seeings how the back isnt flat like a board. well unless you cut down a huge diam. tree. then if you have medium growthrings, yea you could get perfect flat back. but most times its not. just my thoughts. but if you never worked locust, of any sort, yea flat works . but whats most important that its dead perfect tiller! and not over stressed as you make it.otherwise, get a check here ,get a check there , get a check everywhere.Tony

[Hrothgar]

I made a bow out of locust a decade of so back --the borers ruined most of the staves. I loved it, easy to work, good smell, bends a lot like osage. What I made was a short, wide-limbed native american bow. I'm sure good locust can make any design you choose.

[huisme]

flat as you can get it with rounded edges, never more than two inches wide (1.5 is usually good for moderate weight and I've made some #50+ with 1" wide black locust but that stuff is denser than honey), and to play is safe make the limbs your draw weight times two plus five plus the grip if it's stiff.

[Bkingston216]

Wait, if my Draw weight will be 40, you're saying to make my limbs overall 85 inches long?

[PEARL DRUMS]

Never seen a honey locust bow, only black locust.

[Peacebow_Coos]

Haha, I think Huisme meant draw length, but we all have our methods.  His bows are usually only twice the draw...length!

[JoJoDapyro]

I haven't heard great things about it, but not terrible either. Reading up on locust a few weeks back made me realize that identification can be tricky, as there are so many different crosses.

[lebhuntfish]

There was a honey locust bow made at mojam last summer. Mind you it was a kids bow, but it was short and had a good amount of reflex in the stave. It shot Really nice and it was a beautiful little bow. Honey locust has a rose colored core and it sure looks good when it fades out of the handle into the fades. I have a few staves of it and intend to make a bow or 3 from it.
By the way, the back of that kids bow was just like the way we do most white woods. Peeled the bark then that's your back.
Patrick

[DavidV]

Honey locust isn't in the same family as black locust and the wood is very different. I'v had a few less than stellar tries at the wood but I think it will make a good bow if you keep it wide, dry, and flat. Responds well to heat treating. Treat it like a whitewood, your back is right under the bark. I think the heartwood is more brittle like walnut.

[JonW]

Eric Smith aka Indianguy on PA makes some nice sinew backed bows from Honey locust.

[Bkingston216]

Do I remove sap wood, like Osage? Or keep it?

[huisme]

Remove it all is my advice, honey or black locust. Like it's been said, they're very different and not actually related species and I've only used honey locust once.

And yeah, I meant draw length

[JoJoDapyro]

Remove it all is my advice, honey or black locust. Like it's been said, they're very different and not actually related species and I've only used honey locust once.

And yeah, I meant draw length

How exactly are they unrelated?

[wapiti1997]

Remove it all is my advice, honey or black locust. Like it's been said, they're very different and not actually related species and I've only used honey locust once.

And yeah, I meant draw length

How exactly are they unrelated?

They are in the same family, but different genuses, Robinia pseudoacacia is black locust, Gleditsia triacanthus is honey locust.  They cannot hybridize.  My spelling may be off, it's been 30 years..  They are both in the bean family as is KY coffeetree, and redbud.