Opinions on honey locust?

[Mo_coon-catcher]

This Sunday im going to be cleaning up a couple of ground blinds and stands. So while in at the farm, I'm thinking about going ahead and downing a couple of trees for staves. 1 is going to be a shag bark hickory. I havnt decided the other yet. I'm thinking about a honey locust, mostly because of how pretty the wood is. I'm sure the color won't stay around long, but it'll look good while it lasts. But what do you all think about it as a bow wood? Worth the trouble of dealing with the thorns, or am I better spending my time looking for something better? I might harvest a few ERC branches while I'm there. I've spotted several large ones that look promising. The next batch this winter will probably be a trip after ERC and elm on ye other side of the property. I've still got until the first stroke of the saw to decide what I want to bring home.

Thanks for the input,
Kyle

[BowEd]

I say get what you can.Get it started drying.You can wonder what to do with it later.

[Hrothgar]

l made a wall hangar out of honey locust about 20 years ago. The thorns knock off pretty easily. The wood was straight grained and easy to work as I remember. Also has a pleasant smell. For contrast I left a couple white rings of sapwood on. The colors haven't faded, but it has been indoors. I would definitely use it again.

[sleek]

I have made a couple of honey locust. It works nice. Id go for it

[Onebowonder]

It's pretty easy to work.  It is VERY pretty wood as you already mentioned.  Not that it matters at all, but I think it smells nice when it is somewhat green, UNLIKE elm which smells like ogre piss the whole time it is drying!  The main drawback is that the wood takes set really easily and is therefore something of a dog for performance.  ...but not every bow you build has to be a SCREAMER, right?  I have to admit though that after I built just 2 bows with it, I cut up the rest for lumber.  It's just SO VERY pretty that I didn't want to waste it on more low performance bows.  I made a set of extra large dominoes out of it which were VERY pretty.  I also made several pen blanks out of it and gave them to a friend that does a bunch of turning projects.  He liked them because they worked very nicely and didn't tend to bust out chunks as he turned it.  Some of the dogwood pieces I gave him were so hard they seemed to shatter easily.

In summary, fun to work with, but don't expect high performance.

OneBow

[bradsmith2010]

I have never worked it, maybe a extra wide bow would work,, or sinew backing might resolve the performance issue,,

[Mo_coon-catcher]

Sounds like it'll be worth the effort of harvesting. The property had plenty ofhkny locust to be able to find a good kne to work with.

Thanks guys,
Kyle

[Badger]

      I would invest much work into harvesting. Most I know including myself don't consider it a viable bow wood. It does vary from tree to tree so I would probably give it a try if it wasn't any trouble getting a hold of.

[GayatoYana]

What a strange little thing about the grasshopper.

[H Rhodes]

It is strange bow wood for sure.  I made one a few years ago.  The yellow sap wood and pink heart wood is really beautiful and it is easy to work.  When I cut my first honey locust tree, I was surprised at the sheer weight of it green.  It is very heavy wood, but as it seasoned and I began working it, it let me know that it isn't near the bow making wood that black locust is.  I would keep the limbs long and wide...

[Onebowonder]

{snip}It is very heavy wood, but as it seasoned and I began working it, it let me know that it isn't near the bow making wood that black locust is. {snip}

I had always thought they were at least 'cousins' or something, but apparently they are not that close to each other.  Black Locust is scientific name 'Robinia pseudoacacia' and Honey Locust is 'Gleditsia triacanthos'.  They don't share a common taxonomy up until the level of Family.

OneBow

[Badger]

  It is not very heavy when dry, much lighter than black locust

[Mo_coon-catcher]

I wonder if the common name of locust comes from that if left unchecked. Both of them will take over any open area and become a 'destructive' pest. Like how a locust is a destructive pest in a crop. I think that honey locust are more closely related to peanuts and soybeans, in that they are all legumes.

Either way, I've got my CC saws teeth and rakers sharpeded, checked the set and taker depth. They were still good, rust smoothed out, and the axes and the B.A. Machete sharpened and ready to harvest some staves. There is still plenty of glue for sealing, half full gallon jug of white elmers glue. I'm leaning towards harvesting the hickory and ERC branches first, then as time allows the honey locust. Te ERC bramches will be a quick easy task with the machete. Since it's a bit on the low performing side of things, I'll save the honey licust for last. And harvest it lasted if I don't have time this weekend.

Kyle
Kyle