Black Locust Staves

[Ancient Paths]

Hello again, Thank you all for the warm welcome, I was able to take a look at the black locust tree the farmer cut down just a couple weeks ago it is much larger than 6" maybe around 18-20". Going back tomorrow with a chain saw and then split it up into staves. Anything important to know other then when splitting following any existing checking and painting the ends of the staves? Thanks again.

[JW_Halverson]

Nope. Just get it sawed off longer than you need. Split it. Seal the ends.  And start waiting just as fast as you can!

[Morgan]

Great find. Don’t overlook branches those will make a bow too

[M2A]

That looks more like honey locust than black, however I read there are regional differences in BL so would not be the 1st or last time I was wrong. Center of that log looks punky at the cut, but there looks to be lots of good wood near edges. I have had splits run wild on me, with BL, when the center is not solid or bury several wedges before if figured out what was going on.

Otherwise hope you can park close by. Looks like a lot of wood. That will keep you busy for a while
Mike 

[Ancient Paths]

Thanks for the replies, it is black locust for sure the farmer milled one of the other larger black locust and gave me some boards. However I am in South Carolina and I do not believe it is native but it was around an old grave yard in the woods from the early 1800s. Probally brought in and planted long ago is my guess. I’ll post some pics when I get her split. Thanks again

[TimBo]

Hmmm.  That looks like honey locust to me as well.  Does it have big thorns?  The black locust I am familiar with has much thinner sapwood.

[Ancient Paths]

No thorns on this tree. I hope to make it back today to at least cut a 6ft piece and split and paint ends I can get pictures of the graveyard and saplings coming up.

[Eric Krewson]

Not honey locust, honey locust has slicker bark and THORNS!

[Pat B]

Any thorns on the branches? Black locust has thorns on the branches.

[Ancient Paths]

I didn't notice any thorns at all on the large one however there were shoots or sapling that did have thorns on them. Hoping to head that way soon if the rain will let up and i will get good pics.

[Pat B]

The thorns would be on the small outside branches.

[Ancient Paths]

Well things did not go as planned the rain never let up but i still convinced my buddy with the chain saw to go with me anyway. Our plan was to cut two 6 ft sections and load them and get them back under the shed to split. The logs must of weighed 500 pounds easy and we tried with all our might to load them but couldn't. we had already cut them so I got kinda lucky and found a can of krylon spray paint in the bed of my friends truck and decided to spray the ends and come back later. The krylon actually stuck in the rain so hopefully i can get back and split them and load them. How many wedges do you think I will need to split these? Also there were no visible thorns but the pecan farmer said they are 100% black locust and the guy that milled the other one for him said the same. I did read somewhere that the mature trees won't necessarily have thorns but who knows. I didn't get many pics because of the rain but I did get a much better pic of the sapwood heartwood ratio and I think the first pics I posted were deceptive. Thanks again for the help!

[Pat B]

That sure doesn't look like the locust we have here.

[Ancient Paths]

When I went to look for thorns on the top branches they all looked dead and had fungus on them so the tree was dead or dying. Do the thorns come out with the buds and leaves? If so maybe that why no thorns. The wood we cut did not look punky or rotten however the top of the tree where the branches split did look rotten. I’ll get better pics of the tree and it’s stump and the seedlings coming up when I make it back. Sure hope it is black locust. Thanks for everyone’s input

[Loganic]

Very nice looking wood! Looks like a keeper if you can haul it. 

Loganic