Flooring?

[Norm]

We have some honey locust that we sawed and are considering using it for flooring. Does anyone have any experience with it? Seems to be fairly hard and stable with some nice grain and figure, but before I go to the trouble of milling it I thought I'd see if anyone else has tried it.

[RavioliKid]

That looks beautiful! I hope it works out for use as flooring.
 8)

[Tom]

Norm,
I know nothing personally about Honey Locust except for the picture you have posted.  If that is a fair representation, it sure is pretty.

Just a hint for when you lay it down.  Woods tend to shell from the pith side so keeping the bark side up will help you maintain a surface that will not injure someone's foot.  I guess it's no great shakes (pun intended) but "keeping the bark side up" has been a rule of thumb passed down for a lot of years.  It was a rule that was supposed to keep wood from retaining moisture and rotting so quickly but modern finishes prevent that anyway.  It still holds true for shelling (separation of early and late wood)

I'm not much of an artist, but this is my effort to represent what I am talking about.

[Jeff]

hey, what you use to draw that, thats *DanG good if you used the mouse. or is it a scan? Still a good illustration.

[Tom]

Thanks, Jeff.

Just a pencil and a piece of paper and my scanner.

[Don P]

That is a good pic of shelling Tom, I've seen lots of it in treated decking. I've not seen much in flooring...is it more pronounced in softwoods or does it get graded out in flooring?
I don't know if they're related ( Boy, I should, we've had a thread :-[) but black locust makes a fine floor.

[Tom]

Don,  I've seen shelling in both softwoods and hardwoods. Finishes used on indoor floors must have something to do with inhibiting it but sometimes even a varnished floor will come apart and shell.  It may be more prevelant in softwoods.  Down here we see more softwood floors than hardwood.  The new tract type homes usually use hardwoods because everything is purchased pre-manufactured.  But, the homes that have had custom floors installed where the wood was machined locally or on site generally is Southern Yellow Pine and preferably heart.  I've seen it in Red Oak (water oak), don't remember it in White oak, Sweet Gum or hickory but have seen it in Red Bay and Magnolia.  I guess I'm not in too good a position to say that hardwood shells as readily as softwood even though I've seen it in both.

[Norm]

Thanks for the advice Tom, Black Cherry seems to be the worst hardwood I've milled that has the effect you showed. Honey Locust is a nusance tree on our farm, I figured if I had to cut them down I would at least use them for dimensional lumber in sheds and stuff. After slicing some up I was impressed with the grain and figure but can find very little info on the web about it's characteristics. I'll let you know how it works out for flooring.

[Tom]

Norm,

There are other uses for "pretty" woods that you shouldn't ignore.  Charlie is one of those guys that turns bowls, etc. on a lathe and is always looking for pretty wood.  You may find a market for some of that locust if you cut some into 3 to 10 inch squares for turning blanks.  Most of the turners I know would rather have it green but if you dried it for later use then a good coat of Johnson's Paste and storage in a dark dry place with some air flow, like the back of a workshop or maybe a basement, will help to keep it from checking too bad as it dries.  Checks in turning stock make it firewood.

Your better off letting a turner choose his own size before hand if you can because some turn between centers. (spindles) 

If you have turners locally, they may appreciate the wood enough to take down a tree or two for you. ;D

[Ron Wenrich]

Tom:

You have most certainly seen honey locust.  That is what was in my barn when you came up last year.   :D

Honeylocust gets confused with Kentucky coffee tree.  Wood can be used as furniture, cabinetwork and interior trim.  It should be stable enough for flooring.  

The lumber I have on sticks did do some bowing.  That may cause problems in flooring.  A lot might depend on how wide of boards you are putting down.

[Tom]

Oh yeah, I remember now..................... :D

[dewwood]

Norm,
Honey locust would work fairly well for flooring, it is quite dense or hard and has excellent strength properties.  One thing I might caution you on is the sap wood is very attractive to powderpost beetles.  This would be primarily when it is green unless you are going to kiln dry it at temperatures above 130 degrees for at least 24 hours you may have a problem.  The other way to fight the beetles is to completely seal the wood.  I have sold some of it and it is a very beautiful wood which would make a nice floor.  Hope this helps a little with your decision.
Dewey

[Norm]

Thanks for the advice guys, I did notice when slicing it up that some of the wood had alot of stress in it. The stuff we plan on using for flooring would be the trees that grew without a lot of lean. The sapwood is almost yellow in color even after drying and the heartwood has a kind of pinkish color that didn't show up too well in the photo. One of the things that I really enjoy about sawing is the surprise of opening up a log to see what is inside. Before I looked at most trees as firewood. The other day we went for a walk in a small cemetary next to our farm and spent most of my time trying to identify all the different softwoods that had been planted there. They are huge as the cemetary has markers from the early 1800's and some seem to be at least that old. Also since it is a small local cemetary people have planted perinials next to the markers, when the wind is right this time of year the smell is wonderful, a very peacful place for an evening stroll.

[ARKANSAWYER]

Norm,
    Honey locust is not rot resistant as black locust and machines a bit better.  It will make a fine floor  and is stable when dry.  Most gets bulldozed here and the thorns keep people from letting them grow.  
ARKANSAWYER

[Ron Wenrich]

There are thornless varieties.  The one I sawed didn't have any thorns.  The ones I've seen with thorns are pretty impressive.  You need a debarker before handling those slabs.

They used to plant them in fence rows to provide feed for the cattle.  They really like the seed pods.