First Locust

Qweaver · July 02, 2015, 10:36:10 PM

I sawed a really good Locust today. Made an 8" x 11"x 8' cant that is mainly clear. Now I'm deciding what to make out of that cant. This is really pretty wood. It would make a great outdoor table but I would have to mix some other wood to have enough. Maybe white oak legs and frame. It would last several life times.

WV Sawmiller · July 03, 2015, 12:12:13 PM

Q,

Haven't cut any into boards yet. Did cut some 3" beams for a bridge for a client. Slabbed/Squared off some sides on poles to make a wood storage barn which were green wood. They cut real good. Cut some small trashy dry posts into 4X4s for a guy. So hard thought I was going to get a friction fire out of some of it. I see lots of locust for sale locally for firewood. Hurts my feelings to see so much wasted. I cut a lot last year for posts and some for a pole barn. I cut the limbs and tops up for firewood which burns real good.

Can you get hold of some small locust for legs and framing instead of the oak? If so it should last a really long time. I have some benches I made by splitting logs with chainsaw (before I got my mill), bored 1-1/2" holes in underside and split some dry locust and whittled down to 1.5" and drove them in for legs.

Good luck. Enjoy.

Larry · July 03, 2015, 12:25:16 PM

I guess your talking about black locust. Just sawed some a couple of weeks ago into 4/4 and 6 X 6 posts. I like sawing it as I think it smells good. I hate it in the spring as it blooms late and drives my allergy's nuts when going through that stage.

Some years ago I got to saw a lot of it. All went into landscape timbers and brought good green, because it was a green solution. ;D

mesquite buckeye · July 03, 2015, 12:32:38 PM

Donde esta photographias?

;D 8) 8) 8)

WV Sawmiller · July 03, 2015, 01:03:17 PM

I am talking about Black locust (sometimes also called yellow locust because of the yellow tint to the wood I guess)

Green locust spells like green peanuts to me. When I had bees they loved it and made great honey from it.

Ox · July 03, 2015, 03:45:43 PM

I've sawed up some black locust for raised bed gardens. I hear tell that it brings top dollar for people wanting the same "green solution". Sawed green and seasoned, cut nice but slower of course in the seasoned stuff. It will outlast any other treatment method at least 2 to 1. There's 100 year old fence posts up here still in use if that tells you anything. The stuff turns into rock after about 10 years and will bend over anything you try to drive into it! If you're going to nail boards I would recommend drilling pilot holes so the ends don't split - it's similar to hemlock this way.

Brad_bb · July 03, 2015, 11:20:01 PM

If there's no pictures, then it didn't happen ;D

Ox · July 04, 2015, 10:05:40 AM

:D So I've heard! Someday I'll get enough ambition to get pictures up of my little operation.

fishfighter · July 04, 2015, 10:40:26 AM

Black locust. Is that a tree that has black bark and thorns growing out of it? In the fall they have long bean pods. I have a bunch I been felling just to kill them off. Hard as hell to split for firewood, but burns hot and long.

WV Sawmiller · July 04, 2015, 12:59:13 PM

Fishy,

Sounds more like a Honey locust or acacia than black locust. I'd need picture to tell. Both have thorns and beans but thorns are more plentiful and beans much longer on HL. If the beans are nearly a foot long and smell chocolatey is HL. BL tends to lose most of its thorns once it gets past bush size. A good straight section of BL actually splits pretty well. I split a lot of posts last year by hand (before I got my mill). For best results I'd score the log a couple inches with chainsaw the finish split with wedge.

warren46 · July 04, 2015, 01:14:44 PM

I have a batch of small locust logs to saw for a customer. He wants 5/4 and 7/4 boards to make tool handles. I have never sawed 7/4. I think I will just use 2" drops and let the kerf make the 7/4.

Ox · July 04, 2015, 03:47:30 PM

I don't think black locust grows way down south past Virginia or so because I remember reading the southern fellas wishing they had some. It's probably honey locust down there. Honey locust grows up here too, I have some coming in now. It's pretty wood and burns well but it doesn't have near the rot resistance that black locust has.

WDH · July 04, 2015, 04:41:26 PM

Quote from: Ox on July 04, 2015, 03:47:30 PM
I don't think black locust grows way down south past Virginia

Oh yes it does. The North GA mountains have a lot of it. I have some on my property in Middle GA.

Black locust has thorns that are modified stipules, that is, they are associated with the leaf petiole. One simple thorn on each side of the leaf petiole, like in a rose bush. Everywhere there is a leaf, there are two opposing thorns at the base.

Honey locust thorns are modified branches. They occur anywhere on the stem, main bole, branches, etc. They are also multi-branched, and look evil. They grow right out of the main bole of the tree, and anywhere up the stem.

The leaves are both compound, but black locust leaves are only pinnate compound, meaning they are just once divided. Honey locust leaves are both once divided and twice divided. This is called twice pinnate compound.

The bark between the two trees is also very different.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · July 04, 2015, 05:49:06 PM

Locust thorns will flatten a tractor tire. >:(

beenthere · July 04, 2015, 07:24:36 PM

Ox
I wish I had some black locust too.
It grows across the road but not in my woods. Must be a soils thing.

drobertson · July 04, 2015, 07:42:10 PM

I've seen these thorny trees in the timber was told they were locust, but never sawed any, I would like to see a pic of the ones we are talking about,

fishfighter · July 04, 2015, 08:10:11 PM

If it wasn't raining, I would walk to the back and take a picture. I will get one tomorrow. Sounds like HL that I have.

Kbeitz · July 04, 2015, 08:56:16 PM

Well all I can say is that youall can keep your thorny trees ...
They hurt....

fishfighter · July 04, 2015, 09:09:31 PM

No, they give flat tires or stab you, but deer love there bean pods. >:(

Larry · July 04, 2015, 10:11:16 PM

Quote from: drobertson on July 04, 2015, 07:42:10 PM
I've seen these thorny trees in the timber was told they were locust, but never sawed any, I would like to see a pic of the ones we are talking about,

I have black locust pictures but there not good so you will have to settle for these honey locust pictures.

drobertson · July 04, 2015, 10:54:22 PM

Larry those are the ones I've seen, we sawed them and left them, most of which was rugged and non accessible.
Thanks for the picture,

Ox · July 04, 2015, 11:52:12 PM

WDH - thanks for that info! I like learning new things from obviously educated men. Must be what I remembered reading was a guy down south that just didn't have any but it seemed like he made it sound like black locust just didn't grow south. Do you suppose they get much west of the Mississippi? I'm also guessing they don't like the extreme cold or arctic temps up north because when I visited my mother in Alaska all I remember seeing was some kind of birch and some kind of fir. Seemed like only 2 tree types in the whole state! This was southern Alaska, around Wasilla which is I think about an hour north of Anchorage.
FWIW, I have very rocky, clay soil here and black locust loves it as does the few honey locust that are taking off. Bedrock is an average of 2 feet down. It seems to like to mingle with mixed hardwoods as opposed to my red pine "plantation" planted back in the CCC days. Maybe the needles and stuff falling off the pines makes the soil bitter for the locust? Plenty of other mixed saplings are growing in between the rows of red pines but what few locust ever tried there died when young and around 5" diameter and 20 to 30' tall. Still standing tall and proud after 15 years or so, deader'n a door nail. I should make some tool handles outta them.

plowboyswr · July 05, 2015, 12:04:26 AM

Ox we have both here in SW Missouri and if there is one tree that I hate ,the way Magicman hates sweet gum, the honey locusts are it! I have had to fix more flats and cut more of them out of hay ground than I care to admit. If you look close at the picture I use for my avatar you'll see that the top of the load is black locust.

fishfighter · July 05, 2015, 06:03:41 AM

Larry, that is the locust I have, so I guess is HL. Is the lumber any good for anything? It looks nice. I like the wood grain in it.

WDH · July 05, 2015, 07:14:26 AM

Ox,

As you can see from the map on this page http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=40, black locust is most common in the Appalachian Mtns, and ranges naturally as far west as Eastern Oklahoma. However, due to planting, the range of black locust has increased across much of the Eastern US.

Honeylocust has a broader natural range and is more commom in the Mississippi Valley. http://dendro.cnre.vt.edu/dendrology/syllabus/factsheet.cfm?ID=30