'Anybody feeling Thorny'

[Tony Greenway]

Today I went and loaded this burl from my neighbor's pasture here in the north Ga mountains. I'm trying to figure out what kind of tree it is. It's covered with 2" to 3" log thorns shown in the photos. Maybe someone out there can identify this mystery wood for me. The twisted looking wood in the second photo's background also has a question mark:confused:, the sawed end grain is very fuzzy. Guesses anyone?
Also any suggestions on ways to cut the burl up to yield the most NE blanks will be welcomed.........Tony

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

some sort of Locust tree? we have a bunch of locusts around that have huge thorns - first I thought it was a thorn bush that had somehow grown over or from the tree, then I realized it *was* the tree.....

[Mike Spanbauer]

Thorns look like a Russian Olive tree I used to have, but I can't say that's what the bark looks like.

Interesting piece though!

mike

[charlie knighton]

i would guess honey locust from the torns

[Nathan Hawkes]

Without a doubt, its honey locust. There isn't a single tree in your parts that I'm aware of that has thorns like honey locust. I'm sitting here looking at a few thorns I have on my desk from a honey locust tree---unmistakable.

[Scott Lux]

+1 for the honeylocust. gleditsia triacanthos if you want to search for species info. The wood is pretty, very hard, and prone to cracking. It's also ridiculously durable. Think 80+ years as an untreated fencepost!

I'd love to make a deck out of it. It would outlast the house.

Lux

[Kaptan J.W. Meek]

Yep.. Honey Locust.. turns good.. but watch for checks.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The wood with thorns is Honey Locust, AKA Thorny Locust, (Gleditsia triacanthos) hard and heavy wood, very decay resistant.
I've turned quite few pieces of it, I like it, though it is hard wood when dry, but it turns well, I didn't have any trouble with it splitting on me, but than I seldom have that.
It has a yellowish sapwood and reddish heartwood, if you have a close look you'll see a distinct darker and lighter part in every year-ring, as the early wood will be light and the late-wood dark.
I'll add a picture of two of my turnings, I also still have a large 22" Honey Locust bowl here in my hallway, (LOML says not for sale :D) it came from a very large 40"D at the stump Honey Locust, but the bottom end was all hollowed out by some very small ants, the acid from the ants had turned the wood all a almost pits black color, and it stank.
Have fun turning it, and save some of those large spines.

[David Christopher]

Good gloat Tony, how much of it did you get

[Bernie Weishapl]

Great gloat. Congrats on the wood. I agree with it being honey locust.

[Dewey Torres]

If it is anything like the Honey Locust I just roughed out it is hard as a rock when dry. Felt like I was turning a stone.

[Tony Greenway]

Thanks for the info everyone, now I know what wood to write on the bottom of the bowls.
Though I would still like to get some cutting suggestions on the burl, I've never tackled an uncut one before, just bought chunks off ebay.

David, so far I have harvested just some large limbs off the tree, it's maybe enough to make 15-20 bowls, the 18" trunk is still standing, and I can go and get more limbs with burls off the tree as needed..........Tony

[Barry Richardson]

Cant say as I've ever seen locust burl, please show us a picture of something you turn with it, bet it's pretty!:)

[Steve Schlumpf]

The photos of the wood with the built in spikes looks like something you would have harvested out of some haunted forest! Yikes! Nothing like that grows around my area! Looking forward to seeing what you turn out of everything - especially the burl!

[Burt Alcantara]

I get a bit of both honey and black locust. But, around here, they don't have spikes.

Burt

[Quinn McCarthy]

Tony,

That is certified as a honey locust tree by a forester who has had to put his diameter tape around trees like that.

Those thorns are actually modied laves.

You can find thornless honey locust that have been cultivated for urban use.

Hope that helps.

Quinn

[Reed Gray]

You have the 'wild' type of honey locust. There are a couple of hybrid strains of domesticated honey locust (called Morraine I think) that don't have the thorns. The wild ones don't get very big, but the hybrids can get very large. Game animals love the seeds, and seed pods, and I even heard that some people use them to flavor and sweeten home brewed beer.
robo hippy

[Scott Lux]

But you never see a squirrel run up a honeylocust tree. I wonder why that is :p

[David Harmon]

Its a Honeylocust dude! Someone said it may be russian olive but it is a light wood not dark like a russian olive. Hope that helps.

[George Guadiane]

It's Honey Locust, the burl will have cream and pink colorations, along with some WILD patterns.
Be WARNED, I turned a burl bowl like this VERY thin and it warped and cracked all over the place. I turned another piece about 3/8 inches thick and it only went out of shape a bit. I have one piece left that has been sitting for over a year while I figure out what to do with it, in hopes of getting a complete success - probably a hollow form, turned twice.
There is a lot of stress in the burls that I found on the tree I got, but the wood is REALLY PRETTY! And it turns nicely when it's wet. Have Fun.

[Tony Greenway]

George, you're sure right about the stress grain in that wood. I mounted a large piece of it in the stronghold to NE center core it, everything was going fine, I had gone about 1" or so deep when it got a big catch. The 25lb blank jumped up in the air and came back down on top of my thumb which was holding the tool rest steady.:eek: Let me tell you, it didn't feel good at all.:mad: I'll probably work on some smaller stuff awhile before mounting that one again........Tony

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ouch! Sounds like that is gonna leave a mark!

[Dale Gregory]

Honey Locus for sure! Nice and Narley! Have fun, can't wait to see the grain! DG