Locust tree

[Dahl Troy Perry]

I have a freind that is getting ready to cutdown a Locust tree (thorn tree) about 3ft dia at base said I could have what wood I want the rest going in the wood stove .Is locust a pretty wood grain or is it worth messing with don't want to save it if it's just plain jane wood never looked at the wood before???

[charlie knighton]

it has a nice grain pattern, that is a very large locust, nothing that big around here

i believe the honey locust is the preferred turning locust, i have never seen the black or water locust that grows around swamps

[Dahl Troy Perry]

We have lots of locust here this one has thorns 8" long all up the trunk some how they like to find threr way into our tires when we ride in the woods.

[Brian Brown]

Locust is beautiful wood. A bit more challenging to turn than some but looks great. The first time I loaded a chunk on my lathe I thought I was turning a lava rock.

[Gary Herrmann]

Is that the same thing as honey locust? If so, get all you can. Beautiful wood.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Yup, Honey locust can have large branching thorns, and whorled pea-pod like seed cases.
But some have no thorns and some have no thorns or seed pods.
Those trees without the seeds and thorns are the ones used for landscaping and street trees, around here there are thousands planted along the city streets.
The wood is very nice colored, reddish with yellowish sapwood, turns very nice when still green, but gets quite hard when dry, I will add a couple of pictures to give you some idea of what the wood looks like.
Oh and it is open pores wood, but not as open as Red Oak or White Ash.

[Tom Lewis]

The bowl on the right is honey locust, the two on the left are cottonwood.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Pretty wood. Turn it green because when dry is some hard stuff requiring sharp tools.

[Tom Sontag]

Just FYI, honeylocust (the one with the long thorns) is not really in the locust genus.

Honeylocust (one word) is Gleditsia triacanthos.
Black locust is Robinia pseudoacacia.

In terms of lumber, both are worthwhile, with your specimen offering a bit more color and visual interest.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Dahl - it's free? At the very worse, it is wood you can practice on! Get all you can! Looking forward to seeing photos of your haul!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

The Black Locust and Clammy Locust as well as the Honey-Locust and Water-locust are all part of the same very large family of seed plants, something in the order of 20.000 species, depending who you want to believe, the Devils claw Acacia and other all belong to it as well, the Acacia genus by itself has something like 1200 species of trees and shrubs, there's a very large number of trees and shrubs in Australia, all the "Wattle" trees are Acacias, there are something like 600 of them over there, very many of these trees have similar wood to the Honey-Locust and Black Locust etc..
Good turning wood :D

[Jerry Rhoads]

Honey Locust is a very beautiful wood. It is one of my best sellers.
It will beat you to near death when finish turning dry bowls. Cutting on the inside can get to skiping. Use scary sharp tools and some hand back presure.
It is the heavest wood that I have used for bowls, set it next to the Catalpa ( light weight wood ) bowls and watch peoples reactions when they pick them up.

Jerry

[Rick Gibson]

for a couple more examples. A honey locust pen standing in a block of honey locust. The second is a locust pen (not honey locust) Dry you would swear you were turning a stone. It came from a piece of crotch and the photo doesn't show it but just to look at it and not touch it you would swear there were ridges in that grain. Get all you can.

[Quinn McCarthy]

There is a cultivated variation of honey locust that that was bread several years ago that doesn't have thorns. Usually you see these trees in urban settings. The thorns on the honey locust are modified leaves.

Quinn

Forester by Day
Woodworker by NIght.

[Scott Lux]

As everyone has said, take all you can get. It's a pretty wood. I think it would be spectacular as a mallet, except that it might require two hands. :p

Watch yourself with the dust. I feel like I have a cold for 2-3 days after turning any. It has a smell similar to allspice or nutmeg.

A log that size really should be made into flooring. The stuff wears like stone, but it's difficult to work so many mills won't make flooring out of it. I intend to do the kitchen floor in honeylocust one day. But that'll have to wait until it starts raining bags of money.

Lux

[Reed Gray]

Like others have said, you have the wild version of the honey locust. domesticated/hybrid version is a Moraine Locust. I have never seen one that big, but I wasn't into wood when I lived in Missery. Wonderful wood, open grained, nice smell, and the color is excellent. It draws a lot of attention at a show, and sells well. Trees with seed pods can cause allergies, some thing about legumes. I wish I lived closer, I would get all I could haul. I have heard that the game animals, and live stock love the seeds and pods, and that they have been used in beer brewing.
robo hippy