Trad Gang

OK guys, I've got some questions to bombard you guys with. I've got a locust tree in my yard that's gotten big enough that it needs to go. The bottom 10 feet or so look pretty straight, so if the locust borers haven't gotten it I hope I can get some nice staves out of it. BTW, I've never made a stave bow before, and I just got into bowyering a couple weeks ago. But I figure that I better get the wood seasoning now.

Anyways, here's where the questions start: First, is black locust the same thing as yellow locust?  :dunno:   I've been raised calling this type of tree yellow locust but I haven't seen the term anywhere online, just black and honey locust. It has leaves that are built on the same model as hickory leaves, but each individual leaf is oval and a little bigger than a grape. And the wood is hard as $#&%@. Second, if this wood is black locust, is it a good selfbow wood? And third, how should I prep the log for seasoning? Any help/advice on locust wood is welcome.

Hey Buzz-

I have read lots that black locust is a very good bow wood.  I just cut a black locust down.  The log was split into staves using wedges.  The bark was removed from the staves and the sap wood and ends were sealed with wood glue.  When we split the log we noticed that the wood was infested with locust borers (I just put up a post regarding best way to manage the issue...don't want them damaging any of my other staves).  After the staves were sealed, put them in a dry spot to season.  I plan to cut one stave to a bow blank (sap wood) and put on a cull to dry...the other I will get to a growth ring, cut to a blank, and put on a cull to dry.  The blank will dry much faster with the bulk of the wood removed.

This will be my first time working with black locust...learning as I go but trying not to re-invent the wheel.

Hope this helps!

Dino

Well, to my knowledge locust borers don't "spread" because the adults lay eggs in living trees. I may be completely mistaken though. But even if this tree ends up being useless for bows, it'll make the best bonfire on the planet. Locust wood has a BTU density equal to anthracite coal.

Buzz, Black locust and yellow locust are the same(Robina pseudoacacia)
 Becareful burning locust in a wood stove. Because of its high BTU properties it can burn out a wood stove. I mix it with red oak(my favorite fire wood)and that makes a great wood stove fuel.. Some of the old timers here in the mountains call old black locusts yellow locust.
 Black locust can make very good bows but even though it is one of the strongest in compression North American hardwoods it is brittle and will fret if your tillering is off. Read George Tsouklas' website. Locust is one of George's primary bow woods.

I don't have a wood stove. I use a fire ring, make a campfire  :)  It makes great charcoal, too.

locust is the perfect bow tree. makes great bows. but there are some problems, you know, nothing comes for free. the nots and holes are disturbing the unity of the stave or board when you are making it. also during the seasoning you have to split it properly otherwise there will be cracks all over.
unfortunatly i have cut it as board like 2cm*4cm*along, all of them twisted while drying. i am using them know as handle parts.

very good elasticity and hardness values.

best.

Black locust has white flowers in spring. Honey locust has pink flowers. HL has thorns all along the trunk and branches while BL does not on the trunk but does on branches. HL is not as good as BL. Jawge

How should I split it? Just quarter the whole log?

If it is fresh cut I'd split the log in half and store it in a dry, well ventelated area for a month or so then split it out into staves.

Right now it's still a tree. I don't want to cut it until I get something to seal the ends. Can you use polyurethane for that, or is there something else that works better?

Buzz, you can use almost anything, even housepaint.  It's easy to dip the ends in an old gallon paint can, though I would do a few coats...

Thanks for all the great info guys  :)  I guess it's time to crack out my bow saw and splitting maul and cuss up a storm getting this tree cut down and split.  :knothead:

Well, I cut it down  :)  It's got growth rings about 3/4 the size of a dime. I'd post pics, but I don't have a photobucket acount  

LOL you have the internet...start a PB account.

Buzz, I've never made a bow from locust but I have cut down several and split/peeled one not long ago. My best advice is to follow Pat's advice about splitting it in half then let it dry before splitting staves out of it. Problem is if you debark you need to seal the back immediately or it will start checking all to hellanback. I walked away for about 45 min. after debarking a black locust stave and it already had so many splits in the back that it would only make a fancy walking staff at this point. Seal the ends with the thickest stuff you can find so they don't check real bad.

I've got about a 9 foot log split in half in my yard that i'm goign to put about 8 coats of polyurethane on today. I split it last night. I'm gonna leave the bark on, because this tree is a good 13" so it would be a LOT of work and use a lot of varnish to seal it. How long should it season before I split it into staves?

You only coated the butt ends, right Buzz?

I haven't coated any of it yet, but I just plan on coating the but ends, yes. Why?

You said you would have to use a lot of varnish, thought maybe you were coating the whole stave, LOL! Couple of coats of varnish should be sufficient to seal the butt ends IMO.

I meant I would have to use a lot of varnish if I took the bark off.