I am going to be sharpening the chain saw and cutting some wood for bows this spring.  We have plenty of hedge and hickory laying around.  We also have a ton of Honey Locust.  I know the locust is used for bows, but curious what it is best for.  Is it a good core wood, belly or back?

im pretty sure everything but belly. they say locust frets easily , but the honey locust i have has not fretted yet , and i have messed with some split pieces shaped roughly and abused.

if you dont want it , i do!

If I had osage and hickory I'd stick with them unless you just want to play with the honey locust. Honey locust and black locust are two entirely different woods with two entirely different sets of characteriatics.
 Honey locust will make a good selfbow but having never used it I can't tell you how it would work in a lam bow.

I know we will be cutting honey locust because we need to clear some away from field edges.  Those thorns are nasty on tires.  So I figured I would cut some up while we have them down and rip some slats out of them.  Hedge is always easy to get to and love working with it, but I don't want every single bow to be just hedge.  If the locust will work for core wood, then I can cover it up with something else.

It should be fine for cores but having never used it that is only a guess.

Matt, I know Honey Locust is used as a laminate on the Howard Hill bows. They advertise that it is one of the pretter woods that looks like dripping honey.

Black locust is the one most used for bows. Honey locust is a softer wood, don't think it would make a good bow. A word of caution when working with black locust. The sapwood has toxic properties and I hear that the wet sap can be absorbed through the skin or if dry can be incidentally inhaled while removing it. Indications are that it affects the cardio vascular system and has been known to cause heart problems. Don't know how much you would have to absorb before a problem arises, just something to think about. So use your PPE for safety!

Honey locust has a specific gravity of .66 if that helps any and black is .69. I know black checks easily while drying as well so keep and eye on that also.

Duncan,
Thanks for the warning on black.  That is really good to know.  The piece of black I have now is a rough cut 1x from a mill.  I don't think there is any sapwood on it. but if there is, I will be careful with it.  

Most of the locust I know to cut is honey but I am sure i will find some black somewhere.  But dang those honey locust have some major thorns on them all over them.  I have two tree stands in honey locust and they were fun putting up.

I carried a honey locust thorn tip in one of my knees for several years, until it finally worked its way out with the help of a needle and some peroxide. Those thorns are bad news!

i had to use a razor blade on the ones in my hand. i thought they just poked me , but the blister said otherwise.


i have been messing with the honey i have , and its pretty stout stuff. a 3/4" wide , <3/4" thick split yielded an 18# stick. that was just a scrap , its going to get cut to size and cleaned up for my youngun , but its thiiiin...

youre runnin into the same problem i had/have. i dont mind the stuff , but people run from it , so theres not a whole lot of info.


-hov