First Resaw of HoneyLocust

Beautiful grain pattern. Whatcha going to use it for?
(I don’t know much about the building qualities of locust trees…actually I don’t know much about any trees for that matter, haha)

-- Chris ~~Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

@SSMDad…not really sure??? Mother in law had the limb fall during a storm and I graciously took it off her hands. I think that some of the larger pieces, once milled, would make nice door panles for an entertainment center. I have also been looking into getting a lathe, probably some bowls, platters and pens in there somewhere. As far as the building capabilities, from what I read, honey locust is fairly strong and moderately hard, though I would be interested to see what those that have worked with it have to say.

-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!

Turning is the first thing I thought about when I saw it. It would look great in any of the forms. Please do share once you use it for something.

-- Chris ~~Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past."

Honey locust is an often overlooked wood. I personally like it along with black locust. I have a sawyer aquaintence who built his entire kitchen cabinets and living room furniture from Honey Locust. It is gorgeous. It has a slight orange to the finished wood. I am not sure if some versions of poly exaggerate the orange or not.
Good find, no go get the rest of the tree! Go on, she’ll never miss it!
BTKS

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

Very beautiful wood. I will have to see if I can find some here locally….

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

Joe, that is a nice looking piece of wood. If you are not careful you are going to inspire me to start cutting stuff up to see what is inside. Look out wood piles and fallen trees!

Very nice looking wood! If you do not bookmatch those you should be flogged with a wet noodle.
Seriously, whatever you decide to make with that wood should turn out beautiful.

If that is from a limb, you will have to be careful about how it dries – harder species plus reaction wood can create some real difficulties. The two halves are still large enough for it to hold together right now, particularly because the natural structure is still in place outward. Panels could be quite difficult.

@Arminius….I’ve read that the limbs (which this is from) can cause issues due to the upper and lower portion of the limb having different stresses. I only run a few limb pieces through the bandsaw, but I’ve had pretty decent luck just anchor sealing the ends and letting them sit on their sides in the garage for a while. After about 6-8 months I usually cut through the pith and allow them to dry longer…...so far this has worked out pretty well. We will have to see how these turn out. If they work out alright, I would like to try a small jewelry box for my daughter and a turkey call (box-type) for my father-in-law…....

-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!

Honey locust is very hard but the green-orange shade of the wood is nice. I have not had good luck with limb logs though. They can dry with a lot of arch some-times. Use a good sharp cutting tool and locust will make a nice project.

-- Just another beautiful day in paradise.

+1 ratchet .. bookmatch those puppies.

-- "there aren’t many hand tools as awe-inspiring as the #8 jointer. I mean, it just reeks of cast iron heft and hubris" - Smitty

I’ll make sure I do some bookmatching…...I cut a few last week through the pith to aid in drying and supposedly relieve some of the internal stresses of limb logs (so I’ve read).....a few contained some pretty nice feathered grain in and around the crotches….gonna have to buy a lathe this winter and try my hand at bowl turning.

-- Measuring twice and cutting once only works if you read the tape correctly!