Has anyone worked with locust

We’ve got a some locust here and it’s harvested mostly for split rail fences, burns hot in a wood stove too.
I’ve not seen any furniture built with locust but have seen a lot of hand rails in log homes made with locust.
I’ve got a friend that uses it for hand rails.
We’ve got a cedar split rail fence around our home instead of the locust, was about 1/2 the price. Once either age here and turn grey I can’t tell the difference unless I get up close to it.

-- Bruce http://plans.testsitem3.info http://www.sawmillgirls.com

I’ve turned locust before… it is a beautiful wood, but is very hard on your tools. I’ve seen Locust logs buried in the ground for a fence before start to sprout new leaves… It grows like a weed and is tough as nails.

-- San Diego, CA

Brad, I would be interested in some for a small feature. Send me a PM if you are wanting to unload some.

I have not worked with it before, but like the look of it!

-- Randy "You are judged as much by the questions you ask as the answers you give..."

I’ve worked some with locust. The native north east stuff gets extremely hard when its dry. Keep your tools sharp. I once took the teeth off my chainsaw trying to cut a piece of old locust. Its great for fence post because it will outlast you even at the ground level. As Bruce said, it’ll burn forever in a wood stove.

That said it is a nice looking wood.

I’m not sure how you’ll cut reclaimed 100 year old locust. Plan on lots of sharpening.

-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)

I believe it would make one great workbench.

I didn’t think about that benchbuilder thats a great idea I just stated puting a shop together to and need a good workbench

It is gorgeous, but as stated above it destroys an edge. I cut some black locust for firewood, I had sparks from the chain as I cut it. I won’t use it, but some people do. It is a green hue when first sliced, then slowly turns dark, almost black, as a lot of time goes by. The workbench idea is a good one indeed.

-- Power tools put us ahead of the monkeys

I have turned some handles for chisels & files.
It is hard and looks good.

I’ll return with couple of pics.

-- I'll be a woodworker when I grow up. HHHOPKS

Black Locust are amazing trees. I planted four trees in 2003. Three of those trees are 4-5 inches in diameter now and 25 ft tall. I prune the lower limbs to make the trunks grow straight. They also have self seed seven or eight more trees that are already taller than I am. That doesn’t count the seedling I probably mow over. I am starting to get prunings big enough for tool handles and etc now.

I planted them to form kind of a hedgerow between my homestead and the cornfield. they are great at that.

-- My mother named me Hamilton, I have been trying to earn my nickname ever since.

We considered Black Locust to be pests, get one and they spring up everywhere. Cut one down and three more will grow back. They last forever as fence posts and so should make some exceptional outdoor furniture or decking.

-- -- Rick M.

We have two floors of Black Locust; it was nice to work with. It is a beautiful wood. We found that the wood milled very nicely. The aged color reminds me of the color of dark honey.
It is also known around our area of Eastern Virginia as “Poor Man’s Teak”.

-- Barbara

I’m thinking it might be as hard as bois d’arc. If so you’ll need some super sharp cutters.

-- Darrell, making more sawdust than I know what to do with

I think that the work bench is a great use for it.

-- Wood-Mizer LT15

If its green it mills nice. I may have mis-read your post. For some reason I was thinking it was reclaimed. If its green, mill it now. sparks when the chain saw hits a dry locust chunk is not an exaggeration.

-- There is nothing like the sound of a well tuned hand plane. - http://timetestedtools.wordpress.com (timetestedtools at hotmail dot c0m)

The logs have been holding up a barn for almost a 100 years I cut this little 20” peace on the band saw and the saw did like tjat much its the hardest thing iv ever cut