Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bubby on January 23, 2011, 02:18:25 am

Title: black locust?
Post by: bubby on January 23, 2011, 02:18:25 am

got some black locust cut, the two half's are5' and the other is 6', think I can get a 29" draw from the short ones or size them down for billets? (http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/bubncheryl/blade013.jpg)
(http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/bubncheryl/blade012.jpg)
(http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt320/bubncheryl/blade014.jpg)

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: Pat B on January 23, 2011, 02:24:15 am

Are you sure that is black locust? Might be the pics but it doesn't look like it to me.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: bigcountry on January 23, 2011, 02:30:08 am

Quote from: Pat B on January 23, 2011, 02:24:15 am

Are you sure that is black locust? Might be the pics but it doesn't look like it to me.

I was kinda thinking the same thing.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: aero86 on January 23, 2011, 02:41:59 am

i personally dontknow what the interior of it looks like, but that whole log has thorns at the bottom of it in that pic.. unless im just seeing things..

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: bubby on January 23, 2011, 02:53:17 am

pretty shure it's locust,my tree book is old and the pics are b&w, what don't look right to you guy's,  no thorns at the bottom thats actually light in a shadow, but in the pic it does look like thorns

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: crooketarrow on January 23, 2011, 08:37:33 am

   Yea BL is really yellow. Looks like it could be hornbeam.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: jthompson1995 on January 23, 2011, 09:06:05 am

The color of the heartwood and the bark look a lot like honey locust.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: luke the drifter on January 23, 2011, 09:21:52 am

did it propellor twist on you when you split it?  i could not tell from the pictures.  i would love to work with black locust but have never had any luck getting anything straight and not twisted.  i do not have the experience to steam bend, heat gun, or weights options to take the twist out of a twisted stave.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: Hrothgar on January 23, 2011, 09:35:32 am

Looks like BL to me, I think the core wood is usually brown.

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: sailordad on January 23, 2011, 10:27:02 am

from what i can see of the bark
it doesnt look like BL,could be HL wit them big ol thorns like that jmho

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: nclonghunter on January 23, 2011, 10:36:22 am

That's locust bark, but it does favor the honey locust I have cut, which would be my guess. It will make a good bow when dry.

Have fun with it!

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: John K on January 23, 2011, 11:30:50 am

Could be BLK Locust, i cut some last year that didnt have the real yellow heart wood, i think it's the kind of soil it grows in. Woring on a piece of it now.

Good luck with your bow i think you could 29 with the shorter ones, just keep your bow wide and flip the tips alittle to help with the string angle.

Have fun !

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: Pat B on January 23, 2011, 11:36:04 am

Honey locust has a relatively smooth bark(some with thorn clusters and some without). BL has a furrowed bark that is usually darker in color but the color is not a good ID criteria. The sapwood of BL is creamy white and the heartwood is from a yellow green color to a slightly darker olive green color. Also because BL is so dense it would be more polished in appearance on the end cuts and not "fuzzy" like this wood appears to me.
   What ID book do you have, Buddy?  Can you get pics of a similar tree so we can see the limb structure and crown? Are there roselike thorns on the smaller branches? Did you cut the tree yourself as a living tree?
  I'm not trying to hassle you. Wood type effects bow design so proper ID is necessary for successful bow building.  ;)

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: fusizoli on January 23, 2011, 11:39:17 am

Japanese locust or Bl ? This is the question!  ;D

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: Pat B on January 23, 2011, 11:42:47 am

fusizoli, do you have a botanical name fro Japanese locust?

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: John K on January 23, 2011, 11:43:53 am

Here is the ones i cut last Feb.
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll62/johnkeehn/SPLIT.jpg)
(http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll62/johnkeehn/STARTINGSPLIT.jpg)

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: fusizoli on January 23, 2011, 12:58:13 pm

That looking Sophora japonica to me.

(http://www.delmagyar.hu/viragzik_a_japanakac_besargult_szeged/cikk/211/2106914/2.jpg)

(http://www.terasz.hu/termekadb2/image/3/Sophora_japonica_01.jpg)


It is less dense than BL. Much less.... :-\

Bowyers like to use here for glass laminate core. It has nice colors. Dark lines in the early-late border.

There are very tight rings wit lot of early wood on the first pics, thats not good.

I use it for gripps only, but ve never gave it a try (it faild on my fingernail test :) ). I would try to sell those for laminated bows....

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: bigcountry on January 23, 2011, 02:14:08 pm

Now this is black locust
(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/Trees/IMG_0004.jpg)

(http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/nn73/bigcountry_ky/Trees/Locust1.jpg)

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: bubby on January 23, 2011, 02:16:43 pm

thank's for the input guy's, Pat I'll get some pics of some standing trees

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: bubby on January 23, 2011, 02:21:51 pm

big country, you're pics came up and my wife said, that looks just like what you got, I think maybe to much bright sun in the pics, it was 70 deg. yesterday. I know california weather sucks. ;D

Title: Re: black locust?
Post by: fusizoli on January 23, 2011, 03:55:46 pm

(http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRYyPToIv7nxMtUNjtH8N0rjrbI49b5Gt40UT0m65-PuDZzuUugisJHYj44Q)

(http://www.rarewoodsandveneers.com/images/productimages/rarewood/Sophora%20japonica,%20Chinese%20Pagoda%20Tree,%20China,%20Oregon.jpg)