Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Inuumarue on April 06, 2014, 09:51:39 am
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I've been cleaning windfalls off the fence lines for the farmer behind my home and came across this guy that has been down for a while. The bark has rotted off in most places exposing a very white sapwood. I thought it was going to be too rotted to use, but after I started cutting I think I will get two good 8ft logs. Do you guys have any idea? The color reminds me of cherry, but the bark has me totally confused. I'm in SW Virginia if that helps narrow things down.
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/inuumarue/Bows/659be09f-b2c7-48b9-8e3b-f6864462f86a.jpg)
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/inuumarue/Bows/86a1a99a-e0fb-4cd8-abad-c5f40c09fc08.jpg)
(http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b152/inuumarue/Bows/ffd480ab-1bd0-436c-aedb-500ba8786b83.jpg)
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Looks like dead locust to me.
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Locust
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Locust? As in: "honey locust"?
This sure doesn't look like black locust to me...I don't know about honey locust; could be. Do you see thorns on the trunk or branches?
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Not honey locust for sure. It would have clusters of thorns all along the trunk plus honey locust would have rotted already.
Smell the wood. If it smells like cat pee it is locust for sure but I can tell by the look that it is locust.
I personally would not build a bow with dead locust I find around here. The early wood rots here making delamination a real possibility. Dead locust in your area might be different.
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To me, this is not a black locust for the following reasons:
- The bark does not look like black locust at all; then it should be courser with deep furrows.
- The heartwood is too brown. Black locust should be more greenish/yellow.
- The heartwood/sapwood boundary is too sharp for black locust, which usually has one transition ring.
- The sapwood consists of too many growth rings. (I keep finding three to five rings in my black locust.)
I've not worked with honey locust myself, but I wouldn't rule this wood species out based on the fact that these few pictures don't show any thorns on the trunk. Thorns could still be present on the rear of the trunk, for all I know. "honey locust would have rotted already" is also a bit of a false statement, since you don't know how long this log has been dead on the ground.
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I do know it has a poison ivy vine on it. ;D Split it out and lets see what the inside looks like.
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That's honey locust. The sunburst variety doesn't have the huge thorns covering the trunk. It is not very rot resistant and not very good bow wood when handled correctly. There have been a few nice bows made from it, but its pretty brittle in the best of conditions. Josh
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Definitley Honey Locust
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Chinese elm has a lot of reddish core, and the bark on the smaller limb also resembles elm.
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Honey locust for sure. Not all trees have the thorns, that's how the "city" version originated..
gleditsia triacanthos
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Looks like the "honey locust" (Gleditsia triacanthos ) - thornless version. There are many trees that do not produce the thorns. There were 1000's of the "thornless" planted 50-60 years ago in Nebraska as part of the shelterbelt programs. Many of the shelterbelts I hunt have them planted in nice neat rows.
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The wood and bark look like honey locust to me. I know there is a thornless version out there. Chances are if the bark has fallen off, it may not be good. Cut out a piece and try a bend test on it. Might save you a lot of extra work.
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Honey locust for sure. Not all trees have the thorns, that's how the "city" version originated..
gleditsia triacanthos
Thank you Joe, my dendrology class studied many honey locust side by side with and without thorns. Many students missed the thornless variety because it didn't have the three thorn cluster everywhere.
Tracy
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Well I'm glad I'm not the only one that was having trouble! I thought black locust at first, but there is a locust fence post with bark next to it that I could compare to. I had skipped completely over honey locust because of the spikes and was working on convincing myself it was a cherry of some sort.
It seems to have been dead for a while, but the branches and root ball kept everything up off the wet ground. It gets morning sun exposure and is on the bottom of a wind swept valley, maybe the combination kept this one from rot. I'm not sure if it would pass a bend test, but it did pass the chainsaw test, cuts like a rock compared to everything else I was clearing. I'be got a load of Box elder that will go to the mill, I'll take this as well. Even if it wont make a good bow, I can probably find a use for it somewhere, I've got two logs one I can split, the other I will mill to boards.
Hrothgar, elm would be fun! But I think you're looking at a box elder. The stuff grows like weeds and gets huge here. The biggest tree I worked on this week was a 40" diameter box elder that fell on the fence line. I'll be trying to get some good slabs out of it for a coffee table or something...