Black Locust

[RyanR]

I am new to the PA message board and was looking for some opinions on black locust vs osage.  I have mainly worked with Osage and I have come across a good supply of locust.  Just wondering the charateristics ...how short can you go with a 27 inch draw. Is all locust created equal? Hopefully this doesn't create any heated debates.  Lol

[Joec123able]

Wouldn't compare black locust to Osage

[huisme]

I wouldn't say that BL is better than Osage, but that's mostly because Osage is more versatile and forgiving than BL.

BL has been my fastest bow wood, and it's made my favorite bows, but it's also failed on me quite a bit.

If I had one chance to make one bow, I'd pick Osage. If I had five chances to make as many bows as I could , I'd go BL.

[RyanR]

If I had access to Osage other than buying a stave I would use it almost exclusively but I want to cut my own wood.

[DLH]

You may be able to find some of Blackhawks posts he has mentioned his experience with locust a few times on here I have stumbled up on searching for info on locust myself I think one thread may have been fairly recent too I can't remember to be honest though

[DLH]

Found a good thread this is one of the ones i was thinking of

http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,41370.0.html

[Badly Bent]

What Huisme said kinda sums up my feelings about black locust. I love osage too but not sure that I don't love locust
just as much. Even though I've had my share of failures with locust the ones that survived are among my favorites.
I'd even say that I would sooner part with my best osage bow before my best locust bow.
Check out the link that DLH provided for answers to your locust questions, some good info and opinions on that thread.

[Thesquirrelslinger]

I like locust but its harder to work than almost any other wood i have...
and it fails more often than any wood except willow ;0

[tattoo dave]

Black locust is awesome! So is osage. That should pretty much sum it up. Not sure how short you can go, I'm sure someone will chime in with an answer.

Tattoo Dave

[JonW]

For a 27" draw I wouldn't go less than 60" for a stiff handle. For a bendy 54" or so.

[Pat B]

I think locust works(with draw knife, rasp and scraper) similar to osage but because of it brittleness in compression I'd go at least 10% over length and width as an osage bow of the same weight.
 Take it real slow and steady with locust. You don't want to hinge it.

[wood_bandit99]

U should make it a half inch bigger every where as far as design goes. Then trap the back to account for the weak compression but with lighter limbs. Just my 2 cents

[mikekeswick]

Why on earth can't you compare b.locust to osage?? I seriously don't know why people are so hung up on osage? Sure it makes a great bow but most osage bows i've seen are overbuilt. If people stop overbuilding osage then there would be more failures with it. Osage can be as narrow as ipe yet a lot of people make osage bows the sort of width that a good elm (or similar) bow should be. This just one of my observations over the years.
B'locust is up there with any wood and will make flat out fantastic bows. Compared to an osage bow of the same length it should be about 30% wider.

[Joec123able]

Why on earth can't you compare b.locust to osage?? I seriously don't know why people are so hung up on osage? Sure it makes a great bow but most osage bows i've seen are overbuilt. If people stop overbuilding osage then there would be more failures with it. Osage can be as narrow as ipe yet a lot of people make osage bows the sort of width that a good elm (or similar) bow should be. This just one of my observations over the years.
B'locust is up there with any wood and will make flat out fantastic bows. Compared to an osage bow of the same length it should be about 30% wider.

Who cares really ? It Just so happens I like the look of wide limbs around 2 inchs so wheather it's Osage or elm I'm gonna make it 2 inchs wide it's personal preference just because Osage can handle being narrow doesn't mean every one has to build there Osage bows narrow

[RyanR]

All this information should help. I don't plan on going shorter that 60" and I like a wide limb bow so this should work well for me. Thanks for all the information.