Raw Locust

Use some science to help yourself out.

Chapter three will give you information on anticipated shrink. If, as it says, black locust shrinks 7% tangential, 4% radial, your worst case for a cross-grain bowl would be Desired wall thickness plus 1/2 the 7% of bowl diameter. Thus 10" bowl with 3/8 sides would give you a figure of ~5/8 to work with. That will be equalized in a month. Weigh your piece after roughing, protect from drastic humidity drop by either bagging or tenting (bottom's up) with air available to the inside, weigh after two weeks, then every three/four days after until two are the same.

Rick, it could be black locust, or it could be honey locust. Both are very hard, and honey locust is much prettier in my opinion. Black locust is usually bright green with black streaks running through it, while honey locust is honey colored. It is a good idea to turn it as soon as possible, not because of cracks, but because once it dries it is like turning cast iron. As far as being impatient, aren't we all? Keep roughing out a pile, and you will have dry bowls before yo know it. Alternatively, you can turn it real thin and let it warp.

DAGS on LDD, it'll let you turn the bowl as soon as you want or as late without anchorsealling it and it'll keep it from drying into concrete.

Dave in Fairfax

Tarping it at the north end of a building works well.

Don't know about black locust but I have turned a ton of honey locust. Out here in arid Colorado it dries too rapidly and cracks quickly unless you take immediate precautions. Where I live it is imperative to cut through the pith and seal the ends well before even loading it in the trailer to bring home. Store in a cool shaded place if you can't work with it right away. Roughing out immediately is by far the best, then drying in paper bags. I have better luck if I put sealer on the outside end grain before bagging, something I find unnecessary for most species. It dries quickly and should be ready to finish turn in less time than most hardwoods - maybe 6 months for bowls, 3 months for hollow forms. Honey locust has been very stable in my experience with less warping than average. The bark sticks fairly well so you could try some bark edge pieces if your taste runs in that direction.

-mike paulson, fort collins, co

Hi Denis

If you want some BIG black locust, you need to come to PA! I have two trees along one property line that must be close to 30" in diameter at the base. We had some limbs break off the one in a hurricane last year, and they had to be around 14" in diameter, and that was 25-30 feet off the ground.

This might make some people mad, but we just burn the stuff. It burns very hot and very long, and there is too much pretty wood waiting to be turned. Honey locust is a different story. That gets made into bowls and such, as it is in the pretty wood category. But we are spoiled here.

Hi Rick

Acacia or acacia like trees have generally hard and tough wood, Black locust and honey locust, kentucky coffee tree, etc. are like that. I have turned small and large honey locust and some black locust, honey locust tend to lean to a reddish brown color with some white and yellow streaks sometimes, I find that the color does differ from tree to tree, and the black locust had more of a yellowish color wood in the ones I turned. The wood turns OK its rather dense so it takes more power and you have to keep those tools sharp, it (honey locust) seems to be abrasive and dulls your tools imo. Drying has never been a problem for me, the wood is quite stable and does not distort much so you don't have keep to the 10% rule to closely, a 3/4" wall for a 12" bowl should be thick enough, unless you want to make a heavy walled bowl, stick the roughed out bowl in a paper bag and close, you can probably take it out in 4 or 5 weeks and just let it dry in the open air, not in the draft or sun/heat though, bowl can be finnish turned in 5 or 6 months I would estimate. Turning a natural edge bowl (looks good) would set you free from the returning the hard dense dry wood. There's some pic's of honey locust bowls in my albums, have a look if you like.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

snipped-for-privacy@veriz> I am going to retrieve a load of freshly cut Locust wood on Monday.

I'm originally from western PA and locust is common in that area and when it is dried is hard as a rock ,I used some old barn boards once that were locust to build a doghouse man ,I can tell you that it was heavy and it was tough to nail thru but very durable (if you keep it off the groundon some blocks or old bricks),some people were amazed it was boards made from locust but at one time those were the most prevelent trees around and it was cheaper to use them as barn siding then to use the other more common pine since at that time over a hundred years ago they used to frame houses up with oak (the carpenters then had to be supermen to nail into that stuff) but we had lots of trees and a couple of the locust in our yard was close to 3 feet in diameter at the bottom ,but the limbs would sometimes break off in a good storm . As a way to see how far we came the house I grew up in was built sometime in the 1880-1890 the frame was oak ,the trim oak or maple ,the stairs was redwood (and the one corner stair was close to 4 feet long against the next stair up and the outside edge was about 3 feet wide and that was a single piece of wood,and I believe the only pine in the construction was the slats for the plaster to adhere too ,but could be wrong ,sadly my father would not fix the roof and I found out that the house is now falling in on itself ,this is the house that we will never see built again for a long time to come if ever.