I was given a few 6-7" OD black locust limps. They were piled to dry in a shed for a few years without end sealer. Some have cracks at the end. They told me that the cracks only run a few inches inside. I do not know what would the best use for that type of wood on a lathe. Maybe some one with more experience can comment on this type of wood for turning.
My dad (approaching 70) suggested it for vise screws. They were not allowed to turn BL on the wood lathes at his high school; had to take it down to the metal lathes. It's tough stuff - I've been trying to find some locally without a lot of luck. Should make a pretty mean mallet, too.
Lawrence
--Pownal, Vermont, USA
snip
Best thing you can do with it is send it to me. :-) I'll gladly take it off your hands.
Dan Patterson
L'aissez les bon temps tourner!
Member AAW since 2003
snipped-for-privacy@bellsouth.net
Black Locust is pretty good to turn. I haven't turned a lot of it as it usually just ends up being burned. It's certainly hard and takes a great shine. One cool thing about it is that it is florescent in blacklight. Shines a brilliant green. I don't know much about it's shock resistence but it might do well as a mallet. I've used it for pens and small stuff only.
- Andrew
It has a strong grain and turns very nicely. I just posted a photo of a pair of Black Locust Candle Sticks on alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking.
Matt Heffron
Makes good woodturning tool handles.
Hi Denis, I turn a lot of black locust and honey locust since it's very common in my area. It turns very nicely when it's green, it gets harder as it dries. The hardest type of wood to turn (almost any species) is the 1/2 dry wood. If it's been outside and still in a decent length (2 ft.), the center will be easy to turn.
The farmers here use locust for fence posts because they don't rot and just get rock hard with age. I turn weed pots from these fence posts and they are right! But it is a very nice wood that takes a finish beautifully; as one poster already mentioned.
Have Fun.
Ruth
Fence posts - they will last 150 years!
"Denis Marier" wrote in news:KEFec.17406$ snipped-for-privacy@ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca:
Boatbuilders like it for boat framing parts (e.g., knees).
Black Locust turnns beautifully when green, but is very stringy, dusty and unpleasant to turn when dry. It rates right up there as one of the hardest woods in N. America. I've turned tool handles with it, and its a favorite for green turned bowls, vases and hollow forms. Dry it very slowly -- does tend to split.
Safe Spinning,
Brad Vietje Thetford, VT
I assume the wood you are calling black locust is in fact Robinia pseudo-acacia, so called because the leaves bear a similarity to Acacia leaves. For some reason this wood is generally (and wrongly) called acacia in the UK. These trees are often found in gardens and parks over here so often end up being available to turners.
Personally I have turned (and sold) a lot of bowls made from this wood and love to take advantage of the contrast between the heart and sap wood. It is also worth taking advantage of the little burrs it is susceptible to as features on the rims of bowls.
Small sections 3ins or 4ins in diameter I use for the little natural edged trumpet vases I make. There is one on my web site at
Larger sections 6ins or more in diameter I use for little (and occasionally quite large) natural edged bowls. see
You can also use the very thick bark to great effect, but to best take advantage of this you really need to rough turn it from wet and return once dried. There was a particularly spectacular example of this turned by Nick Arnull in the AWGBs 1999 top 50. see Nicks font page to see it
The pieces you have will probably have lost 3ins or 4ins off each end but the inner part should be sound. I would use the bits up to 4ins in diameter for vas type forms and spindles and anything larger I would split in half for bowls.
Good advice to follow though is to ware a good mask and blow the dust out of the workshop or filter it, but please don't breath it is not nice stuff :-(
Hope this gives you an insight into the possibilities
Greg
Gregory Moreton RPT
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