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Thread: Thorny Honey Locust Bowl

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    E. Central IL
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    132

    Thorny Honey Locust Bowl

    An ~8" dia branch came down last spring from my Honey Locust tree back by my woods property line. I got out the chain saw and cut the fallen branch into mostly firewood for seasoning but split a couple of the largest log billets into candidate bowl turning pieces and let dry some in my garage for the past 8 months. I prepped one of the half log billets today and turned it ... tough stuff, but I really like the colorful grain pattern. Thought I'd share some pics.


    Tom
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    A Honey Locust tree has many large thorns. Leaves are typical of locust trees in general ... small and oval shaped. Here are two photos of a Honey Locust tree that I downloaded from online ... my tree is just like what is shown in the photos. Nasty looking thorns.





    Here are two photos of the finished 6" dia x 3" deep bowl. The first pic has the bowl sitting beside a half-log billet from the same tree showing the wide yellowish sapwood in contrast to the reddish-brown heartwood. One of the ~3" long thorns is still attached to a tough stem on the side of the half-log billet. The wood is dense, very heavy, very hard, and strong in bending. I bandsawed to rough round shape. Rough-turning the outside of the bowl to completely round was a challenge -- very tough and hard wood. The bowl sides are fairly thick to emphasize the toughness of the overall wood. The bowl is quite heavy weight wise for its small size. I finished the bowl with paste wax and couple of spinning coats of BLO.




  2. #2
    Does Locust stink like Walnut does ? I had a Locust tree in the backyard that I finally was able to get rid of after many tries.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
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    Stink, did you say stink? Walnut? Stink?!?!?!?!?! MMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, walnut has a pleasantly sweet aroma........ It doesn't "stink"! Sorry, you poo-pooed on my favorite wood... To answer your question, though...no, it doesn't.

    Tom, those thorns are sharp, aren't they?! And they grow back like crazy, too. Great defense mechanism for a tree...

    I like the contrasting colors in that bowl. Did you turn and finish that green?
    I drink, therefore I am.

  4. #4
    How old do you estimate that tree was ?

  5. #5
    i like your bowl.....can you use the thorns in a project some time.....might put some on a shelf and see what comes about down the road

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
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    sLower Delaware
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    That is some pretty wood with some not so pretty thorns!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Goodland, Kansas
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    22,605
    Really a good looking bowl. We have a lot of that thorny locust around here. The neighbor boy ran one of those thorns clear thru his foot.
    Bernie

    Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

    To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone.



  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    lufkin tx
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    2,054
    Pretty bowl--HL was a valuable tree when modern furniture was hot. It ia a legume like cocobo--hard, rot resistant strong and contrasting heart. Measured thorns on some in the atchaflay?? swamp with 17" thorns. made several 17X3" platters years ago--really good cutting.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Georgetown,KY
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    1,106
    I have some monster HL thorns here in KY and have used them in several ways in my turnings over the years. Here is one in a series I title "Flowers with Attitude."
    Attached Images Attached Images

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    lufkin tx
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    Nice piece--best use for those things. I ruined several sets of waders wandering through the bottoms in the dark. Ouch!! Great turning wood>

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Atikokan, Rainy River district, Ontario
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    I like turning Honey locust and the looks of the color variation between early and late wood in the grain of the wood, and I'm very happy that hardly any Honey Locust that grows in Ontario has the big long thorns, I've seen some trees with them, but most are planted by town and city park dept. and those are all clones without the thorns, sure makes handling the pieces/logs a lot easier.

    Nice bowl Tom, I also noticed that you did saw the log across rather than length-wise, cutting the wood length-wise would make that cut much easier and faster, just hold the saw a bit on a angle so your saw won't get plugged with the long strings of wood
    Have fun and take care

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    E. Central IL
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    132

    Reply to Posted Questions

    Here are responses to posted questions or comments:

    "Does the wood stink?" ... No ... has a good wood smell.

    "Did you turn and finish that green?" ... Turned it 8 months after cutting the branch off of the tree.

    "Looks like you sawed the log cross-wise ... would have been easier to cut it lengthwise." .... Actually, I did cut the branch log billets in half lengthwise in a ripping cut. Perhaps I've misunderstood the comment??

    "How old is the tree that the branch came from ?" ... Don't know; the base of the tree is ~15" dia. Here's a photo of the broken branch the day after a windstorm brought it down last spring. The fracture area was riddled with ant holes so that's why it didn't hold up to the wind. Because of the long fracture and ant-riddled area, I only got ~4' of usable log billets out of the largest section of broken branch.

    Last edited by Tom Hartranft; 12-18-2012 at 4:25 PM.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Hartranft View Post
    /snip//snip/

    "Looks like you sawed the log cross-wise ... would have been easier to cut it lengthwise." .... Actually, I did cut the branch log billets in half lengthwise in a ripping cut. Perhaps I've misunderstood the comment??
    Tom it appears that you cut the log this way (see arrows)

    Honey locust crosswise cut.jpg

    and I meant that if you cut it in the directions of the arrows as shown below, it would be cut much more easily

    honey locust lengthwise cut.jpg
    Have fun and take care

  14. #14
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    Jun 2009
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    Western Maryland
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    I have to agree with Leo...cutting like the second pic is a LOT easier on you! Though it does create a lot of long stringy shavings that clog the chainsaw. But still, at least you aren't getting beaten up by a bouncing chainsaw.
    I drink, therefore I am.

  15. #15
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    Jul 2008
    Location
    Atikokan, Rainy River district, Ontario
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    Mike if you hold your saw on a slight angle the strings do not get as long as if you hold the saw in the exact level way as the log itself, the wood strings usually break up on the year ring changes, anyway that is how I do my sawing of wet wood pieces and it works for me
    Have fun and take care

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