I thought there might be some interest in seeing this from the group, as I know a lot of folks here like to make their own planes. As a woodie planemaker, I'm always looking for other good species that perform well as plane material. I bought this slab quite a while ago, and it's been sitting in my shop acclimating for about 18 months now. It was milled 9 or 10 years ago, and kiln dried at the time.
I've finally cut it into 3.5" square billets that are 28" long. I'm going to let it set this way and make sure it's quite stable before proceeding, but I can't get over how much this stuff looks like beech. It's a lot harder than any of the beech planes I have in my shop, too.
It's honey locust, and a particularly hard and tough version of it. I've worked with honey locust before building furniture, and it's about as hard as white oak. This particular slab is quite hard and dense.
Here's some pics.....I'm like to hear what others think of how it looks, and any experiences you may have had with the species.