locust wood for handel scales?

[Chris Boling]

I've heard that locust is a good wood,but I don't know.
have any of u used this wood? and if so,what are your thoughts and results.
I would greatly apprecate any insight on this matter

[Steve Shimanek]

It makes good traditional bows, no reason i can think of for it not to be good handle wood. Most of what i have seen is relatively plain, so i have not used it yet.

[ThomasPowers]

Coarse grained and hard in my experience. I'd be happy using for a using knife may want more "pretty" for a bragging knife.

[pkrankow]

I have made some sail making tools using locust in the past, (smaller fids and a rubber). The pieces I had were from a very old tree and dense, they shaped well but had a tendency to split out if your blade was tearing instead of cutting.

Phil

[Chris Boling]

I've heard that locust is a good wood,but I don't know.
have any of u used this wood? and if so,what are your thoughts and results.
I would greatly apprecate any insight on this matter

the reason i ask is that i recently came into possesion of a seasoned 8-10' length x 6" diameter log

[bigfootnampa]

I have a nice small carving knife in my hand as I type this which has a locust handle. It serves very well. This one has a bit of spalt and I have treated it with Kwik-Poly or you could have used thin super glue to seal it and reharden the spalted areas. Strong wood and carves well though it tends to be a little "stringy" with long slivers pulling out as you carve or drawknife. Sharp tools, take a little time, seal and sand and you'll be happy, I believe.

[MattBower]

That's a pretty good sized piece. Make yourself a bow and you'll still have plenty left over for a few dozen handles! :)

[bigfootnampa]

That's a pretty good sized piece. Make yourself a bow and you'll still have plenty left over for a few dozen handles!

Matt; As it is already seasoned it seems doubtful that he might get a good bow blank from it... they should be split out while green... knife and other tool handles too of course, but less critical as bows need long staves with very little splitting whereas knife handles often need only be a few inches in length.

[MattBower]

It's easier to split them green, certainly, but what would be the harm in ripping it in half and bandsawing out a blank (or a couple) from one of the halves?

Of course I'm assuming it isn't riddled with knots and checks to begin with.

[Chris Boling]

It's easier to split them green, certainly, but what would be the harm in ripping it in half and bandsawing out a blank (or a couple) from one of the halves?

Of course I'm assuming it isn't riddled with knots and checks to begin with.

i dont know about the amount of knots because i havent skinned it yet

[Chris Boling]

Matt; As it is already seasoned it seems doubtful that he might get a good bow blank from it... they should be split out while green... knife and other tool handles too of course, but less critical as bows need long staves with very little splitting whereas knife handles often need only be a few inches in length.

i thought it was seasoned,but upon recent inspection i found out that its not quite seasoned.its still got some moisture in it ant has got some small splits along the ends but i bound the ends with rope to stop the splitting from spreading.

[pkrankow]

i thought it was seasoned,but upon recent inspection i found out that its not quite seasoned.its still got some moisture in it ant has got some small splits along the ends but i bound the ends with rope to stop the splitting from spreading.

Don't do that, it won't work. Instead get some wedges, split the long in quarters, peel the bark and paint with 1 layer of shellac, 2 on the end grain.

Put up in a dry place for 2-5 years. The shellac will limit the rate the wood dries so the moisture content remains fairly equal across the whole quarter, limiting checking and splitting.

Phil

[MattBower]

Latex paint, paraffin or wood glue will work, too. It's uneven evaporation out the ends that causes the trouble, so that's where the paint needs to go. If you rough it to shape green, then seal the ends and cure it, it'll go much faster.