# Honeylocust Spalt?



## HomeBody (Feb 16, 2013)

I found some honeylocust crotches recently, left behind by firewood cutters. They've been there several years but most appear solid and very heavy. First, does this stuff spalt? If so, will cutting a cookie off the end reveal any spalting? Gary


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## Daren (Feb 16, 2013)

I asked the same question 05-03-2009 (just looked it up) on another forum, about a log I had for over a year at _that_ time. The consensus there was, no the heartwood doesn't spalt...The very log I asked about is still laying in my yard, 5 years in the shade/mud now with other spalting logs...it's not spalted a bit. :dunno:

Not saying honeylocust *can't* because I have seen species others say won't spalt that did, white oak for example-I have some spalted white oak (rare I think). Just saying it rarely does from what others say and from my own experience.


.


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## HomeBody (Feb 17, 2013)

Thanks for the info. I don't think I'll bother wrestling them. Gary


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## Kevin (Feb 17, 2013)

That would be a big mistake IMO if you like beautiful wood. HL crotch wood of any size is not easy to find at least here. Most of the HL here grows straight and tall, having small crotches in the tops. If those are large crotches you should at least get one or two since you have a mill. I think you have a mill right?


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## HomeBody (Feb 18, 2013)

Yep, a CSM. Maybe I will grab them if you think they'd have some nice wood. They are right across the road from my house so it will be an easy haul. Gary


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## HomeBody (Mar 7, 2013)

Okay Kevin, I dragged a couple of those pieces home. The biggest crotch was frozen to the ground so I left it until later. I brought home a trunk section about 4' that had multiple side branches. Looks like it would be a bear to split so they left it. I cut a cookie off of each end. Not sure what I have looking at it. I seems pretty solid but may be over the hill. Will try to mill it this weekend. 
This wood was cut in 2007. I know that for sure because my neighbor that gave the boys permission to cut the locust tree for firewood died in '08. Gary

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## Kevin (Mar 7, 2013)

Man that looks promising to me. And it does also look like HL. And that's unusual for it to lay that long without rotting. HL logs usually rot quickly lying on the ground, having little relation to black locust. I think you might get some exciting wood out of that if it's as solid as it looks. It may have punky places but I bet you'll get some nice funky lumber from that. If nothing else you can cut them into smaller turning blanks for stabilization. I might be in the market for a crotch section if you get some. Good luck I hope it turns out to be worth it.


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## HomeBody (Mar 18, 2013)

It's been too wet to mill but I did a search of my property for honeylocust crotches. They seem to be common in this area. They are pioneer trees and will come in an abandoned pasture before about any other tree. With no competition for light, they spread a bit. I do have some straight ones though. Here are a few of the crotches.

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This last one is right on the corner of the woods. I killed it 3 or 4 years ago like a dummy, now it's too dangerous to fell with a chainsaw. For me, anyway. I shouldn't have killed it but had no idea I'd be milling wood now.

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## Kevin (Mar 18, 2013)

Nice trees. I don't see many like that in my patch. I'm sure there's plenty around here in my region but I never go looking for them. In my patch it has never been thinned so everything is competing for light and most stuff grows straight up, except some scraggly growers like Bois d' Arc, Boxelder etc. which can go crooked and up at the same time.


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## HomeBody (Mar 18, 2013)

You beat me to the post!  So I tell a friend who *thinks* he is a pyrotechnic expert and he says he can knock it down with one shot. I said have at it. He drilled a hole in it and put a charge in a tinfoil tube with a .30-06 shell filled with something to detonate it. It had a fuse coming out the primer hole. Jammed it all in there then he pounded a wooded plug in the hole and lit it. It made a helluva boom and it rolled across the prairie toward the lake. The tree shook and a million twigs fell out of it but it didn't fall. Here's the damage.

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The tree is split in half for about 20'. Ruined my crotch too. It blew the back out pretty hard. So now what Kevin? Any way I can salvage the trunk without killing myself?

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This is why I'm trying to get rid of all these things on my land. Gary 

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## Kevin (Mar 18, 2013)

HomeBody said:


> So I tell a friend who *thinks* he is a pyrotechnic expert and he says he can knock it down with one shot. I said have at it. He drilled a hole in it and put a charge in a tinfoil tube with a .30-06 shell filled with something to detonate it. It had a fuse coming out the primer hole. Jammed it all in there then he pounded a wooded plug in the hole and lit it. It made a helluva boom and it rolled across the prairie toward the lake. The tree shook and a million twigs fell out of it but it didn't fall. Here's the damage.



Show him this video and he'll know how next time. This was my first time falling a tree with explosives.


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## HomeBody (Mar 19, 2013)

I see how notching it on both sides would make the difference. But what about doing these dead trees with big dead widow makers above my head? Was hoping to down it without putting myself in jeopardy under the dead limbs with my chainsaw. I need something with a cage on top...like a bulldozer! Gary


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## jimmyjames (Mar 19, 2013)

Kevin said:


> HomeBody said:
> 
> 
> > So I tell a friend who *thinks* he is a pyrotechnic expert and he says he can knock it down with one shot. I said have at it. He drilled a hole in it and put a charge in a tinfoil tube with a .30-06 shell filled with something to detonate it. It had a fuse coming out the primer hole. Jammed it all in there then he pounded a wooded plug in the hole and lit it. It made a helluva boom and it rolled across the prairie toward the lake. The tree shook and a million twigs fell out of it but it didn't fall. Here's the damage.
> ...


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## HomeBody (Mar 30, 2013)

Well Kevin, your hunch was right. Looks like some good in this for sure. It was a regular ant farm along the edges. The color of the wood faded out as it dried. Hope it comes back with finishing. As soon as the ground dries out from this snowmelt I'll go across the road and grab the crotch. It's shorter but wider than what I just cut. Gary

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## jimmyjames (Mar 30, 2013)

Hey that's some cool lumber! Man I cannot stand the smell of locust, I had a couple pieces in my truck and I almost puked, couldn't get the smell out for weeks, every time I would get in my truck I would gag!


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## Kevin (Mar 30, 2013)

Gary that's some pretty wood.

Jim, honeylocust doesn't smell like honey but it doesn't stink at least to me. And when the flowers are blooming both black locust and honeylocust smell like perfume. Maybe you had some rotten wood or something?


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## jimmyjames (Mar 30, 2013)

Kevin said:


> Gary that's some pretty wood.
> 
> Jim, honeylocust doesn't smell like honey but it doesn't stink at least to me. And when the flowers are blooming both black locust and honeylocust smell like perfume. Maybe you had some rotten wood or something?



It wasnt rotten but too me it stunk, ive smelled locust when they bloom and they smell great, its just the smell was so strong in my truck that it made me sick of the smell now i cant stand it....


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## HomeBody (Mar 31, 2013)

I didn't smelled anything when I cut this. It was breezy and this wood had laid on the ground for years. Maybe that's why no smell? 

There's a mile or two on Interstate 72 near Springfield, IL that has locust trees in abundance on both sides of the road. A natural grove. Not sure which locust but they have long white flower clusters. Anyway, driving through there in the spring when they're in bloom is unreal. Like a perfume factory. Gary


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## Kevin (Mar 31, 2013)

HomeBody said:


> Not sure which locust but they have long white flower clusters.



The flowers of the two are hard to differentiate between unless you are somewhat familiar with them, but once you study them (look at them for a while) it's real easy. The leaves are even easier to ID. The leaves are similar in shape and both are pinnate (each leaf has another directly across from it) but honeylocust leaves are more elongated than the black locust leaves, which are wider and shorter. 

honeylocust
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black locust
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## Kevin (Mar 31, 2013)

Another thing to remember is that the HL seed pods are about twice as long as BL. Both species can have thorns, and both species can be thorn-free and I don't think it has anything to do with the sex of the tree.


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## HomeBody (Apr 1, 2013)

I think those were honey along the interstate. We have tons of honeylocust around here but I don't see as many black in my immediate area. Gary


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## HomeBody (Apr 8, 2013)

I milled the honey locust crotch Saturday but I think it's too soft. At least in some places. It's been on the ground since 2007. I might be able to pick out some good when it dries. I knew right away it was cutting too easily, except in the center. Oh well. It didn't cost me anything and it was good experience for a beginner. Can you tell if those are spalt lines? They are more brown than black. Gary

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## Daren (Apr 8, 2013)

HomeBody said:


> Can you tell if those are spalt lines? They are more brown than black.



Sure looks like it to me, the first time I have ever seen spalted HL, but little doubt that is what it is. 

.


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## NYWoodturner (Apr 8, 2013)

Might be some good candidates for stabilization...


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## Kevin (Apr 8, 2013)

That's what I was thinking, if there's some concentration of figure or spalt in tight enough areas that would warrant the expense and effort.


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## HomeBody (Apr 8, 2013)

Well, it's available for stabilization if someone wants to try it. One slab is 8/4 and the rest are 4/4. I cut several 4/4's first hoping I'd hit wood that was solid all the way through. That wasn't happening so I cut one 8/4 out of the middle and the rest 4/4. Gary


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