Met with the state forester to talk about some walnut trees that I’m thinking about having cut for timber. We were driving around and we found this locust blown over. My back is already sore thinking about dealing with it. The 372 clone will be getting a workout this winter.
A 372 will handle that no problem. How far up is the rot? (Looks like a rotten bottom) Locust is great wood. I have a pile here. Real pretty when milled too.
I looked yesterday and surprisingly there weren’t very many. Thank God. Maybe as they get older they have less thorns IDK.
I agree, it’s great firewood. What’s interesting is, the state forester said it didn’t look rotted to her. I had a perfectly good oak ( 20 - 24 DBH too ) blow over a few years ago a few hundred yards away. She was telling me in some of the state forests there’s no rhyme or reason why one tree blows down vs another. There weren’t any grape vines in it, to weigh it down either. What’s left of the stump is probably 4 - 5’ tall I’d guess.
Some of the thorniest locust I've seen were big/old trees...and that is a biggun! Kinda unusual to see em rotten like that though...just a quick glance at that pic and I'd have said that was a maple
If you want another one, there was a G372 listed on marketplace near you for 150obo last night...looks pretty decent.
Looks like ants got to it and rotted the wood with urine. That’s my unscientific explanation of what I see in large old oak trees with ant infestation. I’ve read HL is nowhere near as rot resistant as BL. I’ve read,,,,think it was Osage,,,,will develop thorns as a protection against animals. The more they are pestered the more they will grow in defense. Wonder if HL does the same? I know there are different cultivars of HL that grow some or no thorns but I’m guessing that’s a wild one.
Good call out, never noticed the holes (assuming ant holes) in that picture until you mentioned it. Most of the locust trees on my property have thorns. When I was burning a lot of locust, I found that cutting the tree down and letting it sit for year was the best plan to deal with the thorns. They'd usually fall off by the next year. I'm not sure if this a BL or a HL. Is there a good way to tell the difference?
Black locust has thick, furrowed bark with an almost corky texture. Honey locust is much smoother and thinner. BL wood is usually yellow when fresh cut, although I have seen it come in shades of brown/orange. It has a thin, lighter colored sapwood ring just under the bark. HL wood is pink-orange and also has a lighter colored sapwood ring around the outside too, but is thicker than that of BL.
Honey Locust has pink/salmon colored heartwood, Black locust has a yellowish colored heartwood. HL is more of a plated bark BL is more of a continuous furrowed bark HL has thorns that grow on trunks, limbs & can grow pretty regularly about 2” or longer. Not all HL have thorns but the bark, leaves & heartwood are all the same. BL usually just has short thorns on the limbs, I have never seen any thorns on the trunks & they are usually 1/4” or less in length on mature trees. BL is a very rot resistant HL not as rot resistant BL smells great when blooming in the spring HL not so much BL usually is more of a main vertical trunk & tree HL will put off large forks/secondaries & create more of a canopy. Honey Locust Black Locust
Huh!? Interesting hypothesis. That thorny HL I cut back in April had some ant infestation. I just started burning them in the pit. I have some HL logs at buzz-saws to be milled. I was going to make something for the outdoors (probably a chair) with it.
I just cut a honey locust today. About 30” at the base and no thorns. A pleasure to cut, but a real PIA to get on the ground.
Junior (Baxter) and I took a ride a few days ago. Based off of the posts above, I'm pretty sure that it's a honey locust tree. The wood is a pinkish red. It was definitely rot. Climbed up on the fallen log and can clearly see that the pith area of the tree is rotted out. No thorns on any of the branches I'm pretty sure this is black locust. It’s a similar size and looking tree to ones I've cut down before. There are a bunch of trees this size and this thorny on my property
The last pic is a honey locust for sure. Brad save the HL for indoor projects, make your chair out of black. Two pics of black locust Two pics of Honey Locust. Notice the surprise gifts in the second pic hidden in the vines.
Definitely not doubting you. I've cut a few of them down and the wood was yellow on inside, and dark on the outside. I thought that was the tell tale sign it was a black locust. IDK maybe I have they / them trees.
Haha yeah they could be confused LOL. I cut up my honey locust two years ago,,maybe three now. Sold it last year. It was a salmon color when cut but when I pulled it out of the pile my memory tells me it was yellow. Certainly more yellow than anything else in the pile (Oak and Ash). I know because I told the woman who got that load to beware of the few yellow pieces in there, it’s Honey Locust and heavy and seems wet still even tho everything else was dry as a bone. Too dry my customers are telling me.
My experience with HL has been that the wood is lighter colored with some areas of that salmon tone. Black locust tends to be darker tones of yellow...but not the bright, almost fluorescent yellow of fresh cut mulberry.
