I posted this a while back on another forum but thought you guys would find this interesting as well. This has got to be one of the nastiest trees I have ever seen. It's along the road, not on our property, near my parents place. I've cut honey locust before but NEVER one this extreme. It's something out of a horror movie. Tree is close to 2 ft at the base. Thorns go right at 11 inches deep and basically solid. When they have a red tint to them they are newer growth, They can go right through your soles of your shoes. Found that out the hard way as a kid. Bird built a nest in it. Hard to call this "Home sweet home" but probably didn't have to many predators swooping in on them! Don't complain the next time you get one with a few vines in it.
First time I have ever seen anything like that. Nasty looking thorns. Can't imagine anyone wanting to cut that stuff.
Dang - looks like that thing could survive the zombie apocalypse! I think that HL cultivar is known as the "Don't F With Me" tree. All the ones I see around here are the thornless variety. That thing is straight out of a horror movie. "The Ohio Thornylocust Massacre!"
You'll find out in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre 7 - Ohio's Revenge"! It's Leatherface's arch enemy - mankind's last hope for defeating him!
There was a tree like that not far from where I grew up. We used to remove the thorns answer attach them to sticks to make spears for giving small fish or frogs. Wouldn't want to cut one though
Like most locust, they are good BTU wise. I have cut some in fencerows before but normally aren't this extreme. These thorns will go through tractor tires too so you have to be careful if you're clearly land with them on it. We always cut the whole, fork to where we would start the burn pile, cut the wood and start the brush/burn pile around them. When I was working on the farm we cleared former pastured land. It was hilly and was pastured 40 years prior. Osage orange and multiflora rose was solid in it. VERY nasty to deal with as EVERYTHING had thorns Rose bushes low, osage high and the were all tangled together. You'd get stuck to the point of having someone have to cut the stuff around you if you just tried to sneak into a tree base without removing the junk around it. NASTY job and we had some bigger equipment too.
Yeah, If I would ever parachute out of a plane. That is probably where I'd probably end up, pin cushioned into that tree!
If it had to be cut; Start a fire around the outside to burn off the thorns, There's always a way for a hoarder to get wood