So near the garage I had a honey locust that was starting to get too big for it's britches and was losing branches from above every wind storm. I dropped the tree and made firewood out of the small branches, but I got 3 decent sized solid logs out of the trunk and was wondering if they were good to mill. I know black locust makes great barn beams (can lay a sill right in dirt) and fenceposts, but is honey locust anywhere near as good? I know from firewood experience with the stuff that it seems just about as hard and brittle as black locust, maybe just make a bunch of 4/4 boards 4" and 6"? Also does it dry easily without checking? Thanks guys.
Can't help with your question other than honey locust is mighty purdy stuff.
I sawed nothing but Honey Locust for a customer this past Friday. No you can not expect it to last if it touches the ground but it does make beautiful lumber and slabs: LINK (http://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=80057.msg1597836#msg1597836)
Honey locust is not nearly as rot resistant as black locust or white oak heartwood. It is pretty and a very useful wood. I'm using it for timber frame braces and got some side lumber at the same time, I also slabbed a 24" log for table tops. I've got 4 HL in my yard now waiting to be sawed. There's at least an old 22" that I will likely slab and the rest will be brace stock. I wouldn't hesitate to make boards though if I had more. I'd make furniture and projects from it. What little boards I have seemed to air dry well. I've had HL with very tight rings that grew very slowly, which I think is more typical of wild, thorned HL, but I've also got two logs in my yard with very wide growth rings that were fast growing, so those may have been thornless yard trees?
Awesome guys, thanks for the input! I think I'm going to turn the two smaller logs Into dimensional lumber and than slab out the bigger of the two, I guess I had never seen a locust slab in person so I didn't really think of that!
I sawed several Mbf a number of years ago. The boards I kept were 8-12" wide and flat sawn. The boards were clear, and I stickered them in my barn. Many of them split about 2' in from the ends. Just something to think about, especially on slabs. A lot of tension in the wood. You should be okay with narrow boards.
Check out the table I have in my family room, it's my favorite wood along with Walnut for table tops.
Has natural floresants in it so it actually glows under the black light.
http://www.wimerhardwoods.com/about.html (http://www.wimerhardwoods.com/about.html)