The Forestry Forum

I have about a mile hedgerow full of what the farmer I bought the place calls "Honey Locust"

Some are all twisted and some straight. I see its supposed to be resistant to rot in the ground from a few encyclopedia sites..but not quite as good as black locust.

Can I use Honey Locust for fence posts?

You sure that isn't Osage Orange - aka Hedge?  Your description of all twisted doesn't sound like Honey Locust to me.

No, its honey locus, thorns, "beans" and all. The "hedge row" is a term for a growth of trees separating pastures..and this one is on top of a hill with very little else between MY hedge row and the great lakes therefor lots and lots of wind. Tends to make trees grow funny.

Honey Locust makes much better lumber for kevjay than it does as fenceposts. ;D

I will defer to those with more experince with it but my impression is that, although it is used for fenceposts, it is not as rot resistant as Black Locust, and not even in the same league as Osage. But then, nothing is at least to my knowledge.

If you can get Osage or Black Locust you ought to go with that. Honey Locust is beautiful lumber though a little tricky to dry it is not as bad as others i.e. Sweetgum, Sycamore, etc.

Honey Locust (http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/volume_2/gleditsia/triacanthos.htm)

You could certainly find a lot worse timbers than honeylocust to use for fence posts.  You'll get a lot more life out of them if the bark and sapwood are removed.

Black locust also has thorns and it normally has crooked trunks. Honey locust has a wide range of thorn sizes ranging from none to thorns large enough to literally flatten tractor tires. The thorns will alternate on the twigs and can appear on the trunk. Black locust will only have thorns on the twigs and small branches. They will appear in pairs in a distinctive "V" pattern at the base of leaf stalks and scars.