I picked up a piece of Locust today and was wondering if anyone has turned this type of wood before? I cant find much on this wood online. If anyone knows of a good URL on this wood let me know.
I just did a search.I usually go to Archives if I don't remember a recent thread.
In the upper right hand corner of the page is a search option.
Jeff does a great job constantly making this forums fantastic data base easy to research.
I selected "losuct" in all forums and got a bunch, then I refined the search to "SOYP"
There were quite a few posts.
You may want to try in the other forums.
You didn't say if you had honey locust or black locust.
It's a very "stringy" wood if it's a straight grained piece. Similar to oak. I just turned a nice piece of honey locust, but it was stabilized. "Light Cuts, Sharp Tools" and it'll be a piece of cake. You will definately want to fill the grain before finishing.
Here's a link to a pen turned from honey locust that was cut on a bias to the grain. It was finished with a couple coats of sanding sealer and some wax (which I am sure is long gone - the wax, I mean). I have used this as my daily writer and the wood just keeps getting more interesting - where my fingers touch it a lot it is now beginning to get a reddish patina. I was really happy with the way it turned oout.
Yea, this wood I picked up seems to be a bit figured. Maybe it wont be to hard to cut - you never know! I paid a few bucks for a nice board if I can get a pen or two out of it I will be a happy camper! []
Ok, Since I started this thread I could help but follow up on this...
I did turn a pen from the Locust wood I mentioned above. The blank was cut VERY close to a nice hard knot. I got as close to the defect as possible and encountered some very nice grain when I started turning the wood.
After sanding I added a touch of dark oil finish and polishe it off with some CA. I didnt want a high gloss so I stop sanding a bit early to get it a nice satin touch. Here it is...
Very nice, Steve! I've turned both Honey and Black Locust. I like both, but Black Locust burl can be very striking. Black Locust is very hard and rather yellow in color. They make police batons from it. Honey Locust is about like Maple (at least mine is) and a honey brown color.