How many of u guys build yellow locust bows ....where I live there are a lot of locust trees any info would be appreciated ....style design pics and so forth..

I built soma few years ago. I made them long and wide, so they performed quite well. Some will tell you it isn't a good material, and it isn't the greatest (maybe) but I believe design trumps material.

Yellow locust, from what I understand, is just another name for Black Locust. Black locust makes an excellent bow. It can chryssal if not tulle red carefully, but does work really well when done right. Treat it like a white wood in layout, but you may want to chase a ring like Osage.

That's interesting Aaron. In Texas, Yellow Locust is used many times to describe what some folks call Honey Locust in some areas.

Locust makes a great core for a glass bow.

I don't know fdp. Honestly, I just googled it cuz I've never heard either called "yellow locust". The site that came up made I sound like Yellow Locust was just another term for Black (which really doesn't make much sense to me.lol). I figured maybe cuz BL is actually yellow inside it might be called that by some? Never made a bow with Honey Locust, but I like BL a lot!

Chief Standing Deer of the Cherokee Tribe gave my Uncle a bow 65 years ago that was locust and it shot well until it finally broke.

I agree with FDP, honey locust needs to be a bit wider and very carefully tillered but can make a very nice bow. I would say not for beginners but I know better. some beginners are so meticulous about things it often trumps experience.

Aaron, heck, a lot of it is regional. We have a tree here that I've always called Chestnut Elm too. And it's just an Elm.

If we are talking about BL I've made many bows from it. In fact, it was my learning wood. 1 5/8" wide and double your draw and add 20% as a good starting point. Jawge

It's black locust and it will make a serviceable bow. I remember a guy at the Pa. Bowhunter Festival who had one and year after year he had that bow with him, so it must have been okay for sure. It is also rot resistant and most fence posts here in Pa. were made from it.

Watch for burr holes in the bark before you cut it. There is a wood boring wasp that wreaks havoc with BL, and it can make a piece of wood useless for bow making. I'd also spray it down while seasoning.

If it don't work for a bow, it makes the finest fence posts ever (coming from a farmer), except its so hard its tough to get a nail or fence steeple to drive into it!

Jim Davis, formerly "Jim in Maine" has built a few, I gave him a stave years ago. It's a wood that requires a specific limb profile, I believe.

Black locust also makes good firewood. Just saying

"yaller locust" is the same tree as black locust. In the hollers where I was raised, the names were interchangeable. It's just a regional named, like "Beadwood" for Witch Hazel.

If its good black locust, and some isn't. Id suggest for a 28" draw that you go 66" ntn and about 1 5/8" wide minimum at the fades for a flat bow style. Heat temper it, locust loves that.

I made this black locust bow for Gordon Ferlitsch. Its low 50's at 27", I believe I went 64 or 65" ntn.

Pics of old Cherokee BL bows show they made them longer than the shooter is tall and bending thru the handle. Probably a good design concept to keep in mind while you plan yours.

Fuzzy, that's funny. I've still got kin over in Buchanan County and around Hurricane Creek.

There is a big difference in the actual wood of locust that grows along the edges of fields (where it likes to grow best) and what grows in the woods under the canopy of older growth. Yeah, its technically the same, but the grain and growth rings on the "woods locust" (what its called round here when it grew under canopy of old growth) is much tighter. The limited sunlight the "woods locust" gets makes it grow slower and hence a much tighter grain and growth rings that are tight. The other is referred to as "field locust". It is predominant along old field edges. The plentiful sunlight it receives helps it grow at a much faster rate and hence the growth rings are more open and the grain is not near as tight. A "woods locust" fence post will last 3-5 times longer in the ground than a "field locust" post will. I've got some "woods locust" fence posts that have been in the ground 50 plus years and show no signs or rottening not one bit. I can assume these grain differences will also have some bearing on shaving down a section into forming a bow.

fdp, I know where "Herkin" is ;)

All I know is the honey locust in Kentucky has thorns Gary

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