Locust wood as a knife handle?

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
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I'm grinding a custom knife from an M2 HSS power hacksaw blade and I'm thinking of using some locust (from a downed tree) as the handle material. Has anyone ever seen a custom using locust? Given how well the stuff lasts as fence posts I'm thinking it might make a pretty good handle stock.

Any opinions?
 
It should work fine.In that family [legume] are some very nice woods ,and some of those used for knives, locust ,kentucky coffee tree, mesquite, koa. If you're not happy with it , it makes good firewood !!
 
The most interesting material I have seen used is the dried cholla cactus. The ones I saw had the voids filled with colored epoxy or resin. You can buy the wood very cheaply at most pet shops and the resin at craft stores.

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cholla.jpg
 
I have seen the voids filled with both stealthy colors, OD, tan, black, etc and also with bright colors on folder scales. One I did years ago was a deep crimson red that I put on a Buck Lockback, that knife was stolen while I was in the military unfortunately.

You can buy the logs in 12 inch pieces for a couple of bucks usually. They sell it for terrarium decorations and for bird perches.
 
I've never seen a knife in locust, nor have I ever worked "locust". Honey Locust, if it's the same thing, is very tough and wildly figured. I made drawer fronts out of it for some shop cabinets and it's hard with above-average density, and the grain is interlocked and not prone to splitting. Give it a try and show us some photos! :thumbup:
 
This is made from big lauri blade bubinga, black locust and tagua nuts. Black locust is the golden wood.

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Jaro
 
I'm not sure if my tree is black or honey locust--it's hard but it seems to be very straight grained. I split most of it up for firewood and it split very easily with a maul except in the crotches.

I started working at making this one knife almost a year ago and just haven't gotten back to finishing it. I know it will be ugly, but with luck it just might be functional. The HSS blade is so hard that a file just skates off the back, so it should have pretty good edge retention!
 
If the tree had thorns the size of toothpicks (only twice as thick) in clusters that you could use for caltrops, it was probably black locust (Robina pseudoaccacia). If it was thornless it was probably honeylocust (Gleditsia triacanthos). Both are hardwoods, but the honeylocust tends to have straighter grain.
 
I saw some with Black Locust at TrackRock Hammerin a couple years ago, very pretty wood when finished. I think Crex was the maker.
 
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