Even honey locust cant stand up to its own thorns

[hupte]

I thought this was a couple nails when I first saw it. turns out its a couple honey locust thorns. can anyone explain how this happens?? a thorn in the middle of a piece of wood. there was no crotches near or in this piece. I have seen this happen more than a few times. The first pic is the splits open like a book. you can see the thorn on the right side and the hole it was in on the left. second pic is a close up of the thorns.

 

[Guswhit]

Have seen it many times, always wondered myself
Why don't they rot?

 

[Poston5]

I saw 2 of them in my feet last Saturday. Made me bleed twice and if you havent had a punture with one yet, just wait it was painful through Monday. Hopefully these trees catch a bug that wipes them out like the ash trees.

 

[chuckwood]

I saw 2 of them in my feet last Saturday. Made me bleed twice and if you havent had a punture with one yet, just wait it was painful through Monday. Hopefully these trees catch a bug that wipes them out like the ash trees.

I've heard these things are tough enough to puncture a small tractor tire. I've cut down a few locust trees myself, partly to show off and test myself in my younger days. It's impossible not get stabbed and you will bleed while you're bucking one of these up. They go right through leather gloves. But these trees make the best firewood and it's easy splitting with a very straight grain. I've wondered a few times about milling a locust trunk and getting the equivalent of treated lumber, or even better than treated lumber. I've seen locust fence posts over fifty years in the ground and still functional. I wonder how much extra the pros charge to cut and remove these trees.....

 

[turnkey4099]

Way back when I saw a report that said those evil things were used as nails.

Harry K

 

[Guswhit]

I've wondered a few times about milling a locust trunk and getting the equivalent of treated lumber, or even better than treated lumber. I've seen locust fence posts over fifty years in the ground and still functional. I wonder how much extra the pros charge to cut and remove these trees.....

I have a buddy that mills a lot, or at least I think it is a lot, and supplies to people all over for trailer decks. He tells everyone to put it on right away and douse it in boiled linseed oil for the best results. He's made a believer out of me.

 

[Landmark]

I think the honeylocust beside it slapped it.

 

[nwmo_aggie]

Ingrown thorn

 

[nwmo_aggie]

A thorn in its side maybe?

I burn a lot of that, try to be about 2-3 years ahead of my needs, will go girdle and kill some this spring, and then let them die and stand dead. Eventually the thorns will fall off. I have enough of them that I generally try to select the ones with fewer thorns for wood. Once they're left standing for a while, they generally shed their bark, the thorns and all the little limbs when cut, leaving a nice pole to block up, but we usually find some of these thorns inside the wood when splitting.

 

[Del_]

Trees grow in outside layers a lot like if you took a leafless tree and dipped it in paint each year.

The thorns stay in place and simply get covered up eventually just like pruning nubs, broken limbs, nails, etc.

Honey locust thorns are highly modified stems.

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/tlw3/eBridge/Chp17/17_1.pdf

 

[Sagetown]

I've seen complete thorns embedded inside split logs. Mystery how they got there. I wear boots with steel plates in the soles when I cut honey locust. Then I take wire pliers to pull the thorns afterwards.

 

[Del_]

I've seen complete thorns embedded inside split logs. Mystery how they got there. I wear boots with steel plates in the soles when I cut honey locust. Then I take wire pliers to pull the thorns afterwards.

Except that is not a mystery at all.

 

[hupte]

Trees grow in outside layers a lot like if you took a leafless tree and dipped it in paint each year.

The thorns stay in place and simply get covered up eventually just like pruning nubs, broken limbs, nails, etc.

Honey locust thorns are highly modified stems.

http://www.mhhe.com/biosci/genbio/tlw3/eBridge/Chp17/17_1.pdf

interesting read and perspective. if the tree grew around all its thorns though, would't the splitts be riddled with thorns?? i just finished bucking and splitting a 24" log that was over 10 ft long and i only found the thorns in the pic.

 

[robespierre]

I don't believe that is a thorn. I was cutting Arizona Cypress last weekend and I ran into a lot of those. They look like nails. Probably just knots

by the way does anyone have information on how Arizona Cypress burns.I will just use it as shoulder wood or kindling for the Hard stuff.

 

[miller1]

They are some nasty thorns.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

 

[iowa]

I had almost 9 cord of logs dumped at my house 3 + yrs ago of honey locust. Seen several with thorns in the middle of the heart wood. I'm just glad that these were logs. All limbs and branches were removed and only had to deal with a few needles.

Great firewood though. I'm still burning it. Two cord left.