Guys, I need one black locust log that I could use to turn out a froe mallet and handle. Anybody in central AL. got anything?

Can't find anything in the woods? Hophornbeam, or Osage would also work well, maybe even Pignut Hickory in a pinch. You could even dry a small piece fairly fast by hanging it in a stovepipe with a light bulb in the end.

love the look of black locust, but it is rare south of the counties north of the tennessee river. mr clark is right: hop hornbeam and osage would work fine; so would beech. i've used a beech mallet for years to drive pegs and split rounds for carving. hickory would make a top froe handle ...

No, we don't have any on the club and that's the only private land I can access. I don't think it would be a good idea to cut a tree on public land.

What county are you in?

I thought about using hickory, and I can get plenty of that. But my tree book says that locust is harder and shrinks less. So I was hoping someone would have a 4 foot log that was 8-10 inches in diameter.

I have used persimmon for wedges for years , very had wood.

Your tree book is correct, dried Black Locust is about the hardest wood in the Southeast.

I'll give this post a day or two, maybe someone will have a log or an unwanted tree. I'll come get it and pay for it.

wade, maybe some of our tennessee members, or members who hunt in tennessee, have a line on some black locust. folks generally use up black locust posts quick for fence posts and corner posts. you might could find a froe handle at house of hickory; decent web site ...

Pretty sure Osage has it easily beat. There's a good bit of Osage in the blackbelt, especially Montgomery county

lots of osage in central/south alabama; probably find some of that much quicker. i've worked locust and osage; both hard to work; osage AND locust trees tend to twist ...

It's also called bodock and all over the place in the black belt prairie of north Mississippi around me.

Pm me the size you need. I can call a few guys I deal with and get you some

Also known as Hedge. Hedge is very hard, but locust is a little bit harder

Bois d'ark is another name.

A big Black Locust fell across one of my roads , laid there all Summer and cured. Hardest tree I ever tried to cut.

That black locust bodock is hard as all get out! My grandpaw used to get us to cut and split that stuff for fence post. Last forever!

Black Locust and "Bodock" are two different trees.

Never heard it called that down here. It's either a bodock or mock orange tree. Cows love them because they can scratch on the fly bites plus they good shade. They'll give a D9 all it wants.

Correct