P. glandulosa<\/em> is distributed from California east to Kansas and south to Louisiana, Nuevo Leon, and Baja California. The typical variety of honey mesquite is distributed from southwestern Kansas, western Oklahoma, and Louisiana, and most of Texas west to New Mexico and south to Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, and Coahuila, Mexico. Western honey mesquite occurs in western Texas, southern New Mexico, southeastern and western Arizona, extreme southwestern Utah, southern Nevada, southern California, and northern Mexico.<\/p>\n For the sake of simplicity and common understanding I will hereafter refer to P. glandulosa<\/em> as Honey Mesquite.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite heartwood is usually a reddish brown. The color of the heartwood will darken with age. Honey Mesquite sapwood is yellow in color and tends to be thin.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite has a medium to coarse texture and open pores, with a slight natural luster. Clear portions of the trunk tend to have straight or wavy grain though knots, defects, and other irregularities are common.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite Interior<\/p><\/div>\n Honey Mesquite is considered very durable in terms of decay resistance.<\/p>\n As is so often the case when working with woods, the quality of the piece in question will largely dictate the outcome. Honey Mesquite that is clear and free from defects is easy to work with hand and machine tools, but irregular grain or knots can be challenging.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite is known to glue, turn, and finish well.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite Interior<\/p><\/div>\n Honey Mesquite is reported to have no distinctive odor when being worked.<\/p>\n Mesquite tends to only be available in small sizes or as large irregular slabs. Larger boards free from defects are uncommon. Prices for Honey Mesquite are in the upper range for a domestic hardwood.<\/p>\n In this blog, I almost always recommend several vendors with whom I have done considerable business and in whom I have great confidence. These vendors are: West Penn Hardwoods<\/a>, Bell Forest Products<\/a>, NCWood<\/a>, WoodTurningz<\/a>, Amazon Exotic Hardwoods<\/a>, Griffin Exotic Wood<\/a>, Exotic Woods USA<\/a>, Got Wood?<\/a>, and Wood Turning Blanks 4U<\/a>. Note: ALWAYS green turn wet blanks from NCWood as their wax will not hold for extended drying periods.<\/p>\n None of these fine vendors is currently offering Honey Mesquite. The best bet for locating Honey Mesquite turning stock is to do a simple Internet search. Honey Mesquite is not a commercially harvested wood, so your most likely supplier will be a hobby mill located in the native area.<\/p>\n Woodfinder<\/a> is an excellent website that is dedicated to advertising wood dealers. In your search for Honey Mesquite, this can be an invaluable resource provided you use multiple search terms to capture all the possible listings. I can’t speak to the quality of any of the listed dealers, but Woodfinder does have the advantage of allowing searches to be performed based on location which might allow an interested buyer to visit a listed wood dealer in person to hand pick pieces at a comfortable price.<\/p>\n A significant problem with using Woodfinder is that many vendors are listed for woods that, upon further investigation, they do not offer. I don’t know if perhaps once they did and they didn’t update their listings or if some vendors use a standardized list of woods that include most everything conceivable with the idea that once you land on their page you will find something you want to buy even if you didn’t know it beforehand. It happens to me all the time!<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite finds a variety of uses, especially in its native areas. These uses include but are probably not limited to: fence posts, flooring, turned objects, cabinetry, and furniture.<\/p>\n Honey Mesquite is not listed as being endangered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendix II<\/a> nor does it appear on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. <\/a><\/p>\n To the best of my knowledge, there are no special restrictions placed on Honey Mesquite by the United States government.<\/p>\n In some areas of the Southwestern and Midwestern United States, Honey Mesquite is considered invasive and removing or controlling it is appreciated. Honey Mesquite has moved considerably outside its native range through the movement of both people and cattle, or other livestock, that carry both externally and in some cases internally, seeds that have had great reproductive success in new areas.<\/p>\n I realize that inherent in working with wood is the killing of a part of the natural world that may be slow to return and if I become deeply concerned about this fact, I will have to find a new hobby. I hope that such a time does not come to pass or at least not any time soon. In part because I am concerned about legally and responsibly obtained wood, I am reluctant to buy from sellers outside of well-established and known vendors. I am highly unlikely, for example, to purchase any wood from auction sites, such as Ebay, because of uncertain sourcing and documentation, as well as the potential, even likelihood, of material being misidentified in order to achieve a higher selling price.<\/p>\n However, due to the commercial scarcity of some woods, resorting to auction sites such as Ebay or Etsy may be the only way to obtain some desirable domestic, or in some cases exotic imported, species that are not routinely commercially harvested. The potential risks of buying in these marketplaces have to be balanced against the desire to work with a specific species of wood. That is inherently an individual decision.<\/p>\n I also realize that many, if not most, wood workers do not have endangered species lists memorized, therefore I think it worthwhile and important to do even a small amount of research before purchasing any lumber, domestic as well as imported, to be certain of the potential impact you are having, even in a small way, on threatened or endangered populations. This information is easy to come by and takes only minutes to locate through any Internet search engine, including those you can access on your phone as you are standing in the lumber yard or store. Unfortunately, you simply cannot count on a vendor to tell you a product they are selling is endangered.<\/p>\n It is important to note that aside from the usual hazards posed by wood dust, woods in the Prosopis<\/em> genus, such as Honey Mesquite, have been reported to cause skin irritation. As always, caution is essential until you are certain you are not sensitive to Honey Mesquite.<\/p>\n Also, Honey Mesquite has prodigious thorns that can easily puncture tires and footwear. If you are attempting to harvest Honey Mesquite, be extremely cautious.<\/p>\n It is important to remember that although many people may, or may not, be sensitive to any given wood, the only experience that truly counts is your own, so use reported side effects as guidance but not as a substitute for cautious and safe practices.<\/p>\n Appropriate protective equipment is therefore always recommended when working with this, or any other, wood, exotic or domestic, unless you have worked with the species before and are certain you are not sensitive to it.<\/p>\n Complete information about health hazards<\/a> associated with a wide variety of exotic hardwoods is available from The Wood Database<\/a>. Additional information about how to best use a dust collection system and personal protective equipment, such as respirators, can also be found through this excellent and comprehensive resource.<\/a><\/p>\n Fortunately, I experienced no negative side effects when working with Honey Mesquite.<\/p>\n This was my first time working with a Mesquite wood. When I bought it, it was simply labelled “Mesquite” with no further identification. I have chosen to call it Honey Mesquite but it could in fact be one of several other Prosopis<\/em> species as mentioned in the previous article.<\/p>\n The finished piece is ~ 6” x 2”.<\/p>\n I knew that Honey Mesquite was one of the hardest of the North American woods so I was surprised by the ease with which it cut. And this wood took the cleanest cuts I have seen yet, even better than Claro Walnut and that is high praise coming from me. The bowl required next to no sanding at any stage. It was remarkable indeed.<\/p>\n I thought I detected a floral fragrance when cutting this blank, and if so, it would tend to make Prosopis juliflora<\/em> and more likely candidate than Honey Mesquite. However, I am reluctant to base identification on smell alone and P. juliflora<\/em> is rarely seen in commercial settings in the United States. Fortunately for me, with the exception of the odor, the general and working characteristics of the two Prosopis<\/em> species are otherwise essentially identical.<\/p>\n The Honey Mesquite took a finish easily with no streaks or splotches.<\/p>\n Whatever this species actually is, I would be delighted to work with it again and I highly recommend the lighter colored Mesquites to any wood turner.<\/p>\n All cuts were made using the Easy Wood Tool<\/a> system on my Robust American Beauty<\/a> lathe. Forward chucking was in a Nova Chuck,<\/a> while reverse chucking was done using a Nova Chuck with Cole Jaws<\/a>. Sanding was with Gold and Green Wave sanding discs from Packard Woodworks<\/a>. Final finish is Shellawax<\/a>.<\/p>\n As always, I wish all my readers a great experience in whatever your wood working interests happen to be and to those who like working with lathes especially, do a good turn today!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I knew that Honey Mesquite was one of the hardest of the North American woods so I was surprised by the ease with which it cut. And this wood took the cleanest cuts I have seen yet, even better than Claro Walnut and that is high praise coming from me. The bowl required next to no sanding at any stage. It was remarkable indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":175,"featured_media":3009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,128,136,137,129,138,139,130],"tags":[154,168,171,181,183,200,204,210,230,239,240,241,247],"yoast_head":"\nGeneral Characteristics:<\/h2>\n
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