AKA: Honey locust, algarroba, ablarroba, honey mesquite, Texas ironwood
What: A hardwood tree that grows 20-40 feet in height. It varies from low and thorny shrubs to taller trees as much as 3’ wide.
Where: Grows naturally in North and South America. In the US it grows in California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Louisiana.
Properties: A very hard, heavy, and tough wood. It is almost twice as hard as maple (Janka 2345).
Workability: Mesquite has medium stiffness and resistance to shock loads. Has a tendency to develop small checks when air dried. Works well with machine and hand tools but dulls blades a lot. Nailing requires pre-boring
Uses: Flooring, barbequing, furniture. Mesquite flour, a non-glutenous flour, is another by-product. Fence posts, construction lumber, joinery, railway sleepers, poles, piles, turnery. Mesquite seeds are used as food for cattle and horses. Is also the source of two types of gum which are used to make candy and Mexican dyes.