Scientific name:
Prosopis glandulos

Other names:
Texas Mesquite
Honey locust
Honey mesquite
Texas ironwood
Western honey locust
Algarroba

The mesquite tree is a hardwood that grows predominately in both North and South America, although there are some less known members of this family worldwide. Prosopis glandulosa reaches heights of 40 ft (16 m), with diameters of 10 inches (25 cm) to 4 ft (1.2 m). We are most familiar with those found in the dry areas of Utah, Louisiana and Texas, mesquite wood though does grow as far south as Venezuela and the Jamaican Islands.

Weight:
Approx. 50 pounds per cubic foot.

Use:
Buildings, cabinetry, turnery, posts, charcoal, fuel, railway crossties, paving blocks.

General characteristic:
The sapwood is a lemon yellow, while the heartwood is a deep reddish brown. The wood is dense, close grained, very hard and heavy, but somewhat brittle. It is exceedingly resistant to heartwood decay, with a thin sapwood. It contains high concentrations of tannins.

Working properties:
Works easily with most tools and finishes smoothly, takes a high polish. Preboring is necessary for nailing. It can be a little difficult to cut with some tension wood causing binding in the saw so make sure your splitter is installed. Other than that mesquite wood seems to work in much the same way as our more common red oak. Pre-drilling is of course essential and it glued with traditional PVA adhesive with limited difficulties.

Drying and shrinkage:
Tangential 3.2 1.4 0.14
Radial 1.6 0.72 0.09
Volumetric 4.8 2.12 0.23

Durability:
Mesquite is rated as very resistant to heartwood decay. Dermatitis has been reported for Mesquite possibly due to an alkaloid, prospinine.