TJ, I take the chain saw and run it up and down the trunk at modest speed. Be careful it does not flip thorns at you though. I clean the trunk several feet up and down all the way around before felling. Mostly try to avoid the tree altogether but sometimes one is in the way.
I've cut a few up for wood that had large trunks worth knocking the thorns off but generally just avoid them. We are blessed (cursed?) with so many trees around us there is never a shortage of wood to cut, so avoidance is the easiest way to go.
A long time ago used to cut a lot of what my dad called honey locust. It had no thorns, grew tall, and was a fairly dense wood. Not as dense as the thorny locust, but still good wood for heating. Carolynn & I cut a bunch of it and sold fire wood early in our marriage when income from farming was lean, especially in the winter. I can't seem to get her excited about cutting wood any more. Can't understand it.
