Hi Cab,
We've been buying locust for 15 years to make octagonal pegs for sale, so the problem with shake isn't batch specific, although some are worse than others. I looked in several reference books and realized your locust is a different animal (plant actually) than mine. We appear to have Honey Locust. Interestingly they say the same thing about it as black.
I would recommend sawing some to size ASAP and setting it on sticks to dry so you can see what happens. Lot's of species that are listed as "stable" by the forestry authorities are, when they are sawed in board thickness. Drying timber creates a different stress dynamic than drying boards, and yields different results including checking. That's true of any wood species.
Good luck with your wood research. Sounds like nice stuff!
Rudy
