Anyone know much about working Osage Orange? A buddy of mine that works as an urban forester in Cincinnati brought me a bunch of shorts for small projects. (They harvest it and bring in a portable sawmill from time to time and cut board feet.) I know the stuff is rock hard, but does anyone have experience with it? The shorts are bright yellow. I mean like a canary mated with a yellow highlighter. Will this color stay? What type of finish can be applied that will help keep the color?
justinwdemoss
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I work with it all the time, but where I am we call it hedge and it is generally just used for fence posts. It is used for fence posts because it is hard as a rock and resists rotting in the elements for decades. In fact it is so hard, once dried, it is prefered working it green because once dried it will not willingly accept a nail. It will burn up bandsaw, table saw, and miter saw blades alike if pushed to fast and dulls a lathe chisel to. When turning it I exclusively use my carbide tipped chisels. It will just roll the edge on my HSS ones. I use it for tool handles mostly. Files, chisels, and knives all love a good hedge handle. I know from experience it turns down to a dandy carvers mallet. It's orange color and redish grain is not pleasing to many but I myself find it handsome. Good luck to you.
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Have you tryed searching this site for it? Lots of projects: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/tag/osage+orange
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I found all that is said about Osage Orange above to be true. I am currently working on a bow saw made from it and it is some tough wood. I plan on posting the project when it is complete to document working with it.
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I recently made my first project with Osage Orange, a solid head mallet. It is very hard but I loved working with it. It gets the nicest feeling surface when sanded. I just bought more.
I have access to some huge "BoDock" trees and have made quite a few small things. It turns wonderfully when green, but let it dry before you do the final turning. I made a lot of wooden mallets of various sizes, and use one for chisel work. Bench dogs from the wood have been useful and indestructible. Wooden tops are very pretty.
I may be wrong…not sure yet…but it may be best to cut Osage Orange from the trees in the fall, when the sap isn't running. Freshly cut wood in the Spring will drip with sap. And limb cross sections will split badly, so seal the ends on whatever you cut.
As for the wonderful yellow color, I've found that keeping it out of sunlight slows the darkening.
I may be wrong…not sure yet…but it may be best to cut Osage Orange from the trees in the fall, when the sap isn't running. Freshly cut wood in the Spring will drip with sap. And limb cross sections will split badly, so seal the ends on whatever you cut.
As for the wonderful yellow color, I've found that keeping it out of sunlight slows the darkening.
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Osage Orange, Bois d'Arc, Bodark, Hedge, Hedge Apple is a member of the breadfruit family which also includes Mulberry. One reason it's so hard is that it contains a lot of silica. Anyone who has ever worked it will notice tools are quickly dulled by it. I suppose high silica content is also the reason it's so rot resistant.
It's a wonderful, beautiful wood that has an amazing chatoyance when freshly finished, and mellows to a rich dark brown when aged.
I just made a natural edge bowl out of it. You can see in it my gallery. I found a negative rake scraper worked better than even a freshly sharpened bowl gouge…
It's a wonderful, beautiful wood that has an amazing chatoyance when freshly finished, and mellows to a rich dark brown when aged.
I just made a natural edge bowl out of it. You can see in it my gallery. I found a negative rake scraper worked better than even a freshly sharpened bowl gouge…
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