Too much Osage Orange

[Chuck Jones]

A friend brought over six nice 8' x 12"-16" osage orange/bodark/hedge logs today for me to saw. He thought they were something else. (I won't embarrass him by telling what.) I have more Osage Orange than I'll ever turn in my lifetime (or use for singletrees, fence posts or Indian bows).



My question is: What is Osage Orange good for besides turning? Anyone ever use it for flat stock projects? Or does anyone need a whole bunch for turning?



He's thinking of having me saw it into 1 by's and 2 by's and building patio tables and Adirondack chairs. Will it work?

[Jim Underwood]

Absolutely. I've a friend who makes benches, and he made a couple of nice ones out of Osage.

It has been used for fence posts for a long time due to it's hardness and rot resistance. So I'd think outdoor furniture might be a good use for it.

[Curt Fuller]

I'd say that there's no such thing as too much OO. It's one of the nicest working woods I've ever worked with.

[Chuck Jones]

Jim,
Sounds like if your friend built a couple benches out of it, it's worth a try. It is definitely rot resistant. Only problem I remember from the days when I was a kid on the farm, those fence post were hard to drive staples (or steeples) into. But then so was locust and other woods used for fence post.

Curt,
If you weren't "About 1668 miles west by southwest of Steve Schlumpf", and about 1609 miles west by northwest of us, I'd suggest you and my friend get together. You'all might strike a deal.

I like osage orange too for turning, but I have 3-4 ragged old logs that will keep me supplied for a long time. From my limited experience with it checking/splitting is a problem. That's why I am curious if it works okay for building something.

These logs are perfectly straight and solid. Again, from my limited experience with it, that's unusual for around here, and that's why he didn't realize it was OO.

[Tom Lewis]

Chuck, with your sawmill, I would suggest you turn it into lumber. It should make beautiful furniture.
I like to rough turn it, let it dry in a paper sack then when it is pretty dry finish turn it. For the first week after I rough turn it, I check on it each day and if it starts to get a crack, I put super glue on it.

[Leo Van Der Loo]

If it is Osage rather than Mulberry, you have a lot of very valuable wood there, as Osage seldom grows straight, bow makers will pay a very good price for that wood, it is very sought after wood for that reason, I'd almost be criminal to saw that into short pieces, just IMO :-)).

[Burt Alcantara]

Osage Orange is an excellent wood to send to me.

Burt

[Cody Colston]

Bois d' Arc would make outstanding outdoor furniture from a durability standpoint although it would be quite heavy. Exposed to direct sunlight, it will also lose that yellow color and turn very dark very quickly.

Two or three years ago I made a wooden grill handle for an elderly friend of my MIL's. He knew I was a woodworker and turner and the talk eventually got around to Bois d' Arc. He had a Bois d' Arc tree growing just inside the fence line near his house that was probably 16" diameter at the base and straight as an arrow for the first 10" or 12" of the trunk. He told me I could have it if I cut it down and stacked the limbs neatly. I delayed going to get it and he eventually sold his place. I've always regretted missing out on that tree. I' ve never seen one that straight before or since and there is a lot of Bois d' arc around here.

[Jake Helmboldt]

oage orange, is it typical for it to develop small cracks? My sister in law bought a blank and asked me to turn a bowl for her. I don't have a moisture meter so I have no idea how dry it was (seemed pretty dry when turning). The exterior developed a lot of very fine cracks, almost like a crazing with them going in all directions within a couple days of turning just the exterior.


After turning the inside and sanding it has warped just slightly enough that the foot isn't totally flat, but only noticeable if you are looking for it. Should I expect it to continue to move/crack? Should I put a finish on it now or wait? I'm thinking a basic BLO/beeswax finish since it has a nice satin sheen just with the sanding.

[Gary Herrmann]

Workbench top

[curtis rosche]

works very well for handles. it is springy.

[Nathan Hawkes]

A friend brought over six nice 8' x 12"-16" osage orange/bodark/hedge logs today for me to saw. He thought they were something else. (I won't embarrass him by telling what.) I have more Osage Orange than I'll ever turn in my lifetime (or use for singletrees, fence posts or Indian bows).

My question is: What is Osage Orange good for besides turning? Anyone ever use it for flat stock projects? Or does anyone need a whole bunch for turning?

He's thinking of having me saw it into 1 by's and 2 by's and building patio tables and Adirondack chairs. Will it work?

I'm guessing he thought it was locust?? Anyway, as others have suggested, osage orange aka hedge apple, bodark, bois d'arc, etc., isn't often found straight, or longer than a few feet. You should DEFINITELY seal it quickly--if you don't have anchorseal, use several coats of latex paint on the exposed ends as soon as you can. You could get it milled into what will be one of the hardest woods in N. America when its dry, (other than desert ironwood, and some florida woods--lignum vitae or relatives).
It gets a beautiful deep orange/brown color over time. In another vane of thought......a little bit blasphemous, but it is also about the highest BTU heat output when burned of any wood other than the forementioned exotics.

[Bob Bergstrom]

The Osage Indians could trade a bow made of osage for a horse. As Leo stated he wood is highly prized by modern day bow makers also.

[Chuck Jones]

Thanks for all the good advice folks. I'm always pleased at how helpful woodworker/woodturners are. Between this and another forum I now count 14 serious suggestions. That's not counting those who offer to take the logs and dispose of them for us. :) All this good advice leads us to the conclusion we should saw the logs into 1" and 2" thickness, and maybe a couple cants thicker than that.

[Chuck Jones]

Well, we sawed those logs last night and my friend left here with more lumber than he should have had in the back of an old pickup truck. We sawed it 5/4, and 6/4 plus a couple 4 x 4's. I'd say about half of it was excellent quality, beautiful boards. The rest was okay, but had several checks, bug tunnels, some stress, etc. Definitely will be worthwhile. I think at least one of the trees was dead when they cut it, but that did not seem to matter. All of it felt quite dry, but we did not use the moisture meter. He is going to dry it in his solar kiln and make outdoor furniture out of most of it.

By the way, after several (including me) saying OO will dull tools, we started with a used band and sawed all six logs without changing it. Never showed any sign of getting dull. Go figure.

I know I should have taken some pictures, but I did not remember to take my camera to the shop. Also, we were working during a tremendous thunderstorm and flash flood. At one point the rain was blowing into the shed so much we had to stop for a while.

Again, I really appreciate all the good advice we've gotten here. Salvaging wood is always fun to me; even more so when I get a chance to work with something a little out of the ordinary (at least for around here).

[Nathan Hawkes]

Well, we sawed those logs last night and my friend left here with more lumber than he should have had in the back of an old pickup truck. We sawed it 5/4, and 6/4 plus a couple 4 x 4's. I'd say about half of it was excellent quality, beautiful boards. The rest was okay, but had several checks, bug tunnels, some stress, etc. Definitely will be worthwhile. I think at least one of the trees was dead when they cut it, but that did not seem to matter. All of it felt quite dry, but we did not use the moisture meter. He is going to dry it in his solar kiln and make outdoor furniture out of most of it.

By the way, after several (including me) saying OO will dull tools, we started with a used band and sawed all six logs without changing it. Never showed any sign of getting dull. Go figure.

I know I should have taken some pictures, but I did not remember to take my camera to the shop. Also, we were working during a tremendous thunderstorm and flash flood. At one point the rain was blowing into the shed so much we had to stop for a while.

Again, I really appreciate all the good advice we've gotten here. Salvaging wood is always fun to me; even more so when I get a chance to work with something a little out of the ordinary (at least for around here).


Nice haul, Chuck. The tool-dulling nature of the wood is only truly felt when its fully dry. Mulberry & locust are similar, IMHO. Great when green, not fun when dry!