Baxter's Osage Orange

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks for the surprise package, Baxter. I turned these two bowls, one of these pith side up, and one pith-side down. Both are finished with WOP (not complete yet). I'm doing the more enclosed form gloss; the other is in-the-wood.
The larger one is about 9"; the smaller about 8". Both are approx. 5-6" deep.

I debated dyeing it, but am glad I did not. It does sand wonderfully. It really finishes nicely; even the end grain seems to seal on the first coat or two of finish.

[Bill Hensley]

I like the shape and outcome of both of them. You done good on some very attractive wood.

[Roger Chandler]

Those are nice, Prashun..........leave them in the sun a good bit and they will darken to a very lovely brownish color........the grain just is super on these!

[Michelle Rich]

I really like the bold round bowl..the grain is super..I like it finished as is

[John Keeton]

Really clean work on these, Prashun! Great job!

[John Kent]

I like both of these a bunch, wonderfull grain, like the rim work on both of them, nice
form. I think you did a great job!

[Rick Markham]

Prashun, I'm super glad you didn't try dyeing that bowl!!! it is spectacular!!!!! You're good! Both are truly flawless and wonderful pieces! I'm with Michelle, don't touch anything on the finish of the round bowl! the "in the wood" is truly striking on it! Looks like you are well on your way to a perfect WOP gloss finish on the lipped bowl too. I really like the coves in the top!

[Baxter Smith]

Really nice work Prashun! Thanks for turning and posting them. I enjoy seeing what someone else does with a piece of wood I am familiar with. Its like getting a fresh new look at the possibilities that exist. Orienting them exactly opposite was not something I had considered with that piece. The grain looks surprisingly different between the two given they were side by side in the tree.
I have only "completely finished" one piece of the osage so you are way ahead of me! It does seem to turn, sand and finish very well.

[David DeCristoforo]

These are exceptional! The layered coves on the "recurve" bowl are sweet as is the "stepped" detail on the second one. The grain orientation is also excellent as is the finish. All in all a couple of top notch pieces.

[Kelvin Burton]

Prashun, these are both great! The sharpness of the grain in the "open" bowl is so crisp and the shape of the "closed" bowl is really attractive. I have turned two bowls from Osage and I agree, it's great wood to turn, as long as it's not too dry!

[Kathy Marshall]

Great job on both Prashun! I have to agree I'm glad you decided not to dye them. The grain is very nice as it is and should only get better with ageing. I also like the rim/shoulder details on both, I think they add a little to pazzaz. Nice job on the finish too!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Prashun those are great looking bowls out of some nice OO. Really nice finish on those.

[Todd Burch]

They look good Prashun! Very nice.

Perhaps my eyes are deceiving me, but both appear to have the pith at the top. Please explain? The open top bowl, for certain, is pith-up, but the bowl with the closed top also appears pith up. (I'm taking "pith up" to mean the pith is closer to the top of the form than the bottom.)

Fresh cut osage orange is a beautifully colored wood. Too bad it browns over time.

EDIT - Oh, I see now - that side grain is just oriented to appear like pith. The grain lines going over the top tell the full story. Gotchya.

[Jeremy Leasure]

Love the shapes on these. I've attempted one or two bowls in the shape of the more open form before, but never nailed it like you have. Also, any osage I've ever been offered has been checked so badly that most of it gets tossed, or some I've cut up into "crosscut" pen blanks.

[Rick Markham]

I've come back to these several times to look at them, both of them are truly exceptional! The round bowl is just incredibly striking, the color is unreal. The osage orange that I have turned has been great stuff to turn. Great saturation of color in your photography too!

[Prashun Patel]

Wow, thanks for the nice comments. The quality of finish on the outsides of my bowls has improved since I started using a larger ROS for the end grain areas. I could never get the scratches out with my Neiko.

The pic of the coved, closed bowl isn't oriented properly in the pic; it has the side grain showing. I should have turned it to show the end grain, which is just as striking as in the open bowl.

I think this is the neat thing about Osage orange: the end grain is just so hypnotizing. Didn't count on that.

Dave/Rick-
Thanks for the tip on taking pix outside. There's just no matching a bright, sunny day. I now see how important depth of field is; it allows you to keep the front and back edges of the vessel in reasonable focus. My camera has an 'aperture priority' setting which allows you to set the aperture and then sets the shutter speed appropriately. This allowed me to shoot the pix hand-held with the button instead of having to use my lame tripod and timer.