Osage-orange wood?

[Tom Pritchard]

Hello all! I wasn't sure which forum to post this on, so I thought I would put it here and see what came out. I recently found that I have some Osage-orange trees on my property, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the wood? My son looked it up in his school library, and said that the Native Americans used the wood to make bows because it was so strong. Any additional information would be appreciated!

[Steve Clardy]

Hi Tom. I'll tell you what I know of it. Theres two more names for it also.
Bois-de-arc, not sure on the spelling there, and also Hedge. The last is what I call it.
Not normally used for lumber, as the trees grow so crooked, but it is available in lumber in places. Usually it is used for fence posts, as it is virtually rot resistance. Hedge posts will last in the ground for 40-50-60 years.
The inside color, the sap wood is a creamy color, with the inner colors being a grenish color with black and brown. As it ages it darkens to a golden brown usually. It saws real nice when the wood is green. Now when it is dry, it's tough to saw. It's hard to keep from having router burns in it. It is a very tough durable wood. It's fairly stable when drying when properly stickered. I milled some one time for a customer that made a rug loom out of it after it had air dried for a year or so. It was a nice golden brown color, took finish well. It is also heavy in weight.
Steve

[Paul Kunkel]

all I know is I read somewhere that the Osage orange fruit will repel spiders. My wife wants some!

[Mike Mastin]

Quality lumber can be had from this tree, but as Steve stated, a good tree to cut lumber from is often difficult to find. If you have a good straight trunked Osage and you are fortunate enough to avoid bark inclusions and shake cracking(all similar defects of Mesquite too) the lumber is stellar to work, albeit very dense.
It shines up beautifully and is a wonderful turning wood for this reason. I was fortunate to have found a miller that had some beautiful 10' boards that I managed to take off his hands :-)
The color will deepen with age to a nice deep rich brown (at least to my eyes anyway).
If the trunk is not twisted and gnarly looking and you have at least a good 5' of good trunk section to work with, I would give it a go!

[Dominic Greco]

Tom,
We have a lot of that tree growing in my section of Buck's County PA. Last year at this time, I snagged a bunch from a building site. Since I'm primarily a turner, the logs are all short.

Cutting up the green wood wasn't that bad. Until I dulled the first of (3) chainsaw blades. I tried to split an end grain piece with a hand axe only to have it bounce back at me like I had hit a basketball! After some sharpening, the cut improved somewhat. But not enough that I would try to cut any of this stuff by hand!

On the lathe this wood turned nicely. As long as you keep an eye on the sharpness of your tools. Because it is so dense, it tends to heat your tools up a might while cutting. So taking small "bites" is suggested. The same applies for sanding. A light touch helps to reduce heat build up.

I've attached (2) pictures of a small Osage Orange bowl I turned last year. The wood starts out as a canary yellow. But will mellow over time to a golden. I've found that Tried and True's Original Oil Finish works excellently on this wood for some reason. It imparts a depth and glow to the piece that I've found hard to duplicate with any other finish.

I've also milled up some small pieces and made bookmatched panels for box lids. They really went over well. Many of the "consumers" out there don't expect to see "yellow" wood and find it's appearance unique. I tend to sell out of pieces I've made from this wood.

See ya around,


All in all, it's one of my favorite woods to work with

[scott spencer]

Hi Tom - I don't know diddly about this wood, but I did want to say "hi"! (Maybe by the time I get done reading the responses here, I'll know a little....)

[Lynn Sonier]

Nice work, Dominic!!

[Wolf Kiessling]

Hello all! I wasn't sure which forum to post this on, so I thought I would put it here and see what came out. I recently found that I have some Osage-orange trees on my property, and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the wood? My son looked it up in his school library, and said that the Native Americans used the wood to make bows because it was so strong. Any additional information would be appreciated!


Everything posted on hedge is dead on the money. It is a premier wood for making bows, fence posts, and my particular favorite, turning. I only want to point out that it is easy to confuse with mulberry. About the only way I know to tell them apart is that in mulberry the growth rings are further apart than in osage orange.

[Jim Becker]

I really like turning Osage Orange...the first time is an experience when those bright yellow curls go flying! I've made several hollow vessels and bowls with this species and my chisel mallet (for those occasional meanders into the Neander world) was turned from OO...heavy and effective.

Three things. 1) avoid the pith as it will split. 2) From a turning perspective, this is one of those woods that you can take it right up through the grits on final sanding and get a mirror finish even before you even think about applying something to the objects. 3) UV will quickly change the brilliant yellow color to a much more muted brown which also softens the grain pattern. Such objects should be kept out of direct sunlight and a finish that provides UV protection isn't a horrible idea if you want to postpone the color change, although you cannot prevent it.

Interesting anecdote: Osage orange in my area (SE PA) stems from Lewis and Clark's expedition "way back when". Thos Jefferson expected and received many many samples and data on plant and other life forms from them as they traveled, including Osage Orange seedlings. Some were planted in Philadelphia and much of what grows in this area as former hedgerows, etc., stem [sic] from those original trees in the square.