Osage information needed

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

CUTS LIKE A KRIS

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Sep 28, 2005
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OK, I was in the local Windsor plywood to see what exotic woods they have in stock and saw that they had some Osage Orange in. I have never seen this wood live before and only heard of it through this website.

I was wondering what I should look for when buying pieces of this wood. It seems to have little color (what was in stock) and next to no figure so I was not sure what to look for. As well the grain on almost all pieces was curved (more toward the center of the tree is my guess) so I did not think they would have been the best for axe handles- am I right?

I understand that many of you love this wood, and that it will darken appreciably over time to a more orange that the yellow I saw, and wanted to get some better info before buying.

Thanks for anything you can help me with!
 
Osage, bodok, mock orange, bois de arc.... tough, yellow/orange wood. Not a lot of figure and what there is should be swirly. Used to make bows out of, I love it, it works harder than most woods I've used, requires very little in the way of finish. If you have pins and work the wood with power tools be careful because heat will cause the wood around the pins to change color.
 
if you carve the ax handle with the grain and dont mind it being crooked it should last forever, or close to it !
 
A good utility wood. It is almost indestructible, like ash or elm. Makes nice handles on kitchen ware.
Makes a beautiful bow and the long wood as its called has been sought after for centuries by boy makers.
I have a list of others, that I would look to for beauty in a handle material, other than Osage orange.

Fred
 
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I think this is a good photo of good Osage orange. Except for the micarta one, the other three are Osage orange, with the top one receiving the best piece. These were all cut from the same log. There is no stain or other finishing other than boiled linseed oil. The top piece was fairly fancy, the bottom piece was pure function.
 
Jantz sells some nice pieces and I use it for spacers on my sidekicks. It is very popular in my store as I get a lot of requests to use it in orders. Probably the first wood the tourists go for to pick up. Also goes good with antler handles and looks very nice with a contrasting black spacer.
 
Probably the biggest thrill of my life was taking a deer with a flat bow I made. I have to admit to buying the arrows though :D

I love the character of a flat bow and how it is all "crooked" from following the growth rings.
 
Fred.Rowe said:
Nice photo, you show everything there but the excitement of the hunt and the hanging of the game.

Did you make everything that is shown?

Fred
Click to expand...

I made every thing in the picture. I didn't tan the leather but I made everything else. Mostly recycled stuff.

Osage makes real good hawk handles. (not on the one in the pic)
 
What I look for with Bodark is that it is quartersawn. It shows rays like white oak when properly quartersawn. They're fainter than white oak, but they're there. They guy here in Atlanta cuts it right off a 20 year old tree for you so you can choose. That store is bad ass. Plain sawn Osage is kinda boring to me.
 
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With the Osage orange I've cut up, I find that quarter sawn is boring, and the plain sawn looks rich and more interesting (to me). In the pict I posted earlier, the scales on the knife on top came from a tangent cut near the outside of the log. I did about 20 more scales of Osage orange today and at least the log I'm working with looks better to me plain sawn.
 
Some bois D'arc "stained" with Aqua Fortis and finished with my own 18th century style real linseed oil based violin varnish........as yu can see it can have some interesting grain and the AF really helps make it pop.....

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for aqua fortis:
WAHKON BAY AQUAFORTIS—2 oz. $8.95 plus Continental U.S. ground shipping only.
MICHAEL LEA AND DAUGHTER
2109 Summit Street
Columbus OH 43201.
Telephone 614-291-4757
email oldguns2109@sbcglobal.net

FWIW - aqua fortis is the BEST stain for maple, especially curly maple, bar none........
 
Thanks all for the responses. One more question- would this wood be good for grave markers?? We have a couple of family members w.o. markers and I want to rectify that but do not have money for stone ones.
 
First time I have ever heard this question. Its not supposed rot. I don't think the residents will mind..........
 
It is not immune to inset damage, but it resists it well. I have some that laid in muck for a long time with no sign of rotting. I expect it would hold up for years, though not forever.
 
I have made Bows out of Osage that was a fence post for at least 50 years. Old boy whom I bought the bodark from always calmed that a fence post of Osage will last a 100.
 
what I do to bring out the grain is when my hands are dirty from handling metal I squirt some WD-40 on my hands then rub the dirty WD-40 into the Osage
 
Some Osage has great colors and grain. Or, I am just lucky to find such wood. I emailed pics of some of my wood that is going to WSSI this week to be stabilized, emailed them to Dave Larsen. Some of the wood has sunburst grain design and some of it is going to Dave.

It's true Osage lasts 100 years in the ground when used for fenceposts. Using the Osage for fence posts is common here because of the many Osage trees locally. Locals refer to them as hedge ball trees because of the green grapefruit size seed balls the trees drop this time of year.

Edited to add, Kris, you got email.
 
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