need more osage orange....

[BillinOregon]

Apprentice Builder/Tom: I have heard that Pacific dogwood is the nuts for mallet/maul material. May need to plan a trip to the wet side ...
;-)

 

[kaintuck]

Had a buddy that made hawk handles from the stuff.

I have seen bows from the wood. One gun stock. looked like a freak of nature, that orange wood and the rust browned furniture and barrel.

:shocked2: :youcrazy:
i wood be different!......probably NO reason to seal the wood!

 

[Rifleman1776]

dogwood is the nuts for mallet/maul material

Any Dogwood is great mallet material. Wood carvers like it for that purpose. I have made gavels from it.

 

[dyemaker]

Lots of hedgeapple trees in my 'backyard'. Persimmon trees too. It is known as American ebony. I don't have any cut tho. Hedgeapple might ruin my saw it is so tough.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Lots of hedgeapple trees in my 'backyard'. Persimmon trees too. It is known as American ebony. I don't have any cut tho. Hedgeapple might ruin my saw it is so tough.

I have a pile of cut persimmon in my garage. However, some buggies love it. :shocked2: Piles of white dust all over. I don't know if there are any non-holy pieces left. I've given some away and turners like it. I still haven't turned any. It used to be used for golf clubs. It is the wood for the 'wood' clubs.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Yup, I turned a wonderful drive mallet out of OO, works well for the purpose intended. I just wanted to try the Juniper as it seemed like such a dense wood, just not suited for the task.

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Could be interesting Bill, I am slowly building up a stash of wood for projects and such.

Once I get "my computer" back from the "tech" I'll get a couple pictures up of a redwood slab table that was gifted to me from one of my customers, a truly amazing piece of wood.

 

[Jo]

ff The gentleman ask for contact imformation as to were he got his osage orange.

p.s. that is a pretty hunk of wood. :thumbsup:

 

[omarick1948]

Just looked on Ebay and they have a lot of sellers posting Osage Orange!

 

[mooman76]

Lots of it at my parents house in IL. My dad told me that OO almost got wiped out because farmers liked it so much for fence posts they cut down any they could find. Purty wood when it ages.

 

[Woodyrock]

Bill:
If you need a wood thumper, find a piece of Mountain Mahogany...lot of growing near you. Turn it slow unless you have highspeed tools.
Woody

 

[BillinOregon]

Woody, mountain mahogany is just below granite on the Mohs scale, I think ...

:wink:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Woody, mountain mahogany is just below granite on the Mohs scale, I think ...

:wink:

Is it also called something else? Not familiar with it around here. I have also turned Bradford Pear and it was near like granite too. :shocked2:

 

[PaulN/KS]

I make bows and have some shavings.
PM sent.

 

[Billnpatti]

Indians used to use it as a dye. I guess it just depends on the type of mordant they used to fix the color. Or maybe they used it to make a brown dye, I am not sure. I heard about this from a lady who was putting on a demonstration of natural dyes that were used by the natives and by the pioneers. She didn't use any of the OO dye, just talked about it. It sure did turn the clothes in the washing machine yellow when my wife threw my work clothes with the OO dust on them in there. She was able to get the color out so it was not color fast at that stage. I guess that those who actually used it as a dye must have found a way to set the color.

 

[flintlockmdj]

I have some pieces that I split off when making a bow. What size pieces do you need?

 

[50cal.cliff]

Indians used to use it as a dye. I guess it just depends on the type of mordant they used to fix the color. Or maybe they used it to make a brown dye, I am not sure. I heard about this from a lady who was putting on a demonstration of natural dyes that were used by the natives and by the pioneers. She didn't use any of the OO dye, just talked about it. It sure did turn the clothes in the washing machine yellow when my wife threw my work clothes with the OO dust on them in there. She was able to get the color out so it was not color fast at that stage. I guess that those who actually used it as a dye must have found a way to set the color.

I am not sure it will work for that but back in the late 60's early 70's us hippie type use to set the dye on our tie-dye shirts by soaking them in a tub filled with a solution of salt water.

Not sure why but once it has soaked for about an hour in the salt water rinse and let it dry. Once the shirt was dry the dye is set.
It won't come out even with regular washes with soap and water in a washer, and drying in a dryer!

That might work for osage orange dye! :idunno: Not sure!!!

 

[rich pierce]

Osage shavings boiled makes a good dye for wool that is golden in color. Cotton or linen take it up less.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Osage shavings boiled makes a good dye for wool that is golden in color. Cotton or linen take it up less.

Does the bright yellow/orange color remain with time? The wood changes, I'm puzzled as to why the dust dye would hold it's color. I sure would like to find a way to preserve the bright color on the wood for the items I make from it.

 

[Billnpatti]

I have only made one thing from OO so I am no expert on the subject. But, I imagine that a good part of the color change is due to exposure to oxygen. I can't rule out the effects of ultraviolet rays. Based upon my extremely limited knowledge of the subject, I'd guess that if you wanted to preserve the color, the thing to do would be to coat the fresh surface as quickly as possible with a varnish having a UV protectant such as spar varnish. That would keep out both the oxygen and the UV rays. Can't say, but it just might work. It's worth a try on a scrap of OO wood just to see.

The dust kept its color because it was freshly cut that day. It was still a nice bright yellow. My clothes and shop looked like they were covered with pine pollen.