woodworking question - osage orange

[7br]

A couple of years ago, I picked up a small osage orange tree that had been killed by lack of sunlight. There is a small set of roots and about a 6ft long straight shaft about 3 inches in diameter. My plan at this point is to sand down to the yellow and then carve something out of the roots using a dremel tool.

Once I get to the yellow, is there anyway to treat it so it doesn't turn dark orange?

[Bigjohn]

Osage Orange is a good wood for bowyers making self bows. Properly seasoned.

I would just check as I may be cross referencing but I recall some cautions about working this timber without protection.

http://www.osageorange.com/

http://www.osagestaves.com/

John.

[Topper]

You might try a sealant that has UV protecting properties.
UV is what causes it to turn brown over time.
I'm sure you already know, that's some really hardwood;)

[mparks]

Yellow aniline dye might lessen the darkening effects of Osage over time. It's used by bowyers who use Osage quite a bit.

Here's an example of dark vs. light Osage on a bow that I recently re-tillered. No die or stain what so ever. Just finised with Tru-Oil. You can see the bright yellow on the belly of the bow and the darkened areas near the handle. The darkened areas haven't been touched in two years. The light areas were touched this fall when I re-tillered to drop the draw weight slightly.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/522/medium/06_doe1.jpg

[7br]

Here's an example of dark vs. light Osage on a bow that I recently re-tillered. No die or stain what so ever. Just finised with Tru-Oil. You can see the bright yellow on the belly of the bow and the darkened areas near the handle. The darkened areas haven't been touched in two years. The light areas were touched this fall when I re-tillered to drop the draw weight slightly.


Beautiful. That is about the effect I am wanting. Looks like the arrow is wood also. Any specifics that you are willing to share?

Plans are to use the staff as a walking stick/totem for a boy scout troop. I was off work yesterday due to a reaction to a flu shot and wandered out to the garage. I was using a belt sander to sand off the sap wood. I saw sparks fly a couple of times. Not sure if some grit got embedded in the wood or what. I swear, I would have cut a piece of pine in half with the time I spent trying to get to the yellow.

There are a couple of bowyers in KS that specialize in osage orange bows. I met up with one last year with a flint knapper at the Boy Scout's Trapper Rendezvous by Harvey County lake in KS. Pretty interesting folk

[fourarmed]

Besides darkening with age, green osage orange is prone to crack lengthwise as it dries. I have been told that can be controlled by submerging the piece in water for a year or two before cutting off the sapwood. If you are cutting a piece out of a larger hunk of seasoned heartwood, that doesn't seem to be such a problem. I'm sure any bowyer who works with it would know about this.

[shooter575]

I has some pieces from a tree I had cut up.About 10" dia. The stuff does check badly when drying.I made some knife handles and turned some file and cleaning rod handles.I chucked it up in my South bend metal lathe and the chips were flying like it was Al.That is some tough wood.I used tung oil and some 10 years later it has all turned brown.
I allways figured if Newton sat under a osage orange tree we would not of discovered gravity.The orange would of killed him.

[mparks]

SOP for splitting Osage stave is to just shellac the ends to avoid drying checks. The bark and sap wood are left on until you're ready to make a bow. With bows, it's critical to get down to a single growth ring of heart wood with Osage.

The light colors on the bow above will probably darken to match the rest in a few years so you'll need to apply a die or something to offset the darkening. A guy that does a beautiful job building bows died with aniline is Dean Torges. His website is http://www.bowyersedge.com. He uses combinations of die colors to create some really interesting finishes.

They say that Osage will turn almost purple after several years. Hope I have a bow last long enough to find out!

The arrow in the pic above is just cedar stained and sealed with Polyurethane.

[fourarmed]

My dad made a walnut rifle stock back in the late 50's, and used a piece of OA (around here it is called hedge) as the forend tip. Today the hedge piece is as dark as the walnut. You have to look closely to tell it is there.

[Mk42gunner]

I was using a belt sander to sand off the sap wood. I saw sparks fly a couple of times.

Not to worry, this is normal. I remember watching sparks fly from a chainsaw while helping my cousin cut up an old dead hedge tree for firewood. It was way too twisted (and seasoned) to make a fence post out of.

With enough handling you won't even need a finish on it if you keep it out of the weather. My Grandpa had a grain scoop in his feed bin that had a hedge sprout for a handle when my Mom was young. It is still a nice deep yellow tone.

Dad always claimed that a hedge post would last for a hundred years. I am starting to think he might have underestimated the time; I have some old fence on this place that looks the same today as it did forty years ago.

Good luck on you project

Robert

[shooter2]

Yellow aniline dye might lessen the darkening effects of Osage over time. It's used by bowyers who use Osage quite a bit.

Here's an example of dark vs. light Osage on a bow that I recently re-tillered. No die or stain what so ever. Just finised with Tru-Oil. You can see the bright yellow on the belly of the bow and the darkened areas near the handle. The darkened areas haven't been touched in two years. The light areas were touched this fall when I re-tillered to drop the draw weight slightly.

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/522/medium/06_doe1.jpg

Nice work! That's the way arrows are meant to be launched.