Do You Love or Hate Osage Handles???

Nice knife!

I really like the look before and after it ages. We have them as fenceposts here, too, and they just seem to last forever. Often, if a fence needs to be moved, we'll pull them up with a tractor and just reuse them. Very tough and long-lasting wood.

I've made several using Osage and I love it. It's a little tough on saws, though.

Actually, now that I think about it, all the knives I've made using Osage came from some 50+ year old fenceposts.
 
I love the look of osage when it ages. With all woods, there is always the problem with shrinkage.
Scott
 
I know this is a pretty old thread, but I wanted to chime in on Osage orange. I love the stuff, even if it does eat router bits and other cutting tools like crazy. The refractive quality it has at 400+ grit finishes looks great. The darkening with age happens as tannins are brought to the surface as the wood "breathes", or absorbs and releases moisture. Different woods have different tannin levels, and the fun thing is to use tannins for chemical color changes.

Dissolve steel wool in vinegar, and then use the solution to cause woods to darken based on the tannin content. Maple turns silver, oak, and Osage orange turn BLACK. It's incredible, unlike stain and dye there is no tendency to cover up the wood grain with pigment, just a color change of the wood itself. I don't have any pictures, but you've probably seen the effect on old oak floors around the nails.

Here's a couple pictures of a gentleman's pocket fixed blade I finished last week in S90v with Osage and black walnut handle sides. Nothing but a beeswax finish.

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Nathan the machinist was kind enough to give me a skinner he made and gave away as part of a contest, I've had it for a couple of years now the handle has held up well I love the grain.

The blade is hollow ground D2 tool steel Paul Bos HT to HRC 62 and sharpened IIRC to somewhere between 15 and 20 degrees, with a set of Osage orange scales naturally colored, to the handmade traditional sheath, this baby's a winner.

Here's a tutorial on how the knife was made very well done and an interesting thread. click me for knife tutoral

Anyway I highly recommend Nathan's knives and I'll report more as I use it more.

In the mean time here's some pics:

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I can't say that it does much for me. It just doesn't have any of the intereseting grain/figuring that, for example, that a nice piece of ironwood, cocobolo or bocote have. But that's just personal pref. I'm glad some people like it - variety is a good thing. :thumbup:
 
We have about 50 or more trees on our property. I use it for bows, knife handles, hammer handles, axe handles an more. It is a very beautiful wood that polishes very nice. Plus the fruit from them is a natural insecticide.
 
I recently bought a custom with Osage Orange. It's nice, seems to wear well, and so far is pleasing to the eye.
 
I believe that you get the best chatoyance when you use it quartersawn.
I bought a bunch of quartersawn scales but have yet to use them.
The specs on Osage should make for superior wood handles.
 
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