Look what I just scored! Nice slab of Osage Orange!

G

GrizzlyBear

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A fellow I'm getting ready to make a knife for asked me if I could use a piece of Osage Orange he has for his knife handles, and I said sure, as long as it's of appropriate dimensions. I go to pick it up tonight and he tells me that I can have the whole slab! I've never worked Osage Orange before, but it feels extremely heavy for the size of the slab. A quick thumbnail press shows it is very resilient to marring.

The slab measures 12.5" x 4.5" x 2.25". Cutting it in half and then cutting scale sets from each half should work perfect.

I was only able to get one pic then my camera died, it's charging now.

Any tips for working it and finishes?

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I work it same as any other wood, I usually stop at 600 grit, then a coat or two of Danish oil.
I like to singe it with a torch too, to bring some grain out.

Nice score!

OsageRC3001.jpg
 
rayban said:
I work it same as any other wood, I usually stop at 600 grit, then a coat or two of Danish oil.
I like to singe it with a torch too, to bring some grain out.

Nice score!

OsageRC3001.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow that's really cool!! Is that done with just a little pencil torch?
 
As soon as the the camera charges, I will post pics of how the endgrain is oriented to the slab. I have questions on the best way to cut it to get the nicest look.
 
When I was a kid I made some nice slingshots out of Osage Orange, it grows all over my parents place!
 
I love the stuff. I think of it as nature's micarta. It is stable and tough and not oily enough to effect bonding. It machines well. It is grippy when wet and covered in goop. I have even found it to be dish washer safe, though that's probably not a great idea. So, all said, it is a very practical handle material. A person would be very hard pressed to really damage it.

Being a natural material, it does still move some. Just not a lot.

The down side, it is generally very plain. I have had some with color and grain that was interesting and pretty wood, but that is the exception and not the rule.

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To me it looks best cut plain sawn about tangent to the grain. Quarter sawn it is just too blah.

I have taken to using fancier wood on most of my knives because people want something with more bling. But I do still use it on my own personal knives.
 
I think I own that knife.
The Osaga looks very good on the knife, I realy like it!
(it's my current shop knife)
It makes a fine handle. To me it looks just like a wooden handle should look, when you choose to not have all the 'bling'.
When I start running out of handle material, I'll try and get some myself.
 
That is quite a chunk of Osage Orange and should keep you in handle material for quite some time. I got some scraps of it from a Seattle bow maker years ago and have found that if it is quarter sawn, a bit of tiger eye effect will show up. The down side is, like other open grain woods, you can't get near it with a buffer. If you do it will look like hell due to the buffing compound being driven into the grain. It will not come out with any solvent I have found. End up with a very fine grit loose belt and put whatever finish you like on it. I just use boot grease. The other interesting thing about Osage Orange is that it will turn a mellow brown color if the knife is used a lot and gets some sun. Some people like to protect these knives from the sun to preserve the bright yellow color of the wood. Others like the caramel look that comes with age. The pic is of a filet knife I made for my brother in 1999 - still yellow.
 

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Man, don't make scales out of the whole thing. Sell me a couple of blocks for hidden tangs! ;)

- Greg
 
Three of the toughest native woods I've worked- desert ironwood, eastern hophornbeam, and osage orange. Its been said before that if it grew somewhere else it would be considered exotic. Love the stuff.
Ken.
 
I'm pretty excited about it :)

I guess I don't know what the term 'quarter sawn' means.

Here are some pics of the ends.

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Side view that had already been cut.
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kc custom said:
Three of the toughest native woods I've worked- desert ironwood, eastern hophornbeam, and osage orange. Its been said before that if it grew somewhere else it would be considered exotic. Love the stuff.
Ken.
Click to expand...

It's probably considered exotic overseas. ;)
 
quartersawn means the end grain is perpendicular to the face.
riftsawn the end grain is roughly 45* to the face
plainsawn the end grain is parallel to the face - which gives cathedral grain on the face (i.e. most plywood)

and here's another knife with hedge scales (sanded to 280 grit and sealed with untinted danish oil):

picture.php
 
Here's an idea I had on cutting scales. Then an alternate idea I had about rotating the pieces to get a different grain layout.

This is what I first thought. Cut the slab in half, then vertically cut each scale set from the slab section.
diagram.jpg


Then I thought, what kind of grain patterns would I get if I took the other half of the slab and cut it in half, giving me (2) 2x2x6 blocks. Then taking those blocks and rotating them 90* to their current position.
diagram2.jpg


What's your opinions?
 
Also, too bad the piece isnt longer width wise, some endgrain scales would be awesome looking I think!
 
your purple lines are what Nathan was talking about as being tangent to the surface and what I was calling plainsawn.
go for the mix as you've drawn it - if you don't like the surface grain after cutting, you're not out anything but a few minutes' time, right?
 
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