Osage????

BBQ BOY

BBQ BOY

Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,820
andy likes Osage, so Andy, maybe you can help me to understand why. Does Osage contain certain properties that makes it a wood of choice? Personally, it's not all that pretty, so i am guessing there has to be something to it.
 
I like it too .. as well as Canary Wood and Marblewood (I've seen him use Marblewood before) and Natural Canvas (beige/yellow).
 
I like the pumpkin or burnt ochre color it gets as it ages myself, but I think it's mainly the hardness and minimal shrinkage that are the real draws to it.
 
I agree, I'm not a fan of the Osage and I never understood the appeal. I'm not knocking it, as I don't know much about it, but aesthetically this is probably the only wood Andy uses that I'm not a fan of.
 
I love the look of osage.

As the saying goes. " There is an a$$ for every seat"
 
Osage is very pretty albeit it has some issues with separation/warping. Beyond that, its pretty stable / hard per the Janka scale (for what its worth).
 
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Some osage is not so blah... Once dry, the wood is very stable. It does tend to check badly as it dries. Some osage has a somewhat metallic look to the grain. I have probably turned a couple of hundred turkey calls and strikers out of osage. It is one of those woods that people love or hate.
 
I like the color and how it ages. Sometimes burl woods are just too pretty for me since I do use all my knives and pretty hard at times too. I'm much less afraid of damaging my micarta and osage knives.

I haven't had any visible warping on my Osage Hunter handle (older Fiddleback)
 
Osage is hard and dense and historically significant and abundant. I like all those. It has a lot of chattoyance too. Most folks cut it wrong so it looks like plywood, but when I put it on one of your knives it is quartersawn and shows rays. But my favorite thing about it is that it ages more beautifully than any other wood. A beautiful nut brown. I love that look with a patina'd 01 blade.
 
In gemology, chatoyancy (/ʃəˈtɔɪ.ənsi/ shə-TOY-ən-see), or chatoyance or cat's eye effect,[1] is an optical reflectance effect seen in certain gemstones. Coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat's eye,"
 
Personally, I have leaned more to the BBQ BOY camp with this wood than the camp that just loves this wood. But I recently picked up a Hunter in this wood that I thought was exquisite. The knife has a little age to it, so perhaps this is why I am so drawn to that piece. For me, there are a bunch of beautiful burls, grain woods, etc., that are stunning, but like the OP, typically Osage falls flat on me when new. I feel the same way with African Blackwood. This wood is just boring to look at, but it has other properties that make it an exceptional wood for certain applications, knife handles included. Blackwood is exceedingly dense, and makes it an exceptional choice for woodwind musical instruments like the Great Highland Bagpipe, but as my avatar points out, Blackwood does not pop out visually. It is more interesting to look at than Delrin, but not much. Since I now own a knife in Osage that I think currently is georgous, I hope that Andy is correct, that it will only get better each year that I carry it.
 
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I've always tended to pass by the Osage handled ones. Many times though the pics do not do some of the wood handles justice, once you see them in person they are stunning.
 
I have an osage nessmuk from Andy. From the photo it's only a yellow wooden handle with no obvious pattern.

When I received it, I kept on saying "Wow...................Wow......................... Wow". When you take a closer look on the wood, you will find that the wood actually contain rich fine details as rays. Upon tilting the handle at different angles, you can see the rays shining at different angles. I kept on playing with it for over an hour.

To me, osage wood is so so beautiful. You must take a look at real stuff if you have chance. FYR.
 
ian_33 said:
I have an osage nessmuk from Andy. From the photo it's only a yellow wooden handle with no obvious pattern.

When I received it, I kept on saying "Wow...................Wow......................... Wow". When you take a closer look on the wood, you will find that the wood actually contain rich fine details as rays. Upon tilting the handle at different angles, you can see the rays shining at different angles. I kept on playing with it for over an hour.

To me, osage wood is so so beautiful. You must take a look at real stuff if you have chance. FYR.
Click to expand...

I just got notified by solid4ever that my Osage Woodsman is in the mail, so I will report back once I have it in hand. That's all I need, become an Osage Fiddlback addict.
 
Osage Orange or Bois d'Arc or "Bodark" was the traditional wood of the Commanche, and was favored for bows as well as other implements. It originally grew in upper Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, but has spread throughout the Midwest and beyond because of its use for thorny hedge rows. It is extremely tough/hard/resistant - osage orange fence posts have been known to last more than a hundred years. The plain yellow-green wood when new gradually darkens with age and exposure to UV to a wonderful (IMO) root beer color with a light-shifting grain. It's my favorite next to Arizona Desert Ironwood which has some similar qualities.
 
I do love Andy's osage knives! I have one that even smells like citrus! :) They age beautifully!

-Will
 
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