Does anybody have experience with turning osage orange or bois d’arc?
No experience turning, but if you get it going, I’d be interested in the shavings/sawdust. Its good for natural dyeing
Most turners at DMS have some experience with this (including myself)…we get donated supply once or twice a year.
Not my favorite. but if you get some green stock, it will turn very well. If it’s fully cured it will turn about like post oak. the color won’t hold up, in the end it turns a brown color. cheers!
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Ditto what @mblatz and @nicksilva said. It turns reasonably well - not like butter but not a problem wood. It generates a nice luster when you polish it. If you turn it green (recommended, IMO, because it’s easier to turn that way), be advised that the shavings will stain your hands and possibly your clothes (if you’re sweaty or get water on the shavings). They also make me itchy.
Here is a link to the wood-database article on it.
If you turn it green, I recommend using lots of AnchorSeal in between turning episodes, and drying it for several months (after completion) in 3 paper bags to mitigate warping and splitting. The piece I had was uber-green and the shavings were damp enough to cool my skin as they fell on me. I’m amazed it didn’t end up splitting.
Here are some pictures of how the color changes:
- On the lathe … almost sunflower yellow but with a nice pronounced grain. Notice that it is mounted in such a way that I am not hollowing out the end grain.
- Ready to part off, with a couple coats of “natural color” Danish oil. The characteristic orange color is starting to show. (BTW, don’t let the dust mask fool you. I was wearing that under the full face shield.)
- After several months sitting in 3 paper bags, and a couple more coats of Danish oil because the first few coats completely soaked in. (I never plan to put food in this so I didn’t worry about food-safe finish). I loved this color.
- About 2 years later. This sits in a room where the shades are almost never open. The grain and luster are still present (ignoring the dust, of course), but it has browned up noticeably.
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I’m somewhat off topic, but anyhoo…pretty much all finishes are food safe once they are fully cured, i.e the poisonous stuff has completely evaporated/dissipated and the actual hard coat stuff that is left behind has completely polymerized (or whatever it feels like doing). So the operative words here are fully and cured.
Curing is different from drying (i.e able to be handled); it takes significantly longer. “Food safe” finishes are typically finishes that either don’t have any poisonous stuff in them (mineral oil, paraffin wax), or that have poisonous stuff in them that dissipate and/or cure much faster so that using them before they are “safe” is less likely, e.g. “salad bowl finish”.
But note that the material safety data sheet (MSDS) for one type of salad bowl finish was noted to contain toluene – a probable cancer hazard – along with naphtha, ethyl benzene, and cobalt, all of which can damage your health with sufficient exposure. So a so called food safe finish like this is as safe as, but no safer than, any other cured finish.
The good news is that after this much time, @John_Marlow can probably gnaw on his bowl now with very low likelihood of a health risk.
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I have some free Bois D’ Arc at my house if anyone is interested. Cut it last year but a lot of it is still green. Mostly 6-12" stock for bowls in log form. Feel free to contact me.
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Bois D’arc, or Osage Orange turns beautifully…I brought a trailer full 2 years ago - got 2 nice 15" bowls out of the biggest piece. It has a really striking end grain pattern. As others have said, it turns
best green. Still, I’ve found pieces sitting around 2 years turn fine with sharp tools…Curiously, had 1 person in Lathe Basics once who was highly allergic.
If you pick some up, one thing to watch for are checks/shakes - I have found plenty…
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I eye balled a chuck that was on the back shelf for a long time. Not being experienced, I was not sure how find the bowl in that chunk, it was an odd shape. Looks like last week someone hopefully turned it, and left small chunks. I would love to turn some if we ever get another donation.
It’s great for pens, though I have seen students have them explode when close to final form more than any other wood.
Turns nicely at that scale even dry. Nice color for a while, great grain.
You can try a UV protecting finish to help the color last.
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Any chance I can tag onto your pen turning class this weekend? I’m in need of a refresher course.
@Scott_Blevins I’m not sure you need a fresher, but you are welcome.
The lathes are full, so you will have to wait for hands on.
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Thanks John. I will plan to be there.