OSAGE ORANGE (MACLURA POMIFERA) ?????

[SANDMORE]

I am retiring after 30 yrs of teaching high school Art, and
am trying my hand at pipe making. I have carved several meerschaum kits, and about a dozen briars. The local pipe denizens are encourageing about my pipes, and I fear I may be hooked. I am now experencing briar withdrawl as I have run out of briar! I picked up some from e bay that
ran from great to pretty poor, and my local shop had a couple super blocks left from the last time Erik Nordling was in town.
I had a chance to talk with and watch Erik Nordling work at a local
shop this weekend, so I am really cranked to get back to carving. I am a babe in the woods about buying briar...Any help? What is a fair price
for a large "freehand" block? Anyone ever tried Osage orange? I hve 80 acres of Flint Hills pasture and have a pile of big hedge fence posts that
may be 80 years old. This stuff is so dense briar seems like balsa, but
is it suitable for anything other than "frufra" on stems?

[bscofield]

I am retiring after 30 yrs of teaching high school Art, and
am trying my hand at pipe making. I have carved several meerschaum kits, and about a dozen briars. The local pipe denizens are encourageing about my pipes, and I fear I may be hooked. I am now experencing briar withdrawl as I have run out of briar! I picked up some from e bay that
ran from great to pretty poor, and my local shop had a couple super blocks left from the last time Erik Nordling was in town.
I had a chance to talk with and watch Erik Nordling work at a local
shop this weekend, so I am really cranked to get back to carving. I am a babe in the woods about buying briar...Any help? What is a fair price
for a large "freehand" block? Anyone ever tried Osage orange? I hve 80 acres of Flint Hills pasture and have a pile of big hedge fence posts that
may be 80 years old. This stuff is so dense briar seems like balsa, but
is it suitable for anything other than "frufra" on stems?

never heard of the wood so I wouldn't know what to tell you.

Welcome to the board tho! Got any pictures of your work? Briar is going to change big time depending on what you feel your ready to work with. Are you wanting to get pro briar quality? Close to pro quality? Tyler has a pretty good complete listing here on his site of places to get briar from. Look on the left side and find Materials Sources. I'm not sure where a person should and should not offer a fair evaluation of briar received from a certain company. People seem reluctant to talk about it at times so I wouldn't want step on toes.... I can tell you who is getting GOOD reviews tho

Briar grains is getting good reviews... they're for "more than hobbiests." Uh, for hobbiests Tim West at Jhlowe.com has sent out some pretty good blocks to people on this board recently. It all depends, IMO, on what quality you want to work with.

[JMB]

SANDMORE,
I can't answer your question but I too would like to welcome you to the board.
I do envey you getting to watch Erik Nordling at work.
Post some of your work, we all would like to see it.
JB

[flea1]

I have not actually seen any pipes made out of this wood...I have seen this wood used for straight bows. Nice looking from what I remember.

Yeah...just like you said to yourself "Well that was of no help....."

[Nick]

Here's what the forestry service says about it:






Maclura pomifera





this page uses English units of measure


click here to view the file in metric units




Family: Moraceae

























click to print or download the file in .pdf format




Osage Orange










The genus Maclura contains about 12 species native to: North America [1], with the rest in tropical America and Africa. The genus name maclura is after William Maclure (1763-1840), and American geologist, while the species epithet pomifera means bearing pomes or apples, in allusion to the large, spherical fruits.

Maclura pomifera-Bodare Us, Bodark, Bodeck, Bodock, Bois d'arc, Bowwood, Geelhout, Hedge, Hedge Apple, Hedge-plant, Horse Apple, Maclura, Mock Orange, Naranjo Chino, Osage, Osage Apple-tree, Rootwood, Wild Orange, Yellow-wood.



Distribution

Native to Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, but since escaped and naturalized throughout the eastern and north western US.

The Tree

Osage Orange is a medium size tree with thorns which grows in bottom lands. It attains a height of 60 feet and a diameter of 3 feet. The bark has an orange cast and was used in making kaki dye during W.W.I. It produces large spherical fruits the size of large grapefruits in the fall.



The Wood

General

The sapwood of Osage Orange is narrow and light yellow, while the heartwood is golden to bright orange, which darkens upon exposure. The heartwood can also contain red streaks. It has no characteristic odor or taste. The wood is very hard, heavy, tough, resilient and takes a high luster. It is ring porous and commonly confused with black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia).



Mechanical Properties (2-inch standard)

Compression

Specific

gravity


MOE

x106 lbf/in2


MOR

lbf/in2


Parallel

lbf/in2


Perpendicular

lbf/in2


WMLa

in-lbf/in3


Hardness

lbf


Shear

lbf/in2

Green


0.76


1.33


13,700


5,810


2,260


37.9


2,040


—

Dry


0.85


—


—


—


—


—


—


—

aWML = Work to maximum load.

Reference (59).

Drying and Shrinkage

Type of shrinkage


Percentage of shrinkage
(green to final moisture content)

0% MC


6% MC


20% MC

Tangential


—


—


—

Radial


—


—


—

Volumetric


9.2


7.4


3.1

The wood of Osage Orange seasons well and thereafter, maintains dimensional stability well. ???

Reference: (90).

Kiln Drying Schedulesa




Stock

Condition


4/4, 5/4, 6/4


8/4


10/4


12/4


16/4

Standard


T6-A2


T3-A1


—


—


—

aReferences (6, 86).

Working Properties: Osage Orange is difficult to work due to its hardness. It holds glue and screws well, but is difficult to nail.

Durability: Osage Orange is considered one of the most durable woods in North America.

Preservation: No information available at this time.

Uses: : Fuel wood, fence posts, game calls, smoking pipes, artificial limbs, crutches, insulator pins, wheel rims & hubs of farm wagons, railroad ties, treenails, machinery parts, archery, bows (Native Americans), dye from roots, planted for windrows and hedges.

Toxicity: The sap can cause dermatitis (105)

Looks good to me. Welcome abourd btw!! Here's the link if you like. I know some of the stuff didn't paste well.

http://128.104.77.230/TechSheets/Hardwo ... clura.html

[jeff]

Thanks, Nick. I especially like the liberal use of blank spaces. It is very effective.

Jeff

[Nick]

PPPPPPBBBBBTTTTT!!!!

[SANDMORE]

MANY THANKS FOR THE REPLIES. I BURNED OFF SOME PASTURE THIS WEEKEND AND THREW THE CHAINSAW IN THE BACK. SAWED OFF ENOUGH BLANKS TO TRY A FEW SMALL FREEHANDS OFF OF A PILE OF LINE POSTS WE PULLED OUT A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO. THIS STUFF IS TOUGH, BUT IT WEATHER CHECKS. I WILL HAVE TO SCOUT OUT SOME OLD CORNER POSTS BUT AT 10"TO 12"DIA AND 8' LONG FARMERS USUALLY BULL DOZE THEM OUT. AFTER THEY HAVE CURED, YOU HAVE TO USE BAILING WIRE TO ATTACH BARBED WIRE, FENCE STAPLES JUST FOLD OVER ON THE SURFACE...I WILL DOWN LOAD SOME IMAGES OF THE "HEDGE" PIPE, AND SOME OF MY BRIARS WHEN I FIGURE OUT THE
INS AND OUTS SENDING THESE THINGS... JIM DESELMS

[BobH]

Hi guys I am new to this site. I make Osage pipes. Here are a few pics.

http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... atchet.JPG
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... lier-3.JPG
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... pipe2a.jpg
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... ipe-1b.jpg
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... pipe2g.JPG

[alexanderfrese]

Thanks, Nick. I especially like the liberal use of blank spaces. It is very effective.

Jeff

Geeze, who will help me to get all this coffee from my screen…

Alex

[Nick]

Hehehehehe

I hate it when that happens!

[LexKY_Pipe]

The pix from BobH show some interesting grain patterns.

[NvilleDave]

The pix from BobH show some interesting grain patterns.

The texture and grain remind me of Morta (although much lighter in color) and from the way Sandmore described it, it sound like the hardness would be pretty close too--petrified almost. I haven't worked with either material--I'm only going off the description and pictures.

[SANDMORE]

Welcome and thanks for the photos... How do you keep hedge
from "checking"? I have been working with posts that have been drying
since the 1920's, and fresh cuts will still produce drying checks within
2 -3 days... I have been chain sawing 4" slabs off the butts of some corner posts, approx 12-16" dia and then squaring out blanks on the table saw. I have stored them in zip lock bags until I was ready to drill, but with limited sucess...
I have been finishing them with a buffing of wax that and I am very pleased with the results, but the checking is some times across grain patterns.
I have seen some Civil war vintage hedge "soldier" pipes
that had what I assume is lead poured around the rim of the bowl, that I thought might be just "fru-fra", but I now wonder if it was an attempt to prevent checking. Jim

[BobH]

Cracking or checking.

The wood I am using seems stable. The Osage is about 15 or more years old and came from trees growing in a poor location. The 3 to 4 inch Diameter branches have 80+ rings in them making a very tight grain. There are some cracks in the wood from drying but I just spit the wood on the cracks after cutting 6 inch chunks off. I also have some that is only a few years old with large grain that I have not used yet and I see a lot more cracks in these bigger logs.

Some of the wood in my shop.
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pipe/Pipe-wood.JPG

I am using:
Osage Orange
Crab Apple
Apple
Choke Cherry
Ash
Walnut
Hawthorn
Elm

I often incorporate cracks and wood defects into my pipes. It is part of my style and does not change the smoking qualities of the pipe. I cut working pieces and often study them for months before I see a pipe in one.

Here is the next pipe on my bench. It is not quite done yet.
http://home.woh.rr.com/aknots/images/Pi ... e-elm1.jpg

[rathpipe]

I started using Osage Orange before I was brave enough to tangle with briar and even though I'm not terribly proud of the pipes, they smoked great. I haven't developed any facial ticks yet and I have one broken in very well. I have started using briar and some mesquite but will probably try to do one in Osage Orange agian and make a nicer one. My Osage Orange was from a large root system I cut up 10 years ago and saved it as I new someday I would want it for some project.

On the other hand, I have smoked so much Latikia in my life, I'm not sue if I even taste, anymore.