Osage Orange

[Foxjaw]

Just wondered if anyone had some ideas on finishing osage orange ? It seems to take on this nice rich reddish brown look by itself after it sits for a long time with no finish, but I was wondering if you can get that with some kind of oil or something ? It's, as you know, a neon yellow in its natural state.

Any ideas would be most welcome

Foxy

[anarcher]

Brett;
The rich color comes with exposier to light.
My to favorite two osage bows are finished with paste wax.
I'll first burnish the wood with a bone, then rub in the wax and warm the surface to help the wax penetrate. Repete till you get a warm luster.
This wax finish needs to be renewed from time to time, but allows the wood to color naturaly.

[TexasJack]

In this part of the world, the wood is called bois d'arc (pronounced bo-dark). Chris Daigle uses it quite a bit with very nice results. (If you've seen Chuck Burrows' sheath video, that's Chris' knife - with a bois d'arc handle - on the cover.) If he happens to miss this post, send him a PM.

[NJStricker]

Mike Stewart from Bark River told me that if you run a torch over the wood, it will darken it. He said to keep the flame moving so you don't scorch the wood, just heat it so that it essentially speeds the aging/darkening process.

[Raymond Richard]

Here's a bowie I did a few weeks ago. I started out with nice figured piece of osage orange. I then burnt it and sanded is off to high lite the figure and sealed it with Watco Teak finish.

[Foxjaw]

Great input everybody, many thanks

[Chuck Burrows]

Stained with Aqua Fortis - available from MICHAEL LEA AND DAUGHTER, 2109 Summit Street, Columbus OH 43201.
Telephone 614-291-4757
email oldguns2109@sbcglobal.net

and finished with my own homemade linseed oil based violin varnish.....

The pictures are good but the real thing is great looking!