Update...Osage Knife Handle Color Change from Sun Exposure

[tippit]

Just thought I'd show y'all the color change on an Osage knife handle from just a couple of weeks of Sun exposure.  Pictures are of the same side of the knife...tippit

[Bob McBride]

Nifty tip tip. Was that two weeks or a bit more? I've never messed with Osage so that's an amazing transformation to my eyes. Cool stuff.

[tippit]

I just put it out while I'm in my shop so less than 2 weeks because it's only out a few hours a day...but that's S Carolina Sun & 90% heat   Osage just keeps getting prettier with age.  If I hadn't put it in the sun, it would still be yellow.

[Bob McBride]

I just put it out while I'm in my shop so less than 2 weeks because it's only out a few hours a day...but that's S Carolina Sun & 90% heat

I see. I understand about the heat. When I go back to the Texas Gulf Coast in the summer and it's 107 and the humidity is 95% I can hardly breath anymore....TN is pretty nice. 90 at the worst and the humidity is always like 60%. The natives whine it's sooo humid but my cuticles dry out.....

[tippit]

It's the UV light that changes the color.

[Bob McBride]

It's the UV light that changes the color.

I understand. I was veering off topic.

[snapper]

I like Osage Orange for stuff.   I have it growing on my farm.   I have used it for knife handles as well.   Recently I tried making my first mug on a lathe.   Osage is NOT the wood to learn on.  I made a great mug, when I wash it, I still get some yellow color out of the water.  The walnut mug was much easier.

Fleener

[tippit]

All the bows that I make are from Osage...also called Bodark (wood of bows).  This one harvested a bear with a flint point.

[old george]

That color change is really neat. Thanks for sharing.

george

[JBJ]

Tippit,
Yep, bodock where I was raised in E. TN. Corruption of bois d' arc. I think the French translation is "wooden bow".
J.B.

[WadePatton]

bow wood

Yes, it can get quite dark if unfinished.  I've made a bunch of stuff from it. I'm actually glad it grows near me and not on me--difference between the Rim and the Basin (where it is ubiquitous along with the cedar bush).

I love the dark orange/brown that it takes on with some finish and age.

And it really works fine under hand tools.  It can be a bear using powered tools, especially to a novice with a chainsaw.

I've got a couple of slabs we sawed out some 25 years ago, They're gray/black now.

[TonyM]

Mulberry does the same thing. Yellow like bodark then turns the same after exposure to sunlight.
Made several bows with mulberry from my yard in central Alabama a few years back.

[Bull Shannon]

Very nice color change and the very reason I like Osage Orange. I've also heard it called a Horse Apple although I've never seen a horse eat one of the fruits.

[Curtis Makamson]

My dad, now deceased, once told me a “bodock” fence post would last longer than the hole it was in.

[tippit]

Curtis,
You can still pull one of those old fence post and build a bow from it.  Tough stuff!