# Osage Orange (Bois d'arc) Box



## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

Haven't had much time to get on the forum lately or do a lot of wood working but I managed to squeeze in this project before I had to build some picture frames for the wife. The wood is Osage Orange I salvaged from a downed tree. I resawed it in to workable slabs and it has been sitting in my shop for a while. The box turned out better than I expected.

This was my first time working with this wood, beside resawing it, and I must say these pieces were difficult to work with. The is a very hard wood, but did not machine very easily for me. This was also my first try at inlays. I used the dutchmen to hold the wood together were it was seperating.

I use the box store all the stuff I carry in my pockets during the day.

Sorry, no pictures of the work. Maybe next time.

Darrin


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## TinyTiger (Mar 9, 2013)

Nice job Darrin! That box is a neat design. I really like it.

I have a few pieces of that stuff in the shop, but haven't done anything with it yet. I wondered how it would be to machine. Tough!


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

That is beautiful looking timber, Darrin.

Nice job on the box also.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Nice work Darrin...


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## km28104 (Feb 12, 2013)

Great looking box. 

I use Osage Orange for Bows. This stuff is expensive to buy in Stave form..

A tree big enough to yield that size of material would be worth a mint.

Ken


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

TinyTiger said:


> Nice job Darrin! That box is a neat design. I really like it.
> 
> I have a few pieces of that stuff in the shop, but haven't done anything with it yet. I wondered how it would be to machine. Tough!


Thanks Russ!
It was tough for me to machine. I had a fairly new set of blades in my Dewalt 735 planer. They only had one job on them before this, and that was the purple heart dominoes you see in the background of these pictures. No matter which way I ran the wood through, or at what speed or depth of cut, I always got some tear out on some pieces. You can see the tear out on the bottom. I really believe it had to do more with the grain direction than the planer.


Darrin


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

jw2170 said:


> That is beautiful looking timber, Darrin.
> 
> Nice job on the box also.


Thanks James! I took me awhile, but I finally got it done.

Darrin


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

km28104 said:


> Great looking box.
> 
> I use Osage Orange for Bows. This stuff is expensive to buy in Stave form..
> 
> ...


Ken,
The tree that I got this wood from was probably enough to get some staves from. This piece was already down and split by time I got to it. The tree is still alive, as this was just one part of it. There are a couple of more on the place where I got this. I still have two or three logs in my shop that I need to resaw.

Darrin


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

Stick486 said:


> Nice work Darrin...


Thanks Stick! I have learned a lot from this forum, and it give me the confidence to jump in and do projects like this. There are a lot of very talented people on this site that are more than happy to help others learn.

Darrin


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## Gene Howe (Jul 10, 2007)

Way to go, Darrin. Excellent design and execution. 
Being from TX, I'm sure you are aware that that beautiful yellow will quickly change to a nice mellow brown. 
In high school (in 1958) I turned a lamp from a log of that stuff. (In IL, we refer to it as "Hedge") That lamp is still being used and the color continues to darken. 
Recently, I picked up some 10/4 slabs from a sawyer here in AZ. They came from TX! I have no clue how they made their way to that sawyer. Anyway, they had been laying out side for several years. They were a beautiful, deep reddish brown about 1/2" in and gradually lightened deeper in. But still, never got to the bright yellow of newly cut wood.
Once again, that's a beautiful box and I can relate to your tooling experiences.


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## Garyk (Dec 29, 2011)

Darrin,
Osage Orange is a hard wood no matter at what stage its in. As it sits around the shop and gets drier it will become harder. It is very tough on blades and as said in Gene's post will become darker with age. Sunlight will accelerate the change in color so keep it out of bright light. Blades that are not razor sharp will add to the chip out problem. Nice job on the box.
Gary


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

That is very nice.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

Darren can you say what the dimensions of your nice box are, your box is a very nice example of the benefits of saving lost wood from the fire or the chipper, saving lost wood and then making something worthy from it is time well spent. NGM


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

neville9999 said:


> Darren can you say what the dimensions of your nice box are, your box is a very nice example of the benefits of saving lost wood from the fire or the chipper, saving lost wood and then making something worthy from it is time well spent. NGM


Neville,
Thanks for the kind words on the box. I like using a recycled wood and wood that I mill from logs to make projects. I have a lot of old "barn wood" in my shop that has nail holes and nicks and dings in it. It makes great rustic pictures frames and such.

The outside dimensions of the box is approximately 305 L X 140 W X 64 H

Thanks!


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

JOAT said:


> That is very nice.


Thanks Theo. It really turned out better than I expected. The natural Watco oil really made the cracks stand out, and I like that.

Darrin


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

Garyk said:


> Darrin,
> Osage Orange is a hard wood no matter at what stage its in. As it sits around the shop and gets drier it will become harder. It is very tough on blades and as said in Gene's post will become darker with age. Sunlight will accelerate the change in color so keep it out of bright light. Blades that are not razor sharp will add to the chip out problem. Nice job on the box.
> Gary


Gary,
You are right about it being hard. The hardness and denseness gives the lids a good feel and sound when you close them.
The odd thing about planing these pieces of wood is when I ran it through the planer, I thought I had "read" the grain correctly, but I got some tear out on part of it and part of it was smooth as could be. So I turned it around and ran it through the other way. Now the chip out is where it was previously smooth, and where it was chipped out before is now smooth. I have had this happen with wood that is close to the center of the tree, or around a knot due to grain running in different directions. But from what I could see that was not case here. All grain appeared to be running in the same direction.

Either way, it added character to the box, and I really like it.

Darrin


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

Gene Howe said:


> Way to go, Darrin. Excellent design and execution.
> Being from TX, I'm sure you are aware that that beautiful yellow will quickly change to a nice mellow brown.
> In high school (in 1958) I turned a lamp from a log of that stuff. (In IL, we refer to it as "Hedge") That lamp is still being used and the color continues to darken.
> Recently, I picked up some 10/4 slabs from a sawyer here in AZ. They came from TX! I have no clue how they made their way to that sawyer. Anyway, they had been laying out side for several years. They were a beautiful, deep reddish brown about 1/2" in and gradually lightened deeper in. But still, never got to the bright yellow of newly cut wood.
> Once again, that's a beautiful box and I can relate to your tooling experiences.


Gene,
Thanks for the compliments on the box. I have always been intrigued by how thing wind up where they do, including people. So to hear that some Osage Orange made it from TX to a sawyer in AZ is very interesting. Look forward to seeing some projects from yours 10/4 pieces.

The box has only been completed about 2 weeks, and I can already see the difference in color. I knew it would happen, and think it will only add to the beauty of it.

Thanks again!

Darrin


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## steamfab (Jun 22, 2012)

Good looking box! Like the color and the grains of the wood, very attractive. Great design especially how the tops open in the middle and the bow ties. Great work!


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## Daikusan (Apr 12, 2013)

darrink said:


> The box turned out better than I expected.
> 
> This was my first time working with this wood, beside resawing it, and I must say these pieces were difficult to work with. The is a very hard wood, but did not machine very easily for me. This was also my first try at inlays. I used the dutchmen to hold the wood together were it was seperating.


Thanks for the post; excellent work and description. The forum and post like this has certainly changed my learning curve.


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## neville9999 (Jul 22, 2010)

darrink said:


> Neville,
> Thanks for the kind words on the box. I like using a recycled wood and wood that I mill from logs to make projects. I have a lot of old "barn wood" in my shop that has nail holes and nicks and dings in it. It makes great rustic pictures frames and such.
> 
> The outside dimensions of the box is approximately 305 L X 140 W X 64 H
> ...


Darren I am super impressed that you converted inches into millimeters so I can understand, I do work with both imperial and metric as I started out with measuring wood by the yard, however these days I am all metric, or mostly metric as I won't be able to read 32nds and 64ths of an inch until I get some new glasses, still it is important to have some size context regarding sizes in a photo, looking at your photos then I thought that the box is bigger, I also have made picture frames out of old wood full of nail and bolt holes and I hate to see it burned, giving old wood a new life is a very good use of it when all it could look forward to is to face being used to cook a steak, one trick that I have always liked is that before I stain or colour an item made out of old wood then I drip some black paint into the nail hole and let it sit wet as I wipe the new stain over the black paint and as the small amount of black gets smeared around near the hole then it gives the nail hole a very nice accent, there is a lot that can be done with old wood other than to burn it. NGM


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## darrink (Sep 7, 2009)

steamfab said:


> Good looking box! Like the color and the grains of the wood, very attractive. Great design especially how the tops open in the middle and the bow ties. Great work!


Thanks Steamfab! I have to admit, it's not my design, I found it on the internet and thought I would give it a go. Slight changes to the way the "handle" attaches, but that's about it.

Darrin


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