Help From the Guru's

[bundyrum68]

Got given a pile of wood from an elderly couple down the road...Problem is I was not home to receive the wood and get the information of what it is etc
Have cut a few bowls from the camphor L (see below pics) but it is one of the other log's that has me interseted. Wood was dark & dirty on the outside(may have been painted as a seal)...Once cut the wood is a very golden yellow..quickly turned an egg this arvo to see what it worked like..
Any ideas on what it is?

Steve

[artme]

Fiddlewood?

[DJ’s Timber]

Osage Orange maybe

[TTIT]

Either Osage as DJ said or Mulberry

[orraloon]

My guess is Osage. I have some bits of fiddelwood and that looks a bit different.

Regards
John

[Manuka Jock]

Steve ,
we have a timber over here in NZ that has that look about it.
Kowhai (sophora microphylla etc. )
I made a taiaha (pole weapon ) out of a length , and only yesterday I held a bowl that was turned from kowhai.
The flowers are bright yellow too .... hence the name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowhai

cheers,
Jock

[Tornatus]

Steve

99.999% sure that egg is Osage Orange (Maclura pomifera), a native of North America, and named after the Osage tribe, who used its very strong wood for making bows - hence the other name given it by early French trappers, "Bois d'arc" = Wood of the Bow. The "orange" comes from the appearance of the fruit, which looks like the citrus, but is not edible, even though the tree belongs to the Mulberry family.

My Guild was very lucky to be given a large quantity of this wood, trimmings from a local (ACT/NSW) property where the trees had been growing for over 100 years. It works well when green, and is very stable - we are still waiting to see how it works when dry! The wood we were given has wonderful figure in it - other examples I have seen have been fairly bland.

One thing we have found - it loses that bright yellow colour once exposed, and "weathers" to a nice caramel shade.

[BernieP]

G'Day Steve

Had the pleasure of examining and handleing some of this on Monday night, its called "deep yellow" info at this link http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/plant/...hodanthema.htm

Have been promised some and as it is an Australian Rainforest tree its supposed to be illegal to harvest it. So will think long and hard before attempting to make anything out of it.

Cheers
Bernie

[OGYT]

My guess is Osage Orange... better known around Texas as Bois d'Arc. It turns like butter when green or cured... with sharp tools. Hard as the hubs of hell when cured, and because of that, makes good mallets and pestles. Corner fence posts that were put into the ground over 100 years ago are still good posts today.
My MacKay Thread Chaser handle is made from one that was taken down recently, and still had some bright yellow streaks inside. Awesome timber!!

[lonesomebob]

The stuff is used as hedgrows here and is heartily dammed by anyone using a chainsaw. It will burn up chains unless kept super sharp. Has anyone used it for gears.??? Bob

[Ed Reiss]

My vote is for osage orange (wood1.jpg looks just like it!!).

[OGYT]

I also vote for Osage Orange. Looks like it to me. But, when it's dry, if it's harder than pecan, then it's mulberry. OO turns much easier than Mulberry when dry.

It works well when green, and is very stable - we are still waiting to see how it works when dry!

Tornatus,
When it's dry, it's hard as nails, but cuts like butter! I've turned a ton of it. Wet and dry. It cracks pretty easy if it's not good dry when turned to finished thickness. At least that's what it does in my part of the upover. It's very dry and hot here most of the summer, so they probably dried too fast.
A friend brought me a corner post that he pulled out of the ground. His Grandfather told him that his father had put that post into the ground before he was born. He was 93. He asked me to make a table cross out of it. When I cut into it, it was still bright yellow inside. After over 93 years in the ground, it was still a pretty strong post.

[texx]

tulip satinwood .maybe looks a lot like some i turned many years back when i was in QLD woodturners club we got some of that from MT MEE on a timber gathering day in the state forest . ( the forestry gave us one day to salvage what we could after they did some clearing )

tuliip wood some times called deep yellow wood i believe

[Ed Reiss]

Steve...if indeed it does turn out to be Osage, be aware that it will darken to a deep brown over time.

[OGYT]

What a nut I must be! Or am I just going blind? I thought I had made a comment on this thread, but couldn't find it, so I posted another comment, and today... voila! there they both are.
Then, I look at the dates of the posts. Heck, I'm 68 years old. I ain't expected to remember what happened 8 months ago.
Lonesome Bob just resurrected an old thread.
Been there, done that, too.