It is hard to find wood harder than
this in the United States but there is some.
Supposedly. Bodark, also known as
Osage Orange, is without a doubt a hard wood and difficult to turn at
times. Everything you use has to always
be razor sharp. I was in a quandary as
whether to call this a natural edge bowl or not. It certainly is not typical of a natural
edge bowl. But, when you look at one
side and at the bottom you will see it blackened. That was caused by a lightning strike that
was the demise of this tree. Split that big feller right
down the middle! I didn’t think I had
anymore usable wood from that tree until I stumbled upon this piece and I am
glad I did. Another thing about this
wood that Mamma Nature provides is the wood changes color from the golden color
you see here to a burnt orange color. You
will also see the usual minor cracks in the wood that have no effect on the
integrity of the bowl. The outside
diameter is 7 ¾” with the inside at 6 ¼”.
The height is 2 ¾” and the depth 2”.
The volume measured at 2 cups.
This bowl was not meant to be a serving bowl but used for nuts and
candies and other tasty things. Also a
great bowl as a catch all for keys and change.
The wood was sealed with food grade walnut oil and then finished with a
walnut oil based wax. This gives the
bowl a nice natural finish that is renewable with olive oil if needed. 27Feb19
BLBA97
Osage Orange is a wonderful wood with a beautiful colour which does get better with age. I myself have turned this wood and I have to agree with what you said about this wood being hard and needing to use very sharp tools. Yes I would say it is a natural edged bowl, after all that's what nature provided in this wood. I love the shape of this bowl. Well done my friend.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Les! I remember when you were still turning that you had some of this but had not gotten around to turning it. Glad to hear you did. Some folks don't like the darker shade it turns but I do. Be good. Now I'm going to go look at those caverns!
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