I was looking around for my next project when I stumbled upon a "scrap" piece of wood.  Hmmmm, what species is it?  Don't know.  Used it anyhow for this piece.

Pitured below is a pix of finished project as well as one of the sawdust.

Does anyone know what this is?  Thanks in advance.

 

That looks great Fred! As for the wood it looks like redwood to me, just a guess.

When I saw the finished post, I thought it was red cedar.

The bottom picture is of the sawdust generated.  It is orangeish yellow ! ! ! !

 

Could it be Osage Orange?????

21 hours ago, Fred Wilson said:

The bottom picture is of the sawdust generated.  It is orangeish yellow ! ! ! !

 

Could it be Osage Orange?????

Could be, Fred. Back in IL, we called it "Hedge". Fresh cut, it's very pretty but, a few months in the sun will darken it considerably.

 

Thanks, Gene

Could be old growth Southern Yellow and or Heart Pine. 

 

That's a cool piece!  Osage orange is a definite possibility, but that is quite a bit darker than the photos I could find. It may be the age that darkened it.

Fresh cut Bo D'arc is a bright yellow . On exposure it turns a deep chocolate brown.

 

 

These are right after finishing with Watco Danish Oil. The finish darkened it somewhat.

@Gerald  Thanks for the new term! Never heard osage orange called that

Gerald - great looking bowl.  New name for Osage Orange

Dad and uncles call the fruit Monkey Balls so to us they were Monkey Ball trees.

My dad always called them hedgeapples and went on to say that they were the only thing that he knew of that God put on earth that has absolutely no use. I can tell you this, at one time there was some buzz that putting several in your shop would keep the spiders out...I can testify that's NOT true.

Edited March 16, 20251 yr by Fred W. Hargis Jr

38 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

at one time there was some buzz that putting several in your shop would keep the spiders out

 

Dad put them in his basement one year for that reason and said all they did was rot and attract more bugs. 

Had a local trapper and they had him on one of the news channels quite frequently with home remedies for various problems.  He said wait until they fell on the ground to used to ward of spiders.  They wouldn't work if they were picked.  Climbing the tree to pick them would be rough given the sharp thorns the tree has. 

6 hours ago, lew said:

@Gerald  Thanks for the new term! Never heard osage orange called that

 A variation of the French, "Bois D'arc" -- bow wood, as it was used to make shooting bows.  Also known as mock orange, hedge apple, hedge ball, monkey ball, pap, monkey brains and yellow-wood. The name bois d'arc (French, meaning "bow-wood") has also been corrupted into bodark and bodock.  A friend of mine from Kansas once told me "harder than the hubs of Hades".

I use the French or actually Cajun being from Louisiana and 1/8 Cajun

Osage makes a nice ax handle.

 

Freshly made:

 

After a couple years of age:

 

Original handle for that ax is next to it, saved for a pattern.  I made the osage one a little chunkier, these days I probably wouldn't do that.

 

Color of the OP's project is about right for osage.  Not sure about the grain, but it's hard to tell in photos.  The yellow cast to the dust makes me think it is osage.

To an old Texas boy it looks like Mesquite. But what do I know? DON[T answer that question.

Nice scroll work Fred.

Thanks Bubba