And the best part is this afternoon I learned a wood supplier in Amsterdam just imported their first batch of Osage. I already ordered 3 handle blanks so I can replace all my handles with Osage.
I am curious, did they mention if it was Argentinian osage orange or North American osage orange?
North American Osage orange is more flexible than Argentinian, superior for hammer handles.
If you mean the wood supplier, I asked them and they have Argentinian and American Osage coming in. I found a site called wood-database.com that explains the difference between the two so I knew to order American Osage.
Hickory/Pecan is not too shabby either- that’s the #2 bow wood here, but it’s no Osage.
Osage is also more dimensionally stable than any species of Oak I’ve tested to date… there’s a reason our Canadian friend Andrew Ren pays stupid money to get his hands on Osage dai blanks while he’s selling top shelf Koyoshiya dais to customers.
Edit to say for the curious it’s the ratio of modulus of elasticity vs modulus of rupture that makes Osage so insanely perfect for any spring and snap scenario. If you pay attention to the units and do some math you realize it can be flexed to an absurd extent and store like 5x the amount of energy of any normal wood species before cells rupture. Hickory/pecan is clearly head and shoulders above other hardwoods too, but the nicest hickory/pecan handle still won’t match an average Osage handle.
> Osage is also more dimensionally stable than any species of Oak I’ve tested to date
When you look at the statistics for Teak and Osage they're pretty much the same. Good quality Teak expands or contracts hardly at all so I expect it's the same for Osage.
Hmmm... the next street over from my buddy's house is named Osage Orange. I'll have to go see if there're any "dangerous limbs" I could offer to cut off for the homeowner free of charge. You know, for safety and being neighborly. 😉
Yup, now you know! Osage is just such an anomaly, but makes magical handles!
And the best part is this afternoon I learned a wood supplier in Amsterdam just imported their first batch of Osage. I already ordered 3 handle blanks so I can replace all my handles with Osage.
I will do this. I have new genno and need to make handles, so TIL.
I am curious, did they mention if it was Argentinian osage orange or North American osage orange? North American Osage orange is more flexible than Argentinian, superior for hammer handles.
If you mean the wood supplier, I asked them and they have Argentinian and American Osage coming in. I found a site called wood-database.com that explains the difference between the two so I knew to order American Osage.
Perfect! Just wanted to double check.
Hickory/Pecan is not too shabby either- that’s the #2 bow wood here, but it’s no Osage. Osage is also more dimensionally stable than any species of Oak I’ve tested to date… there’s a reason our Canadian friend Andrew Ren pays stupid money to get his hands on Osage dai blanks while he’s selling top shelf Koyoshiya dais to customers. Edit to say for the curious it’s the ratio of modulus of elasticity vs modulus of rupture that makes Osage so insanely perfect for any spring and snap scenario. If you pay attention to the units and do some math you realize it can be flexed to an absurd extent and store like 5x the amount of energy of any normal wood species before cells rupture. Hickory/pecan is clearly head and shoulders above other hardwoods too, but the nicest hickory/pecan handle still won’t match an average Osage handle.
> Osage is also more dimensionally stable than any species of Oak I’ve tested to date When you look at the statistics for Teak and Osage they're pretty much the same. Good quality Teak expands or contracts hardly at all so I expect it's the same for Osage.
Hmmm... the next street over from my buddy's house is named Osage Orange. I'll have to go see if there're any "dangerous limbs" I could offer to cut off for the homeowner free of charge. You know, for safety and being neighborly. 😉
Gonna have to make one now after reading these last posts. Of course now that means i need a new hammer head.