Osage Dublin

[Jthompson1995]

Another recent osage orange pipe. Dublin with hand cut ebonite stem. I left a little bit of the inner bark on the rim of the bowl singe it looked cool. I know it's unconventional but since it doesn't go into the chamber I think it will be OK. Still working on the button and slot shaping.

Comments and critiques welcome.

[RobEsArt]

I would look into the smoke-a-bility of Osage. It is a gorgeous wood, and the pipe looks nice, but I would be concerned with any toxicity it may have.

My student and I are currently using it as decorative materials for stem inlays and shank extensions. Our bowls are almost always briar, with a few exceptions of maple that we are experimenting with.

[baweaverpipes]

Here in the south, we called this by many names..........bois de arc, mock orange and osage orange. When I was a kid, my mother wanted me to cut one down in the back fence row. I got the axe and made one swing. My arms reverberated like I had just hit hardened steel. The wood is very hard and the thorns can play havoc if you step on one. I've done it more than once.
Forget making a pipe from bois de arc, make a bow, kill a deer, then smoke a peace pipe.

[mcgregorpipes]

isn't osage a fruit wood? it grows these alien pod type oranges right

I would look into the smoke-a-bility of Osage. It is a gorgeous wood, and the pipe looks nice, but I would be concerned with any toxicity it may have.

My student and I are currently using it as decorative materials for stem inlays and shank extensions. Our bowls are almost always briar, with a few exceptions of maple that we are experimenting with.

[Jthompson1995]

I did some research on the toxicity of osage, I'm not even close to the first to make a pipe from it. I couldn't find any reports of allergies to the wood. I am using osage partly because I have a bunch of it (not long enough to make bows from) and its cheaper than briar to practice on.

I've smoked a few pipes I've made from osage and it seems to smoke fine. One of them even happened to have an unfortunate accident , and I got a look at the cross section of the bowl. There did not appear to be any absorption into the wood. Not sure if that is a good thing or not but at least it's good info.

Wood species aside, any comments/critiques on the shaping, etc on the pipe?

[Alden]

Here in the south, we called this by many names..........bois de arc, mock orange and osage orange.

My Granddad carved and sold machine gears out of Bois d'arc when there was metal shortage in WWII. That ought to tell you how hard the stuff is.
I never heard it called anything but Horse Apple growing up. Those stinking rotten fruits in summer are horrible.
My treehouse was in a horse apple tree

[wdteipen]

I like the shape you have going on the bowl. The bowl, however, is too heavy for the shank. I also don't think the bottom of the bowl dipping down below the line of the bottom of your shank works in this composition. In fact, rarely does the heel dipping down below the shank work and when it does it usually is very deliberate and sometimes exaggerated. The colors between the bowl, shank cap, and stem don't compliment each other very well. A Cumberland stem would have worked better. The shoulder you have on the stem where it meets the shank looks amateurish. It's better to countersink the stem or go with a smooth transition from tenon to stem with the faux military style, IMHO. The osage orange sure is a pretty wood and you oriented the grain very nicely.

[Sasquatch]

Overall the shape is pretty good I'd say, maybe a little wall-heavy. It looks like the line of the mortise and the final carved line of the shank are not quite parallel, which is to say it looks a bit like the stem goes in on a slight upward angle. Nice curve and proportion on the stem though.

[Jthompson1995]

Thanks for the comments. I originally had the bottom of the bowl dropping lower but it didn't seem to look quite right when I was shaping so I brought it up. Since I drilled first, this made the stem angle off. I can see where shaping first can be useful. Just need to save up some money to get some spoon bits.

Now on to the next one.

[BigCasino]

around here those Osage orange's never turn orange like they do down south, we call call them Monkey Balls, and people collect them and set them in their basments and attics , cause the old wives tale is it keeps mice and rats away

[Literaryworkshop]

I would look into the smoke-a-bility of Osage. It is a gorgeous wood, and the pipe looks nice, but I would be concerned with any toxicity it may have.

As if the stuff you're putting into it isn't already toxic...

No toxicity issues with osage orange, really. I haven't seen it listed on any of the wood toxicity charts I've seen, at any rate. It's been discussed quite a bit over in the "alternate materials" section of the forum, and the consensus seems to be that it makes a decent pipe.

As to this pipe itself, yeah, I think the idea of this shape has a lot going for it. But either the shank is too thin or the bowl is too big. I think it would be worth making a couple more along these lines.

[RadDavis]

around here those Osage orange's never turn orange like they do down south, we call call them Monkey Balls, and people collect them and set them in their basments and attics , cause the old wives tale is it keeps mice and rats away

We had a large tree over the driveway growing up, and one of my chores was taking a huge cane pole with a hook duct taped on the end and yanking the limbs to get the "oranges" to fall, then haul them across the street to the vacant lot. Nasty, sticky things with a milky white excrescence once they were were cracked. Never saw one turn orange in Tennessee, and never kept them in the house neither.

BTW, in the south, Bois d'arc is pronounced Bow Dark.

Rad

[The Smoking Yeti]

I didn't realize Osage Orange had such a anecdotal/ rambling effect on these old geezers. Definitely didn't read that in the toxicity reports...

[baweaverpipes]

I didn't realize Osage Orange had such a anecdotal/ rambling effect on these old geezers. Definitely didn't read that in the toxicity reports...

Yes, Rad IS an old geezer. I'm just a hillbilly.

[andrew]

I didn't realize Osage Orange had such a anecdotal/ rambling effect on these old geezers. Definitely didn't read that in the toxicity reports...

Yes, Rad IS an old geezer. I'm just a hillbilly.

andrew

[Charl]

One point for Osage: the gorgeous grain!

[OzarkRyan]

I really enjoy the dip to the bowl. I think it follows the grain really nicely.

Quick question if it's not considered out of line here; how was it drilling through that Osage? I've got a lot laying around from making bows and such, so I'd love for this to be a wood I can make a nice tough pipe out of.

As a comment on the wood, I've had great luck making tampers out of it. Its hard and weighty, so it tamps flat and resists burn.

[Jthompson1995]

I really enjoy the dip to the bowl. I think it follows the grain really nicely.

Quick question if it's not considered out of line here; how was it drilling through that Osage? I've got a lot laying around from making bows and such, so I'd love for this to be a wood I can make a nice tough pipe out of.

As a comment on the wood, I've had great luck making tampers out of it. Its hard and weighty, so it tamps flat and resists burn.

It wasn't too bad drilling the osage but make sure your bits are super sharp and take your time.