Osage orange lumber


Gunther15

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I am working on some cutting boards for Christmas gifts. I am trying to find a good accent wood to use. I am getting all of my lumber from my firewood pile as well. I have made a sawmill jig for my table saw to cut dementioned lumber. I currently have enough stock of hard maple and hickory, but am looking for a species to use as an accent color. Lately I have been looking at the Osage orange (called hedge where I live) thinking that it would add some nice color. Do anyone have experience with this wood? Some forums say that it is toxic and should not be used others say that it works great for cutting boards. Any help would be appreciated!

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For every species of wood on the planet, there's someone out there who's allergic to it.  Unless they have a deadly serious allergy, the amount of exposure to the wood will be so minimal that I wouldn't give it a second thought.  Sanding wood that you're allergic to and breathing the dust is nowhere near the same as eating a slice of an apple that's been cut on it.  Go ahead and use it.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor or a lawyer...don't take my advice.

Osage orange would be a fine species for a cutting board...it's nice and hard and doesn't have huge open pores.  Your biggest issue will be getting it dried to an acceptable moisture content...between 6-10% is what you want.  Without a kiln I doubt you're there.  It's not as critical as if you were building a chest of drawers, for example, but you can expect some warping and possibly cracking if you build anything with green lumber then take it inside.  A stack of firewood may be "seasoned" and good enough to burn, but it's not the same as kiln dried and good enough to build with.  A moisture meter will help determine how unusable that pile of wood is.

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For every species of wood on the planet, there's someone out there who's allergic to it.  Unless they have a deadly serious allergy, the amount of exposure to the wood will be so minimal that I wouldn't give it a second thought.  Sanding wood that you're allergic to and breathing the dust is nowhere near the same as eating a slice of an apple that's been cut on it.  Go ahead and use it.

True enough.  I wasn't scare-mongering so much as to say the seasoned/dried wood seems to pose less of a hazard if one is concerned.

The hedge I have seen did have pretty pronounced pores in the end-grain, but was very smooth the long way.  For as hard as it is and as cheap as it is (around here anyway) it's a great wood.

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Osage orange would be a fine species for a cutting board...it's nice and hard and doesn't have huge open pores.  Your biggest issue will be getting it dried to an acceptable moisture content...between 6-10% is what you want.  Without a kiln I doubt you're there.  It's not as critical as if you were building a chest of drawers, for example, but you can expect some warping and possibly cracking if you build anything with green lumber then take it inside.  A stack of firewood may be "seasoned" and good enough to burn, but it's not the same as kiln dried and good enough to build with.  A moisture meter will help determine how unusable that pile of wood is.

Eric. 

I have read a little about drying wood down in an oven. And since the pieces that I will be needing for a cutting board are going to be relatively small would this be a valid approach? currently most of the wood is between 20-25% moisture.

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