I have a customer who has two Osage Orange logs they would like to use to cover or replace two steel columns in a basement.
I’m not going with replacement even if I could find a way an engineer to stamp off.
So I need to wrap the posts with two tree logs that seem very dense. My thought is to have a mill bandsaw the logs in half and hollow out the middle, I guess with a router? and then put them back together on site. The posts are going to be sanded down so the seam shouldn’t be to noticable.
Anyone done anything like this before? Or have a better method?
or by some stretch of luck no of a supplier that would sell them ready to snap around a post? lol
Replies
WHOOSH!
That went right over my head firs time I read it. Other than yes and use the EZ guide for the router, I can't help much
Osage orange is very rot resistant so I am imagining that why to use in a damp cellar like the old ones here, but it sounds like you are in a finished basement AND structural? Just the 'look' they want?
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Yes, the designer wants the "look" of the wood.
I tried to lift one of the logs they wanted to use, and damn, it was heavy. I've never worked with osage orange before and still not convinced I'm going to this time.
I do not want to make them structural. I'm not an engineer but looking at the loads from above and the checks/splits in the logs I have no intention of removing the steel posts. They may very well work but I have no plans on going down that path for a variety of reasons.
I'd use a chainsaw, Camelot or similar to grind out the insides after splitting it on the bandsaw.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Osage orange is some nasty wood to work with.
I'd try to talk 'em into just about ANYTHING but that...
Ditto that!
If it is dried out, it is gonna eat any router bit or tool steel by the cart load.
If it isn't completely dry, it will blow the joint apart as it finishes drying. It will mostly likey start moving after it is band sawed, and most definitely will as it is hollwoed out and the grain stresses start to releieve and find a new equalibrium.
I've done it a few times with cedar and pine, which are both more easily worked that Osage. I had them split with a milling band saw, just as you suggested, and then made the hollow with a combination of chainsaw, grinder and chisels. Didn't take too long, and they came out great.
In all cases though, they were air dried for more than a year prior to starting the projects. How old are the logs they are asking you to work with?
Shawn
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Checker Contracting - SE Michigan
The logs have been out in the open on the property for years, I will check the moisture content next time I'm out at the house.
The more I think about this the less I want to try to do it.
Anyone know of a source for post wraps that are either pre-fab out of limbs or look real damn close?
neil, one possibility is to find that bandsaw mill (check the woodmizer website or woodweb forums to find one near you), and then have the sawyer make 4 cuts to remove the heart - then reassemble the slabs - I'd saw and assemble the same day, OO is some tough wood and if it has time to get wild, you'll never get it back in relationship -
handling the log so as to not scar the outside surface is the hardest part -
The outside surface isn't to much of a concern. The designer wants to have them sanded mostly smooth, not necessary cylindrical, but smooth.
>>I'd saw and assemble the same day, OO is some tough wood and if it has time to get wild, you'll never get it back in relationship
That is what I was trying to say.
<if it has time to get wild, you'll never get it back in relationship - >
Isn't that always the way? I dated a girl like that, once . . .
Forrest - did I mention we had a wonderful time at your house? Thanks again!
it was good for me too - hey, neil, why osage orange? - especially if you are going to 'sand' it, it's going to be like working metal - get yourself a couple of hunks of poplar and make life easy - "there's enough for everyone"
Tell them to sell the logs to a bow maker. I would try and talk them out of this.
Here is some more info on the stuff.
http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1995/11/06.html
http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm
http://www.thewoodexplorer.com/maindata/we742.html
http://www.osageorange.com/
Edited 8/11/2008 7:32 pm ET by reinvent
On top of it's ornery nature-
If you sand it, you'll probably be fighting it's tendency to
want to turn dark brown if "burnt" at all.
If you touch it with a flap disc,you'll have skid marks instantly.
On a side note, if it's not burnt looking it's a strange color
for a post.