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Author Topic: Mock orange  (Read 5010 times)

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Offline danlaw

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Mock orange
« on: June 18, 2013, 04:18:21 am »
Holy cow. I was experimenting with mock orange, and the first piece I tested came out with a specific gravity of .92! I can hardly believe it. Got my first stave drying...
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Offline Joec123able

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #1 on: June 18, 2013, 04:56:32 am »
Mock orange ?? Never heard of it
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I like osage

Offline stickbender

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #2 on: June 18, 2013, 05:41:20 am »

     I believe it is another name for Osage. ;)  Like hedge apple, etc. :)

                                            Wayne
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Offline autologus

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2013, 09:46:56 am »
Yes, Mock Orange is Osage.  Osage orange, hedge apple, Bois d'ark, bodark.

Grady
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Proud Hillbilly from Arkansas.

Offline Marks

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #4 on: June 18, 2013, 10:34:23 am »
Quote from: autologus on June 18, 2013, 09:46:56 am
Yes, Mock Orange is Osage.  Osage orange, hedge apple, Bois d'ark, bodark.

Grady

horse apple
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Offline Carson (CMB)

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #5 on: June 18, 2013, 10:42:23 am »
Mock orange can also refer to a shrub out here in the pac NW also known as Syringa.  Is that what you have Dan?  It makes good shoot shafts.  Keenan has made some nice bows from it. 
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"The bow is the old first lyre,
the mono chord, the initial rune of fine art
The humanities grew out from archery as a flower from a seed
No sooner did the soft, sweet note of the bow-string charm the ear of genius than music was born, and from music came poetry and painting and..." Maurice Thompso

Offline keef

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2013, 10:59:12 am »
 Syringa is Lilac.
 Mock orange is Philadelphus.

They are two completely different plants....I have a bow thats been waiting to be sinewed for a year. its hard hard wood and a beautiful yellowish colour
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Offline Eric Krewson

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2013, 11:23:11 am »
The mock orange we have in Alabama is not osage, it is a smaller tree with thorns and has orange fruit about the size of a quarter in the fall. A friend tried to make a bow out of it but it didn't come out well.
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Offline danlaw

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2013, 11:56:46 am »
It's philadelphus, a pacific northwest shrub (Keef). There's a couple blocks of it growing wild next to our house so I thought I'd give it a try. I usually use ocean spray, so this was quite a surprise. It is very hard. I haven't heard it is that popular for bows but I'm not sure why. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
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Offline autologus

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2013, 12:07:53 pm »
Good to know, you know how things get bastardized regionally.  I have heard old timers call Osage mock orange all my life.  Just goes to show you are never too old to learn.

Grady
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Proud Hillbilly from Arkansas.

Offline keef

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2013, 12:49:24 pm »
Quote from: danlaw on June 18, 2013, 11:56:46 am
It's philadelphus, a pacific northwest shrub (Keef). There's a couple blocks of it growing wild next to our house so I thought I'd give it a try. I usually use ocean spray, so this was quite a surprise. It is very hard. I haven't heard it is that popular for bows but I'm not sure why. I'll let you guys know how it goes.
Ahh..That depends on which variety it is... There are apparently several species native to the USA... They are widely planted here in the UK as garden shrubs and rarely reach a size worthy of even a small bow, but I located a grove of really old small tree sized Philadelphus that had a few bow staves

Look out for the shoots of this plant for arrows too...Very good stuff
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Offline danlaw

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2013, 01:49:02 pm »
Thanks Keef. This is philadelphus lewisii (I'm in BC). It grows large enough here for decent 66" bows. I just did a rudimentary bend test to see how it failed. I used my specific gravity tester piece though, so it was way to dry - exploded without warning basically and showed failure in tension (which means little I guess considering the lack of moisture). I thought my vice was going to break first ha.
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Offline danlaw

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2013, 01:50:28 pm »
Too dry I mean.  O:)
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blackhawk

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #13 on: June 18, 2013, 02:27:47 pm »
Now that we know its not maclura pomifera we know that its worthless junk,and firewood at best ;)  :laugh:
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Offline keef

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Re: Mock orange
« Reply #14 on: June 18, 2013, 02:51:57 pm »
Had you kept it seasoning for long???......I'm a little puzzled by that result

To me, its another of those 'Prone to splitting' woods that are best dealt with by reducing to near final dimensions and then sealing up with PVA.

The Philadelphus we tend to get here to good size is  hard and dense, and extermely " springy" if you know what I mean?

Hop[e you achieve some good results though as Its certainly a resource worth exploiting for bows

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