Osage Orange slab- yes, no?

[Matthew Lau]

I've been on sawmill creek, where a guy has offered a 1"x25" x65" slab of osage orange for part of the cost of milling ($80).

Do you think it'd be a good idea to get it?
In terms of resawing, I was thinking of dropping by a local luthier supply house for the resawing...or going to a luthier friend with a ginormous bandsaw (and buying extra blades).

-Matt

ps. Alternatively, I can just buy a set.

[Bob Gramann]

Osage Orange is my favorite wood for sound. It is a bit hard to work but it bends easily. I prefer to get it quartersawn. It eats steel bandsaw blades quickly. I get good performance with carbide tipped blades, though.

[Randy Roberts]

Osage Orange has been discussed quite a few times here.
It is considered by many to be a dead ringer acoustically for Brazilian Rosewood, though obviously not visually.
do a search of the library, that's what it's there for, and I think we forget how much really valuable information is there.

Here's one of many of the discussions.
http://www.mimf.com/library/Osage_Orang ... -2011.html

[David King]

So much is going to depend on the runout in the board. The tree's girth was certainly a once in a lifetime find.

[Brett Sloma]

I've been on sawmill creek, where a guy has offered a 1"x25" x65" slab of osage orange for part of the cost of milling ($80).

Do you think it'd be a good idea to get it?
In terms of resawing, I was thinking of dropping by a local luthier supply house for the resawing...or going to a luthier friend with a ginormous bandsaw (and buying extra blades).

-Matt

ps. Alternatively, I can just buy a set.

Send me a couple chunks, and I'll send back resawn pieces and keep some for myself? I've never resawn or worked with it personally, but I think I've experienced already the very worst (silica infested) wood, so can't imagine a greater challenge. I'd love to have some Osage to work with for my own.

[Bryan Bear]

Have you seen the board yet? Osage with those dimensions is probably going to be flatsawn but probably near the middle of the tree. I might be pretty gnarly; finding large, clear boards of OO is somewhat rare compared to other trees. When I first saw the dimensions you posted, my mind started figuring out how many back and side sets you could get, then I realized it was not that simple.

[Matthew Lau]

nope. got swarmed by work.

now, coronovirus shutdown

[Clay Schaeffer]

A quick surf of the web shows a number of decent looking guitar sets in the $100 to $200 dollar range. Unless the "slab" looked really good I would be inclined to buy a set where I could see what I was getting.

[Bob Howell]

I'm thinking it was cut for natural edge table top. That's the way he chose to cut it. I found several here in Atlanta but it had knots everywhere; no way to get what I needed for sides. I ended up trading with Bob above and it worked out fine.

A beautiful table top can still have knots and checks everywhere.

[Bob Howell]

One other thing. Shipping on that slab could run about the cost of the wood.