Smoketree or Osage Orange?

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louisbry

louisbry

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Tullahoma, TN, USA.
Help! I presented what I believe to be Smoketree blanks to a fellow IAP member for trade. He thought that my blanks look like Osage Orange. I have never seen Osage Orange so I am a little bit confused. My blanks when I milled them had a light yellow color and has got a little darker with age. A friend gave me the logs and he said they were Yellow wood which is also known as American Smoketree. Some of you wood experts please shed some light. Thanks.

2007121044118_smoketree3.jpg


2007121044340_smoketree4.jpg


2007121044658_smoketree5.jpg
 
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Here is a picture of a smoke tree pen I found. Sorry I don't know how to post the tiny urls, so you get the entire thing.
Well never mind, it won't take the url correctly. You can go to grapevinewoods.com and look on the left for the link that says materials or something close and it will show you about anything.

Just hit ctrl and f at the same time and search for it.
 
Looks like OO to me and I've seen both.

I actually still have a couple of smoketree burl (known as chittam or chittum) and it is totally different. OO is very hard, smoketree is softer and almost like maple (hardness wise).

Hope this helps.
 
It is Osage. I wondered when I saw the original pics because the bark looks just like osage bark - now seeing the wood, I would say for sure it is.
 
Thanks for the feedback. The reason I posted this thread is that I googled Osage Orange blanks and they looked like mine. My problem is the logs i have were identified as Yellowwood logs. I was also told by a member of my local woodworking club that Smoketree and Yellowwood were the same. This may be where I went wrong. I did some more research and have found three separate tree species that have yellow heartwood and are known to grow in or near Tennessee. The three trees are American Smoketree, Yellowwood and Osage Orange. Osage Orange is described as having seedy fruit and thorns on the stims/branches. The origin of my logs do not have such characteristics but the wood is hard as Dario and Frank described. I am begining to conclude that they are Yellowwood and they look and feel like Osage Orange. Here is a picture of the logs that I milled.



20071210161925_Smoketree.jpg
 
Thanks Rob. Think I will go back to my friend and ask a few more questions. I guess no harm was done but I sure was led astray. Anyway, they are pretty yellow blanks.
 
According to "Native Trees of Texas" website put together by Texas A&M, Yellow Wood is another name for Osage ORange also. Here is the link with more info: http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/natives/maclurapomifera.htm
 
Dario,
You are a Texan now and you know that is called Bodark down your way. [:D] also some people call it Horse Apple because of the fruit..

The logs look just like what I cut off my stepfather's ranch a few year ago.. when it's really green, the wood is almost orange with greenish rings.. as it drys, it'll turn more yellow and eventually will turn almost tan... by then you'll have to drill a hole in it put a nail into... my dad used it for fence posts because it'll last forever.
 
I have several peices in the garage <s>freezing</s>drying right now. Yours is ecactly like mine. Want more trivia: when it is used as fence posts, sometimes the posts root and you end up with a line of "permanent" fence posts.
 
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