This piece of Bois de Arc.
It is a bit intimidating.
For one, never put something like to the bandsaw. I know it can handle it, but you know..first time thing.
George,
I've cut a lot of Osage Orange (Bois de Arc) on my sawmill and on my shop bandsaw. As John Dillon mention, there are certain things you can easily do on the bandsaw, some you can do safely with certain cautions, and some you should never do. I explain these in my video.
I made the video for a remote club demo during the Covid Pandmic so it's long.
View: https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0
One thing to never do is to crosscut a round on the bandsaw unless it is well supported. Someone I knew tried that recently and went to the ER with a bad cut to his thumb.
You can safely rip down the center of a lot, off center if properly supported.
If the log section diameter is larger than the capacity of the saw, you can cross cut it first with the chainsaw to a size that will fit on the bandsaw. In this case the diameter doesn't matter. Sections of large diameter logs can be hard to carry and place on the bandsaw. I've cut up some that were 20" in diameter cut into slices 12" thick to fit my bandsaw.
This is a cut in progress. One flat end fit safely on the table. I draw a line on the top through the pith to follow. Separate the halves and
This method is good for a variety of shorter spindle blanks including for boxes and vases. Once it's cut in half it's easy to lay flat on the table and cut nice bowl blanks.
Ripping long lengths of logs is easy, but may need a helper to support the end that comes off the bandsaw table first. I've cut them up to 12" diameter and maybe 3' long. (Make sure the helper doesn't try to help by pulling on the log - their job is only to support the end!!
This shows a rip cut in progress, looks like it's over 11" in diameter. I use 1 or 2 wedges on each side during the cut, move them as needed. I like to draw a line down the length where I want the cut but some people just eyeball it. Best to cut through the pith. The video shows a couple of options to make it more stable. It's usually best to cut down the length of the of the pith. This method can give some long spindle blanks.
Then lay each half flat to rip. Could easily make cross cuts now to get shorter blanks, say for bowls.
Here's a pic of a typical bandsaw session wit a couple of logs. The hat is for scale. I turn very little wet green wood so all these were air dried before turning. The video shows details. BTW, I find a 1/2" 3tpi blade perfect for this. I use an 18" Rikon that will cut up to 12.25" thick.
Hey, I love Osage Orange! It's hard and heavy but turns cleanly. I once got logs from what was on record as the largest Osage in TN; sadly it died. The limbs growing vertically from the main trunk were bigger than most tree trunks.
JKJ
