# Bodock Iron wood pen?



## ColoradoHermit (Dec 5, 2008)

I found out that I got this half sister way back in 1980 and that's a good story all on its own since mom & dad had been married over 30 years at the time. But any who, Cheri had been adopted out at birth and none of the rest of the family new about her. Any who she turned out to be a horse trainer in Texas and found us in Colorado just before Christmas 1980. When she came up to see us she brought me a chunk of wood that she called Bodock Iron Wood. And said that it had been the center post in the coral to tie the horse to. This one had been broken after many years of use so she gave it to me. Its very heavy and has a shaggy bark like scrub cedar does. When fresh cut its a bright yellow but soon turns a reddish brown. At least it did almost 30 years ago.
  I have managed to cut a few blocks off of the chunk and they are a reddish brown with a close tight grain and very very hard to cut. I managed to turn a pen from it and here's a picture of it. Its been kept in a case since I made it last spring but I have just got a buyer for it. I need to find some more info on the Bodock wood but haven't had much luck. I like to make a little card for my pens telling about the wood that its made from. It seems to help make some of the sales that other wise wouldn't happen. So any who, do any of you know anything about this wood that you could help me with? All I know for sure is its very hard and very hard on cutting tools.
  I also still have a few blanks and a couple bigger pieces of it if any one wants to buy some.


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## Dario (Dec 5, 2008)

It is Bois d'Arc or commonly known as Osage Orange.


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## wdcav1952 (Dec 5, 2008)

Dan, as usual on the subject of wood, Dario is right.  Osage Orange  has many names as a quick Google will show.  Bodark is the name you meant to use in your title.  It is famous as a wood for long bows.

Also, it is wonderful that you got reunited with your sister!


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## cozee (Dec 6, 2008)

Or, around these parts here in central Illinois, it is known as Hedge or Horse Apple!


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## ColoradoHermit (Dec 6, 2008)

wdcav1952 said:


> Dan, as usual on the subject of wood, Dario is right.  Osage Orange  has many names as a quick Google will show.  Bodark is the name you meant to use in your title.  It is famous as a wood for long bows.
> 
> Also, it is wonderful that you got reunited with your sister!



 Thank you very much. It was so long ago that Bodock was as close as I could come to remembering what she called it. As just a little side note about this piece. My sis, Cheri Banes, was working as the head horse trainer on the ranch in Texas where they filmed the TV show Dallas. She had a gray speckled mare that was a show horse worth about half a million at that time and she was keeping it there on the ranch. She, the mare, had always been kept in the barn in a stall, always. This little smartass on the ranch that thought he knew it all let her mare out into a pasture that was fenced with barbed wire. The mare had never seen barbed wire before and got cut up pretty bad from it. That was when my sis punched out the forman of the ranch in the show Dallas. And thats where the piece of Bodark that I've got came from. At least thats where my sis told me she got it from.
  So if nothing else then at least the wood used to make this pen came from the ranch where they filmed the TV show Dallas.


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## hilltopper46 (Dec 7, 2008)

Another thing, that's a real nice shape you have on that pen there - it's not the same old same old hourglass shape that so many of us (myself included) do.


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## OldWrangler (Dec 7, 2008)

One more little bit of info. The French translation of the name Bois d'Arc is "wood of the bow". This was one of the best woods for making a long bow. The English used Yew but the French used the Osage Orange or as they called it Bois d'Arc.

The wood works nicely when it is somewhat green or fresh cut. After it has dried, it will destroy your tools.

If you haven't seen it, in the fall and winter it put on big seed pods that are a little bigger than a soft ball, round, green and pimply. We call them Horse apples but nothing eats them as they are toxic.

In Texas they were cut to use for fence posts. Many sprouted after being driven in the ground and they became trees. The fence attached to them simply went up as the tree grew. It is common to see Bois d'Arc trees in a long line with wire remnants in their tops, 30' off the ground. Lot of this around Dallas.

The wood can be milled and makes wonderful flatwork like jewelry boxes and even furniture.


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## Randy_ (Dec 7, 2008)

Also used as piers in old pier and beam houses because it was very resistant to rot.


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## Rifleman1776 (Dec 7, 2008)

OldWrangler said:


> One more little bit of info. The French translation of the name Bois d'Arc is "wood of the bow". This was one of the best woods for making a long bow. The English used Yew but the French used the Osage Orange or as they called it Bois d'Arc.
> 
> The wood works nicely when it is somewhat green or fresh cut. After it has dried, it will destroy your tools.
> 
> ...



More like "bow of the arc". Dried it will not destroy your tools. I turn quite a bit of OO. Granted, it is hard and tools need sharpening a bit more than with most other woods but "destroy"?, no. OO contains silica and that is what dulls the tools. There are stories about OO making sparks when cut with a chain saw. That is from hitting rocks.
It is a useful wood.
The 'apples' are very useful for repelling insects. Sticky to handle, but cut up, the pieces placed around a house or anywhere will help prevent insects.


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## MarkHix (Dec 7, 2008)

The bright yellow will fade with exposure to light.  It will go to a shade of brown.  It will still look good, just different than it does today.  I like turning it and have turned quite a lot.  

Frank, I had never heard that about the "apples".  I thought thier only use was as weapons of war for teenage boys.  Learn something new every day.


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## OldWrangler (Dec 7, 2008)

Hey Frank, maybe destroy was a little strong but it is awful hard on sharp tools. I love to work with it and have quite a bit in my shop. And it is wood of the bow...Bois is French for wood and d'Arc is the bow. The Osage Indians were famous archers and made all their bows from the Bois d'Arc. That is why it is sometimes call Osage Orange and when the French found them using the wood for bows they gave it the French name.

The cut up fruits will definitely kill roaches but they rot fairly quick after being cut up. The milk from the fruit is had to get off your hands.  Interesting tree, it is the only species in it's family...all the others are fossels. It is related to the Mulberry and the Fig but only slightly.

Texas fences made with this tree were said to be "horse high, bull strong and pig tight". At one time, the city of Dallas experimented with making street paving blocks from the wood but because they floated in a heavy rain, it fell through.


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## Rifleman1776 (Dec 8, 2008)

OldWrangler said:


> Hey Frank, maybe destroy was a little strong but it is awful hard on sharp tools. I love to work with it and have quite a bit in my shop. And it is wood of the bow...Bois is French for wood and d'Arc is the bow. The Osage Indians were famous archers and made all their bows from the Bois d'Arc. That is why it is sometimes call Osage Orange and when the French found them using the wood for bows they gave it the French name.
> 
> The cut up fruits will definitely kill roaches but they rot fairly quick after being cut up. The milk from the fruit is had to get off your hands.  Interesting tree, it is the only species in it's family...all the others are fossels. It is related to the Mulberry and the Fig but only slightly.
> 
> Texas fences made with this tree were said to be "horse high, bull strong and pig tight". At one time, the city of Dallas experimented with making street paving blocks from the wood but because they floated in a heavy rain, it fell through.





Mighty fine. I love to start a good debate. (argument?) Sometimes it works sometimes I get a gent like you on the other end.
Yes, the tree has a huge history and it is the wood/tree of many-many names.


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## redfishsc (Dec 9, 2008)

Osage is one of my favorite woods to turn, by far. When I hone the skew on the leather stropping wheel, I can peel Osage off in 15-ft ribbons shooting over my shoulder--- even with the wood bone dry. 

Just use caution when making an El Grande out of it--- it gets pretty squirrely on that reallllly thin upper tube. DAMHIKT


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## ColoradoHermit (Dec 15, 2008)

*Pen shape*



hilltopper46 said:


> Another thing, that's a real nice shape you have on that pen there - it's not the same old same old hourglass shape that so many of us (myself included) do.



Thank you for the compliment. I'm not so sure that it is the wood Bodark or Osage Orange. I've been trying for the last several days to contact my sister about it and I haven't had any luck in talking to her yet.
 I do have some more pictures of the original pieces that I got the blanks cut from and I'll post them in a new thread. 
   Oh, one more thing, I just sold it the other day, for $40. Not bad for just a Slim Line.[;-Þ


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## larry dunlap (Aug 29, 2009)

I have turned several pens from bodock and have had a lot of trouble with it splitting. Can anyone give me some advice? Has anyone had similar problems?


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## leehljp (Aug 30, 2009)

In the TN/MS area where I grew up, this was referred to as bodock also - with the fruit being called "horse apple". But when dealing with Encyclopedias (remember those?) the correct name was needed to find it.


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## scoutharps (Aug 30, 2009)

It grows wild around here.  I can pick up the aples all I want on the side of the road at the right time of year.  Wonder if I could do some selcetive trimming?  Seriously00a piece of branch should work for a pen, don't you think?


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## TellicoTurning (Aug 31, 2009)

And down in Texas it usually pronounced "Bodark".. haven't heard the "iron wood" label added, but when it get dry, if you want to put a nail in it, you usually have to use a drill first... My dad liked to use it for the corner posts in his fences since it's very slow to rot and very strong.


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