Buddy of mine has this.



We made these.



The Mesquite is 36" or longer. I cut down a tree that the root ball was giving it up. That was between Ballinger and Winters, TX. The Bois d' arc came off my place. I've got quite a bit of both species stacked up, ready to go. They are 5/8" to 1 1/4". This time around we made some 1 1/2", 2", and 2 1/2". There is a Mesquite that is 2 1/2". I'm not normally a wood stock guy, but there will come a day I have a Mesquite rifle stock.

I use Bois d' arc for tool handles. It will never go bad. Mesquite is just beautiful and very durable. Plus all the drops get turned into cooking wood!

That is awesome.
My brother has a mill and I love it (it looks like the one above). Having a pile of wood waiting for a project is awesome.

A mesquite rifle stock? Sounds very interesting! How well would mesquite hold up vs. Walnut? I believe that mesquite is harder than walnut, but isn't it more brittle? I'm not a wood expert, but it would seem to me that as wood gets harder, it would be more prone to cracks.

I’d love to have one of those. That Bois D’ Arc looks awesome….

If it cracks, I'll epoxy it back together.

Gotta wait over two years of drying. Then see what we see.

Good luck. I look forward to seeing this stock 2 years from now!

Don’t let the Bois D’Arc planks split on the ends. Paint it with something. It is great for handles, and I turned a bunch of it for handles and mallet heads for friends. The stuff is super tough. Dang shame the yellow color fades and goes to brown.

I did an experiment years ago, in an attempt to find what caused it to go brown and how to keep them yellow. I turned a few bowls and put them in dark rooms. They held the yellow color much longer than any other things I tried, but they still browned. I did not try a UV proof varnish. Should have.

I like the brown. Especially with warm boiled linseed oil applied.

I've got two hammers and one adze with bois d' arc handles. Doubt I'll ever replace them again. Hickory? Pfffft, I got something for their Hickory.

Yep, Osage Orange is a beautiful wood....especially cut against the grain where the growth rings are exposed. But its very Photo Sensitive and UV will turn it from Orange/Yellow to brown pretty quickly.

A good UV sealer like 'Nano-Poly' helps and keeping the item out of the sun will preserve the color for a longer time. This pedestal mount I made for my Brother 10 yrs ago still shows quite a bit of color (with a good light on it). Not as vibrant as when first made, but not bad.

Man that mesquite stock sounds cool. I’ve got a mesquite log that’s been sitting 3 years but it’s got a hollow in it

Dude! That is awesome!!!!

I have seen some beautiful custom stocks from Mesquite, I know where a few old really big ones were when leasing a place in Callahan county I would love to have for stocks if I could get them.

Seal the ends of those mesquite boards can help avoid some seasoning cracking.

If you don't mind borer holes in the mesquite leave it as is, if you don't want holes you need to find a way to kill the powder post beetles. Kiln drying is one option.

A solar kiln is good to have. It will get hot enough to kill the bugs and speeds up the drying a lot.
We dried about 3000 board feet for the doors in my brothers house, that kiln was awesome to have.

The solar kiln did cross my mind.

Closer to being lumber now.

The one piece of Mesquite that's sized for a rifle stock. I might not have what it takes to wait on it. Need to get that kiln investigated. I got a rifle project I want to get to.

I'd love to have a couple shovel handles made from Bois D' Arc. That lumber looks great.

I've got other Bois d' arc that is dried out. Let me see if I have anything thick enough for a shovel handle.

Been milling Bois d' arc for about 15 years.

You might reach out to a sawmill to see if they'd let you add your piece to a pile in one of their kilns. Shouldn't charge you much.

Yes sir that is a good idea.

I did some reading this morning. A "Fine Wood Working" article on the solar kiln says its safer for the hardwoods that like to check, rather than the traditional kiln. This lumber is a bit precious so I don't want to hurt it.

Bois d' arc will twist if not dried correctly. Beautiful lumber in the making though.

All I have dried was stickered in the shade, in the wind a year per inch. It didn't move.

Now, try to speed it up in a powered kiln, and I have no doubt.

I learned the hard way on that first run to process it all you can while it's green. Less trouble that way. Get it seasoned and then go to rip it, plane it, and join it and smoke is flowing in the shop. It is some tough stuff!!!

My Grandpa had a Bois D' Arc club he always kept by the front door. Looked just like a cave man club, heavy for it's size. I imagine one good smack in the head with that thing would kill a man, sure wish I had that thing.....

I'm jealous. I wish I had room / funds for a big saw like that.