# Osage Orange



## BobM001 (Jan 8, 2012)

For years I have driven by a stand of osage orange along side a back road. About 12 trees near 40 ft tall. Yesterday I found out that the town is CUTTING THEM ALL DOWN. So I went to the site this morning and asked about the wood. "That guy in the white house has got it spoken for" I was told by the town highway dept worker. So I went to the house and left a note on the door stating that I'll pay him for the logs and to call me. As of today there were two 18" butt sections about 10 ft long laying there. I have a friend that's a close buddy of the Woodmizer distributor in Hannibal, NY. He says that we can get them sawn up "No problem" for FREE! So now it's just a wait for a call deal. Fingers crossed.


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

Nice.
I have an Osage orange tree in my yard. We have had a few punctured tires on lawnmowers and wheelbarrows due to the branches/spines hiding in the grass. Just a caution.


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## Woodworker_at_Heart (Oct 25, 2011)

Neat find, and I hope it works out that you can get some of the lumber. I'm not sure what you have in mind for the wood, but you better believe that the wood from O'Orange will be around for a LONG while. That stuff just does not rot, and is a tremendous choice for outdoor applications. I don't have any experience with the lumber for furniture, but i can imagine it would make nice pieces. I did have a buddy who made a deck out of that lumber, and I looked very nice. Keep hoping that you get it!


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## DeputyDawg (Jul 18, 2007)

I turned a mallet out of an Osage Orange branch and it is a great tool in the shop. Don't think it could ever be destroyed it is so hard. Congrat's


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## BobM001 (Jan 8, 2012)

I bought 4, 4×4x20" pieces from a guy in Indiana for the express purpose of making mallets. The fellow that said he would turn them for me in exchange for a chunk will get called if I get this to "consult" on how this should get sawn. I think it has more "value" as turning blanks than boards. I have a local wood supplier that sells Anchorseal to treat the ends whilst it dries. I can always leave it as large as possible then get it resawn as needed. Would it stay more stable in a timber form than sawn into boards, blanks?


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## DeputyDawg (Jul 18, 2007)

I actually turned mine green. I did get a crack but as I had saved some of the chips I just put some tite bond in the crack and rubbed the chip dust in the crack and it looks great.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

I say this with a lot of love…you suck. I really like Osage Orange and it's a blast to turn if that's your thing. 18×10 is going to yield some nice lumber. I'm quite jealous.


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## Nomad62 (Apr 20, 2010)

Osage orange is highly sought after for long bows, a close second to pacific yew in terms of desirability. If you can, take a piece from the upper area of a tree and split it with an ax right down the center, starting from an end; if it splits straight, you can then rely on the lower section of the tree to do the same. If it does, you can take a 2" split-off piece, 6-7' long, and sell it for about $200 on e-bay. Good money in terms of board footage. The wood is nice, but it is hard as a rock. Good luck on your find!


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## BobM001 (Jan 8, 2012)

Just spoke to the "guy in the white house". Do you know what he is going to do with the wood? BURN IT! It does rank up at the top for BTU's/pound. His bro-in-law owns the property that the trees are on and he's been burning a piece here and there for years. He told me that he'd speak to him with my offer. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what transpires. My pieces that I bought from a guy in Indiana arrived today. Four pieces 4×4x20" long weighed in at 58 lbs. That chartreuse color is just amazing. They are going to be turned into mallets.


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

Bob, 
Great wood. But, that beautiful color won't last….darn it!


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

I sawed one log and sold the 8/4 lumber to a guy in Seattle, WA who makes martial arts fighting sticks. If you have it sawed, saw it 8/4 and 12/4.


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## devann (Jan 11, 2011)

I just looked up osage orange and see that it's what we call bois d'arc down here in Texas. That wood has a yellow center that's rock hard. I helped my grandad fence 120 acres with some around some 34 years ago and it shows no signs of rotting. Grandpa told me that the fencepost would outlast me. The staples we used in the fence post were about 2/3 the length of a normal staple and twice as sharp. You couldn't drive a regular fence staple in it.

If the trees you're after were growing beside the road there's a good chance that it has some metal fencing grown in it. Don't get your hopes up about the sawmill. Then again, the first Spaniards down here grew it has a natural fence because of the thorny nature of the trees.

Another word of caution about burning some in a wood burning stove. I had a potbelly type stove made from a 1/2" thick steel pipe. Loading it up one cold night I thought I was going to burn my place down. You could literally see an orange ball glowing through the side of the stove. I had thermometers placed around the room and the inside temperature rose to 100° inside while it was a cool 29° outside. Use it sparingly if you want to burn some in a stove.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

It is great wood, just hard to find nice straight clear logs. It is usually like the leg of a dog.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

I made some drawers from Bodark for a cabinet I built in an old RV. It's really nice looking wood, but it was time consuming picking pieces out to glue together. As was stated, it's hard to find long straight pieces.

Bodark was also known to make fences "Horse High, Hog Tight and Bull Strong" because of it's tough growth.


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## hhhopks (Nov 22, 2011)

So what is the difference between hedge and Osage Orange?

Hedge is for fence post and firewood. Osage Orange is exotic wood from North America.

It comes form the same tree but with a big price difference.

Did I get this wrong?


> ?


??


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

I didn't realize it grew around upstate ny, I've never even seen it for sale on craigslist.


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## Gene01 (Jan 5, 2009)

HHHOPKS,
Hedge, Osage Orange, Bois d'arc, Bodark. 
It's all hard, heavy and pretty crooked.
I've never seen it for sale, out side of some saw mills.


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## Dal300 (Aug 4, 2011)

It seems no one is interested in buying the raw wood.
I put some crotches on eBay awhile back starting at $3+ shipping…

I got a viewer on one of 7 auctions and no takers. Since just listing on eBay costs money I didn't do a repeat.


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## hhhopks (Nov 22, 2011)

Gene, we have it all over as firewood this winter. I seen on CL kansas City. The picture definitely gives it away.

I did brought couple pieces few months back. Larger pieces are hard to find.
Oh yeah, Osage Oragne for bow staff commands a premium price (Ebay).


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

The Woodcraft store in Tulsa has some Hedge boards at $17 a board foot. I saw my own as that is more rewarding for me ( and more affordable). It does make great stove wood but it pops too much to burn in a fireplace. It is the hottest burning wood in North America.


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## BobM001 (Jan 8, 2012)

I had not heard back from the "guy in the white house" so I drove by today and saw him spliting and stacking the wood out behind the house. There were still some large butt sections in his driveway and one still where they were felled. I think he's gonna burn all of it. Oh well, can't say I didn't try. I offered him a Ben Franklin for one butt section. I don't think he has a clue as to it's value as lumber. But I did get my blanks for the mallets I want to make from Green Valley Wood Products. He cut mine special per my request. Nice guy named David Martin in Brazil, Indiana.


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## BobM001 (Jan 8, 2012)

Funny thing happened. The guy that said he was going to BURN all the osage orange called me. I got a 12 foot long 16" diameter log that has been delivered to a local Woodmizer dealer for sawing into turning blanks. Mallets and bowls. I have to go down and help with the sawing process tomorrow. BTW, the milling is FREE! A favor for a favor. Got my quart of Anchorseal at the ready to seal the ends of the blanks to prevent checking.


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## WDHLT15 (Aug 15, 2011)

This is a better ending to the story!


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## derosa (Aug 21, 2010)

Congrats on the score. Look forward to seeing the results.


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## DanYo (Jun 30, 2007)

woot!
never tried it, but hope to someday


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## mporter (May 5, 2011)

Bob, 
Just wait till "the guy in the white house" burns his house down. I hope for your sake his firewood stack is away from his house. Osage Orange or Hedge or Hedge Apple or whatever you want to call it burns incredibly hot. Way too hot to burn in a residential stove. Everyone I know who knows anything about firewood stays well away from it and goes for black locust. If he is burning it-it wont be long till he tries to give you the firewood he has.


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## yellabret (May 15, 2012)

i just made a slab table out of this wood and love it. the color change is due to BOTH air and UV. The log i milled had some deep checks as it had been on the ground for several years. once milled, the area 1/2" to 1.5" or so has turned a nice walnut-ish shade of brown, even 2 feet into the log and they are not wide cracks, i am pretty certain no light got up in there, so i attribute that to air. next - i left a piece of Festool sandpaper on a slab and when i came back 2 hours later and picked it up i could easily see that it had already changed where the sun hit it, even thru the little air holes in the sandpaper. i used epoxy with black tint for the larger checks and a brown wood filler for others. it looks really nice now being yellow/brown/black, but i have been anticipating how it will look later, and how quickly it changes. i still have 5 or 6 slabs to make tables and several other slabs to make legs or whatever. i am giving the first table to the landowner since they gave me the log as well as 3 field dressed deer, and i'd like to keep that supply chain running… ;-)


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## Finn (May 26, 2010)

I have small pieces of bois d'arc and have used it in intarsia when I needed a bright yellow color. Machines well.


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