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What can I do with Osage Orange (Hedge) wood?

Started by Sawdust Lover, December 04, 2012, 07:49:16 PM

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Sawdust Lover

I had a customer come from Kansas to pick up a load of chestut lumber. He brought me 4 osage orange logs. Being here in Virginia I have never seen this type of wood. It looks realy hard like locus. What should I do with it, saw it or burn it?

VictorH

Often when sawed it will fall apart.  If it doesn't you will have some unique lumber to use or market to local woodworkers.

Victor

learner

I know it as a Horseapple tree.  I found this link.  Hope it helps Sawdust Lover
Link=http://www.osageorange.com/
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Ironwood

Use it anywhere you would locust, equally as durable (actually I think slightly more), the raging color will drop several hues to a tanish type color. It is a cool wood. I make some great cutting boards. Never had a major issue with splits, although it is a "hedge tree" and would get some wind and does occasionally have voids like locust. I like Osage and have been waiting to see a local farmer baling to stop and ask him about some bigguns he has.


Ironwood
There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love to do, there is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.- Wayne Dyer

Busy Beaver Lumber

I have some friends and customers that like to use it for and accent color in wood bowls. I personally do not like working with it. Very difficult to turn and is a bear to sand. It has a somewhat open grain that never appears to sand smooth, but there are others that like to work with it. To each their own
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learner

Busy Beaver I've been meaning to tell you how much I like your name.  Our mill is called the Biz-E-B-Ver Sawmill. ;)
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WDH

I sold every piece that I had.  Some went to a guy in Seattle, WA that makes martial arts fighting sticks.  It is good for duck calls.  Some say that it will last in the ground 100 years.  You should not have any trouble selling the lumber.  Cut a variety of thicknesses to improve the chances that you will have just what someone is looking for.  I sold mine for $4/BF, but now I think that was too cheap. 
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clww

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"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
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Sawdust Lover

Well this is good news! I thought I had a pile of firewood.

Sawdust Lover

CLWW, I take down old cabins and tobacco barns and reclaim the lumber. I have around 6000 bf of clear American chestnut here now. I also reclaim Heart Pine.

clww

I'm going to send you a PM in a few days, then. I'm finishing the inside of our new log cabin. May be good for both of us.
Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

Mad Professor

PM me, I'll buy solid edgings of heartwood for knife/tool handles.  3" wide X 6-8"

Even cut offs are fine if I can get 6-8" of clear on end

Sawdust Lover

Mad Professor, I burn pieces that small. Get in touch with me and I will give it to you.

Tree Feller

I've turned lots of it and built a rocking chair for a customer from it. I paid $11 per bf for 2" kiln-dried stock. It's bright yellow when first milled but will eventually turn a russet-brown color with oxidation and UV exposure. It can be a bit splintery when working it but it's also very hard and durable. I've seen lots of 50+ year old fence posts from it that were still sound and harder than a woodpecker's lips.

Here's a hollow form vessel I turned from it. I used a propane torch to scorch the lower part. The darker area on top is from near the pith.



 
Cody

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Kansas

I have yet to cut an osage orange log from here in Kansas that isn't full of cracks and dry rot. Sometimes you can get some good jacket boards off the outside. That is about it. Most of the rest of the log is junk, unless you can market something special out of it. Primitive furniture, a fireplace mantel, something like that. Think primitive. Over the years, it will go to nearly the color of walnut. Its quite amazing to me that something that will make the best and longest lasting fencepost can be so bad inside. You don't have enough logs to do much with, but I did see pictures of a floor in a house. They mixed coffee grounds and epoxy to fill in all the bad spots. I thought it was beautiful.

JohnM

For makers of 'self' bows that is THE wood to use.  Not sure what sizes you have but it may be worth a call to Three Rivers Archery (may point you in the right direction at least) and/or a post to the 'leatherwall' at Stickbow.com.

Just some thoughts.  Good luck!

JM
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okmulch

I sawed a bunch for a guy in Alabama. He used it with walnut and made a floor. I never did see any pictures of it though. :-\
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Klicker

Like JohnM said it is the most wanted  wood for selfbow makers. But it is hard to get in someplaces. You would  be amazed at how well some of the twested and downn right ugly stick can make a great bow. Rod
2006 LT 40 HD

Sprucegum

I saw some Osage Orange in our local lumber store today. The tag reads $39.95 per board foot!! He had two pieces that looked like rejected fence posts  ::)  :D

Sawdust Lover

Well I'm not sure what to do with it now. I think I will slab 2 logs 10/4 and save the others for some bow makers. Turns out to be a nice gift. I will get some pics of them when I saw them on Saturday.

pineywoods

I use the small chunks to make felling wedges. Better'n plastic..
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hackberry jake

I like to find the biggest logs in the tri-county area (to big for my mill) and pay to have a guy slab it with a Lucas 



  

Then haul em home



 

And air stack em



 

I have a couple more years before I get to do anything with em. I guess that'll give me time to decide the best usage. Lifetime one of a kind picnic tables? Dining tables? Unique signs? Who knows.
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WDH

Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

KnotBB

Wood workers love it because of the color, bow makers love it because it is reputed to be the best bow wood in north America.  Lots of it was planted to make future fence post because of the rot resistance,  The heart wood's too hard for the bugs to eat. Good for 60 to 80 years in the ground.  Bowl turners love it because it has a holographic tendency with a high finish.  Where white oak has a Janka harness of 1100+ and walnut just a little less than that, Osage is 2000, locust is 1700 and ebony is 3100.  It's hard.  It is suitable for guitar fret boards when quarter sawn.  It is a wonderful tone wood.  Might want to stain it with iron, tea and vinegar to blacken it. It's a pretty good wood for turning but does tend to tear out a little but can be stabilized with super glue.

Try to cut the pith out when you saw and add lots of weight when stickered.
To forget one's purpose is the commonest form of stupidity.

5quarter

I know a bowmaker that uses hedgeapple, but does not want the trunkwood. He will climb a tree to get a particularly shaped live branch. he rives the needed stock from the top side of the curve (tension wood) and makes his bows from that.
   around here you will find occasional field rows of hedgeapple along property lines. years ago, it was common to take piles of the overripe fruit and mash it into a slurry. they would pour the slurry into a shallow trench along the propety line and in about 6-7 years have a hedge so dense a dog couldn't get through it. and the more deer browse they had, the thicker they grew.
   
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Handy Andy

  Hedge is common here in Kansas, my buddy wanted me to saw some for beams for a porch on his cabin, he cut a whole pile of too big for posts hedge, and we sawed for a few days with my MP 32.  Had to readjust the mill in the middle, as it worked ok at first, then didn't want to cut the stuff.  After readjusting the mill, found to slow down the feed really helps get through the stuff.  Hardest wood probably in America.  We didn't have any perfect beams, but he used them anyway.  For posts he used hedge and a curve bottom planer, and sort of planed all the bark and sapwood away, gives a cool kindof hued appearance.
My name's Jim, I like wood.

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