Replies

1. 
   calvin | Jan 26, 2014 02:55pm | #1

   congratulations

   Try to cut it yet?

1. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 03:45pm | #2

   Yeah. I used a few pieces in a table. Burns when cut but finished nicely. 

2. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 03:53pm | #3

   Most of the old barns around here have osage orange tapered wood nails pinning the timbers. It's hard enough to square a young hole. 

1. 
   calvin | Jan 26, 2014 04:03pm | #4

   Rich

   I know it burns well.

   and the fruit can be given to a florist and they respond with a real real nice bouquet for the wife........

   and if you need any, I'll send you as many thorns as one guy could need.

1. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 04:07pm | #5

   Ha! I have a row of 20 or so on my property. A starving raccoon wouldn't go near the fruit. A study by K State found that the fruit, when opened and placed in a crawl space or basement will repel spiders. 

2. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 04:15pm | #6

   Anyway...I plan on cutting up a few hundred sq ft of end grain flooring. I think the end grain is more interesting than the face. 

1. 
   calvin | Jan 26, 2014 04:41pm | #7

   Rich

   Something nibbles on the outter part-I'm pretty sure the deer try it.

   Spiders?  I heard to hang in the basement in a mesh bag-not cut open.

   I'll direct Jim Blodgett over to this thread, I believe he did an endgrain floor.  He might have a tip or be interested in your work. 

   Make sure to post a thread here on it-

   thanks.

2. 
   jimblodgett | Jan 26, 2014 05:58pm | #8

   Thanks, Cal

   Wow.  That is some beautiful endgrain.  I've never heard of Osage Orange before.  Does it all look similar, or are there some color variations board to board?

   Is that pretty stable?

1. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 06:10pm | #9

   It's hardness is nearly twice that of red oak, Janka scale. It's the preferred wood for most primitive bow makers as it was for Native Americans for millennia. According to my reference books it's very stable after dried and isn't very susceptible to moisture swings. 

2. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 26, 2014 06:13pm | #10

   Jim, there's almost no sapwood, at least what I have. It all looks the same. That's a 3" hunk in the picture with about 100 growth rings. 

1. 
   calvin | Jan 26, 2014 06:51pm | #11

   Rich

   I see that '67 was a decent growing year.

   Bow making?  Interesting.

   I know that across the river back in the war of 1812 the fort had a defense line made up of alot of brush and brambles.  If that tree was native to the river banks of NW Ohio, I'm sure it was considered early barbed wire.

1. 
   spclark | Jan 26, 2014 09:20pm | #12

   Pardon my fractured French but a very early name for Osage Orange is B'ois d'arc. French explorers here ages ago named it that after observing the Natives making their bows from selected dried branches from this tree. "Bodark" is a frequent nickname in Arkansas & there'bouts.

   Makes great furniture if you can find enough, harder than most anything that grows in N.A. besides Ironwood. Trenails ("tree nails") is sacrilidge unless you have small pieces to use up. Burns HOT once cured, but curing thick sections can take some time....

1. 
   jimblodgett | Jan 26, 2014 11:14pm | #13

   THAT'S what a "Bodark tree"

   THAT'S what a "Bodark tree" is.  There's a verse in a great James McMurtry song - 

   "She comes from the land of the Bodark tree.

   Scotch/Irish and Cherokee.

   Comes down here when the northers blow.

   She don't care for the ice and snow.

   Turtle Bayou turnaround..."

   Great song.  Anyways, I always wondered what the heck a Bodark tree was.

   "Trenail" seems familar, too, but I don't know where from.

   Language.  Gotta love it, don'tcha?

2. 
   MarkH | Jan 27, 2014 05:51am | #14

   Trenails were (are?) used in timber framing.  They were heavily used in the early 1800's here in Ohio for barn construction.  They were tapered so if driven into offset bored holes they would pull the joint tight, and develop a slight curvewhich locked them in.

3. 
   BossHog | Jan 27, 2014 06:08pm | #15

   Doesn't look like hedge (Osage Orange) to me.

   Hedge trees tend to grow in clumps - Lots of very small, crooked trunks. And the wood has a distinct yellow color to it.

   I've been wrong before, but I sure don't see yellow in that.

1. 
   oldhand | Jan 27, 2014 08:24pm | #16

   disagree.......

   looks just like it to me. Boi'darc turns dark with age. By that I mean a yellow board will become a dark brown although the white pores still show.

   It is also not at al unusual for it to grow large enough to make small saw logs under the right circumstances.

2. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 27, 2014 08:28pm | #17

   There are some turners who post online; their work. One guy shows an Osage vessel after 5 years of indirect sunlight. The heartwood turns chocolate brown. 

3. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 27, 2014 08:30pm | #18

   I'll check it under power tonight and compare it to known samples. 

4. 
   RichWatkins | Jan 27, 2014 08:35pm | #19

   These are Hedge Apple trees on my property. Over 50' tall and 24" diameters. I

   
1. 
   DanH | Jan 27, 2014 09:05pm | #20

   And growing upside-down to boot -- must be really strong roots.

   There were some osage orange trees on the farm my parents once had near Louisville. These were definitely NOT "hedge" trees -- big and tall and usually growing alone.  And the stumps of old ones were indestructable.

1. 
   spclark | Jan 27, 2014 09:32pm | #21

   More than you ever thought you'd know about this stuff:

   http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

   http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/osage-orange/

   http://lancaster.unl.edu/enviro/pest/nebline/hedgeapple.htm

   http://lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=2523

   Another common use of the wood is for fence posts. As mentioned it's tough stuff, very rot-resistant.

   Jes the ticket fer hangin bobwar on if'n you can get yor staples innit.

1. 
   D2cat | Jan 27, 2014 10:24pm | #22

   It grows well in Kansas

   In Eastern Kansas there is a lot of Hedge trees.  A couple of generations ago farmers would put the hedge apples (fruit) in a barrel and soak them until they became mush, plow a furrow, then dump the mush in.  That's how the hedge rows were formed.

   Makes excellent forewood, but sparks when oxyget gets to the coals.  Need a good tight stove.

   You get the sap on a pair of gloves and they will out last 3 or 4 pairs without the sap on them.

   It's 12deg F here tonight I have a few pieces laying by the stove to keep the house warm.

4. 
   oldhand | Feb 01, 2014 09:13am | #23

   one other thing...

   i used to work with this stuff some and found that it glues poorly. Yellow glue made a poor bond, epoxy seemed to work best.

   t