Osage Orange | The Wood Database (Hardwood) (2024)

Portafilter handle made out of a knotty section of Osage Orange. Chunks splinter really easily so I had to use a rasp to do final shaping

Wood easily takes fine polish without any additives.

I sanded this to 2000 grit with a tad bit of tung oil and it turned shiny and was able to be used right away.

Makes great magic wands – “Maclura Pomifera”! It even sounds like an incantation.

Picnic table I made from a hedge apple tree we harvested off of our property last spring. No stain, satin polyurethane only. It worked out great for a table and is as hard as concrete. The horizontal seating board is black walnut.

Thanks for the pics, this is great.

Wow!, that’s a great picnic table and it’s still going to be around for your great grandchildren, very nice build and an excellent use for hedge.

Knife handle Osage

Would like to see artwork made by anyone using Osage Orange or Bois D/Arc. It seems to have very beautiful grain but is difficult due to density. Also when drying the wood cracks as it is so sappy.

Hi guys,
As a self taught chainsaw-power carver and turner, I was ecstatic to be gifted with all the osage I could haul jusr outside Austin. Windthrown over 40 years ago and lived 40+ years. Researching prior to harvesting… i knew i would have to sharpen my saw on site. The wood is in amazing shape, almost no checking and it’s got the most beautiful flame.

Use a carbide chainsaw blade, they last much longer than normal blades. Would love to see what you are making. When you say beautiful flame are you talking about burning it? It can burn like the 4th of July when recently cut and it pops and sends different colored flames up.

When should a feller cut branches or small trees? Is spring or fall? They cut my left leg off above the knee, a ways back. So, I figure on getting me a fancy cane.

Thanks for any feedback.

Cut in the late fall or winter if looking to do the least harm to the tree.

Late fall to winter, when the trees are dormant is the best time to cut branches.

The thorns are the best. Never seen a “thorn poke” swell so much so quickly.

I wish I had a lot more of osage orange. Perfect for my artwork.

Your work is truly beautiful, you can get all the Osage you want and for the most part free in Kansas. They use it for fence posts there and curved piece are burnt or thrown away.

That is amazing. Never seen anything like it.

That is truly beautiful! Do you remember what wood was used for each part? My Mum is dying to know what the legs are.

You should NOT use this in an open fireplace. Ever. This wood crackles and pops as it burns and can easily project glowing embers 5 to 6 feet. Screening is of limited use. Now, I understand you probably want to burn it in a tight wood stove. Ok. Be aware the this wood burns hot enough that I’ve seen even heavy welded boiler plate stoves (like Fishers and “Earth Stove”) both warp and break along weld lines. It is GREAT in a cast iron stove. But even then I advise co-loading it with other hardwoods. I have a Vermont Castings…Read more »

got it in ohio here and there…not an abundant amount but we have it.

David Martin, here in Tennessee there is quite a bit of Osage. Most refer to it as Hedge Apple or just Hedge. I have burned quite a bit of it at different times over the years and my uncle has as well. I think the BTU rating is more of a scientific observation rather than something you can actually feel. We have burned it while setting around a camp fire, in a fireplace and in the wood burning stove. I’ve never noticed any difference in any situation but one. Where it really does shine is in our old wood cookstove…Read more »

Osage doesn’t make for good firewood, it’s extremely pitchy and creates mass amounts of creosote. it will destroy your chimney unless you have a stainless steel liner, 316 stainless or higher.

David Martin
Check out black locust, a non native (to MN) tree that has somewhat higher heat content wood than white oak or hickory… And which some might like removed from land it has taken over! It also is a bit denser, stiffer and tougher than hickory.

You would be lucky to find any in a stack of firewood.
The wood is almost impossible to split by hand.
Instead of popping apart where the maul tip strikes it barely even cracks the surface.
When you take a wedge and force it into the wood the split is tethered from one side to the other with wood fibers.
Crazy stuff.

Don’t do it unless you have a stainless steel liner in your chimney, this wood creates 3rd degree glaze.

I used it for a fretboard and it has held up fine. If you can find a straight grained piece, I think it would make a really nice neck.

In the early days of home loans and homeowners insurance in Hunt and Kaufman county, construction was dependent on the residence being constructed on bois d’arc piers to preclude termites and to minimize the damage of the black gumbo soil movement.

My grandfather built a barn in central Mississippi in 1914 on bois d’arc footings, and when a tornado damaged it beyond repair in 1990, the footings were still solid.

I once found a web site that concluded hedge apples were not poisonous and at the same time showed that most of the sites or citations claiming they are poisonous came from a single source and there was no support for their claim.

Horses love the stuff, but foam at the mouth after eating it.

It is probably not thoroughly dried/cured before you start using it. Osage will let go of its water slowly. My advice would be to put a latex paint/glue or something to seal the ends. Let it dry for a couple months until the moisture content reaches equilibrium. Then clean up the ends and you should be good to go. Also, I will buy your Osage wood. It is ideal for my purposes but I do not have access:)

Split it with vedge on froe and keep the grains and growth rings as intact as possible.
Use cutting and sanding hand tools.

do all of your shaping when the wood is still wet, if that’s not an option then make a metal container to soak the wood in lemon oil, leave it for a week and bend it into any shape you want, leave that for at least a week and use a spoke shave to shape it however you want it to be.

I was curious as to why folks keep saying “checking”? Are y’all talking about cracking? We have a great many Osage trees growing on our Farm, and I may use it for crafts. Js

In spite of the thorns, the leaves of bois d’arc are a huge favorite of our donkeys. Do you think they may be going for the sap? I do not observe them eating the bark, but my animals have a good bit of freedom to roam. Bored?

They call em horse apples too…?

I wonder if that’s why the young trees have thorns.

Should be good! Highly decay resistant and the hardness wears well against the onslaught of sharp blades.

For building or fencing applications it is so hard when dried, that it will not accept staples and it will bend nails, so fence with it when green and expect it to get harder as it ages.

I know you posted the comment about your dog a few years ago but I wonder if it isn’t from mice rather than hedge balls. The mice that carry a terrible disease that can kill people just from the smell of their urine were found in the Midwest mostly. Dogs with the disease yours died of typically spend over 50% of their time outdoors and are located in the Midwest mostly. Hedge is in all of the US. I don’t want to doubt your hypothesis, just try to help give peace if you still live around these trees.

Have hedge wood for 50 years as firewood, fence posts and tool handles. Horses will chew the fruit ( apples) squirrels eat the seeds and the seeds inside the fruits are actually quite tasty. Insects and spiders will crawl over mashed and whole fruits without Ill effect. Some people have a mild skin reaction to the sap, but it is rare and negligible. Had a dog that would fetch hedge apples but he would not chew them. About a million farm and rural dogs have lived surrounded by hedge trees all their lives without Ill effect. Well besides the thorns…Read more »

have built quite a few peaces of furniture with osage and find it good to wotk with but must caution that a moderate feed rate is needed or it will burn then you have fun sanding it out. the darkening dose not take that long and will occuse in or outside. sands nice and finishes very good with lacquer. try it when you find some you may just like the wood.

bob

Osage is not too hard to cut or work, cutting might be a little harder though but rasp, and sanding is a breez, I’ve been able to get glass like polishes on it. It’s one of my favorites, definitely my favorites to work.

I have been making rustic furniture with Osage for about 12 years. I use wood that has been dead for about 30 to 40 years. At that stage it is VERY hard. Work it green if you can. I clean the branches with a knotted wire brush with a flexible shaft and electric motor. It wears out the wire wheels. When the loose dead sapwood comes off the heartwood just starts to polish, the wheel won’t touch it.

I own an old farm property in PA. There are many hedge trees on the boundaries. Many of them are in excess of 36 inches in diameter as they were planted more than 100 years ago. The limbs grew up in close proximity to each other (hedgerow) and are twisted and gnarled. As a young man I cut some in firewood length and stacked it on the ground 40 years ago. This year I kicked it loose and burned it in my wood furnace and I can tell you it was hard and dry and not a hint of rot.…Read more »

Hi I know this is an old post. I too am making tobacco pipes from this wood. Though I am only now starting in 2022. How many of the pipes are still being used that you produced. I am very excited to make more of these pipes in the future

Have you ever made any larger pieces with it? Like furniture?

Does this Osage Orange Grow in BC