Another "Lumber" Species

[5quarter]

another little hedgeapple factoid...while the fruit is not edible, the seeds are very tasty. I've roasted them on two occasions. a little sweet and nutty in flavor. you can eat them like you would pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds, but you can also add them to white rice when you cook it. adds a nice texture and flavor. you have to get the seeds in the fall when the fruit is mushy and over ripe. Some where in one of my books is an old recipe for hedgeapple jelly. I'll report on that if I can find the recipe and screw up my courage enough to make it :D :D

[Walnut Beast]

I moved in on a fairly large framing lumber saw job this morning, and we knocked out a whack of 2X4's & 2X8's.  Just before quitting time, the customer walks over to his truck and brings back a "log".    Since he was not planning on building a camp fire, I am figuring how to clamp that stick.


 
Yup,  Bois d'arc, Bodark, Bodock, Osage Orange, hedge apple, horse apple, Maclura pomifera.


 
Absolutely Beautiful.  I got prepared just in case that stick decided to ride in the operator's seat.  


 
And the framing lumber job is not bad either.   ;D

Do you remember that Magicman. I'm looking forward to cutting some!

[Magicman]

I saw that 9 year old topic and read the entire 3 pages.  I treasure that pen which has gradually darkened and is strikingly beautiful. 

Radar67 showed back up last year and I thought that he would stay but alas, he disappeared again.  There are other former 'regular' members that have sadly disappeared.  Life changes and some move on and some move out. 

[booman]

I have milled many Bodark logs, some quite large.  Bright yellow when first cut but will turn brown exposed to the sun.   I always heard bois d arc meant arc of the bow because Indians made longbows out the wood.   The wood makes fantastic long bows.  Some will laminate strips of wood to make the bow.

[moodnacreek]

Nice lumber. ;D
No doubt osage is very rot resistant. But I would doubt if it's more so than some of the cedars or Pacific yew. I have seen half carved out western red cedars left behind or abandoned by natives in the 19th C. Still in tact. The government has a term for these culturally significant trees. They call them "culturally modified trees" or CMT's. ;D
Also, yellow cypress, as long as it's in tact when it falls will last and last just laying on the wet ground in the mountains.

Don't bet on that.

[SwampDonkey]

@moodnacreek
You may well be correct.

I've seen northern white cedar still stand as a post after 50 years. That would be old slow grown stuff, not one with a lot of sapwood. You can find 160 year of cedar fence post sized in swamps. Old rails can be found here that are over 100 years old, probably 1870-1900 when placed. A lot of people around here cut them up for dry kindling for fires. Pretty much all gone here on the old farm, burnt up.

[Magicman]

Actually @thecfarm 's property was once covered with Osage which gradually petrified into the rocks that he is dealing with now.  :D

[barbender]

Isn't it said that black locust will last 3 days longer than stone, or something like that?😊 White cedar is the best we have for posts, but from how locust and hedge is described I would think them superior. Well, except you can get straight pieces of cedar.

[Walnut Beast]

Nice lumber. ;D
No doubt osage is very rot resistant. But I would doubt if it's more so than some of the cedars or Pacific yew. I have seen half carved out western red cedars left behind or abandoned by natives in the 19th C. Still in tact. The government has a term for these culturally significant trees. They call them "culturally modified trees" or CMT's. ;D
Also, yellow cypress, as long as it's in tact when it falls will last and last just laying on the wet ground in the mountains.

Don't bet on that.

You got that right! The best rot resistant in North America!

[Walnut Beast]

I saw that 9 year old topic and read the entire 3 pages.  I treasure that pen which has gradually darkened and is strikingly beautiful.  

Radar67 showed back up last year and I thought that he would stay but alas, he disappeared again.  There are other former 'regular' members that have sadly disappeared.  Life changes and some move on and some move out.  

Good memories and a beautiful pen!!

[Magicman]

We always "seasoned" our Black Locust fence post.  My Brother and I felled the trees and let them lay until the next Winter when we would buck and haul the post out for stacking/using.  By then the bark had completely come off.  After we finished bucking and hauling, we would fall the trees for the next year.  We used a 5' crosscut saw that our Granddad kept sharp and set.  We made 5¢ per post.  ;D

EDIT:  If/when we ever used a green post, we had to debark the portion that went into the ground and even then, it would not last nearly as long as a seasoned post.

[Walnut Beast]

I have milled many Bodark logs, some quite large.  Bright yellow when first cut but will turn brown exposed to the sun.   I always heard bois d arc meant arc of the bow because Indians made longbows out the wood.   The wood makes fantastic long bows.  Some will laminate strips of wood to make the bow.

What did you make or what was going to be made out of it? 

[SwampDonkey]

We peeled the cedar, but usually cut in winter and used during spring fence mending. You can't get back in those swamps with a machine unless it's frozen solid in winter. ;D

[Magicman]

I have always wondered how Indians made their bows from Osage.  Bucking and riving would have been difficult without metal tools so that leaves limbs. 

The best bow that I ever made/had while growing up was made from an Elm limb.

[SwampDonkey]

No idea on the bow making. Only one I seen was made of black or red spruce and that was over 40 years ago.

[Larry]

I sawed a osage orange for a bowyer once, but never again.  Took most of the day to saw one log.  He was trying to get the highest quality bow staves with zero grain run out.  Seemed like every cut I had to either turn the cant or elevate one end or the other to achieve his goals.

A lot of osage goes into game calls.  I make tools like mallets, reamers, and such for my shop use. 

[thecfarm]

Well I guess my science teacher was wrong. He taught us that the glaciers left the rocks behind.  ;D

[Magicman]

I would expect you to say that.  Glaciated folks blame everything on Glaciers.  :D     

[WDH]

I wholeheartedly agree. 

[booman]

Walnut Beast,  the Osage I milled were for customers and most of the time I had no idea what they were going to do with it.   One person wanted a mantle cut.   Also, tabletops and desktops.    Some were going to make laminated bows.

[barbender]

Glaciers might even be what freed the north of grits🤷‍♂️

[Rhodemont]

MM: My rocks are from Vermont and Canada from 15k years ago.  I live on a glacial moraine.  I am Glaciated

[Okrafarmer]

I escaped from the land of rocks.

BTW, my dad enjoys making wooden bows. He has made them from many species, but primarily hardwoods. He has done a lot out of elm and ash and black locust, and has done some from osage and other species.

[barbender]

I've always wanted to make a wooden bow. Someday😊

[SwampDonkey]

I like bowls made of elm, if you can get it dried good so it won't move, that makes a real pretty bowl.