Here’s an interesting article on hedge apples:
Well, if you believe 0.77 as the specific gravity of Osage Orange, this would give you (4400/4100)*0.77 = about 0.83 for his “Ironwood”. The link I gave lists Eastern Ironwood (Ostrya virginiana) and Catalina Ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus) as 0.80 - I would guess he meant Eastern Ironwood, or Hop Hornbeam then, which is a fairly common and widely distributed tree. Note that my link gives Desert Ironwood as 1.15, and it is commonly noted that the stuff sinks. A cord of THAT should then weigh (1.15/0.77)*4100 = a bit over 6100 pounds. A cord of Lignum Vitae, in addition to being worth a small fortune, would be something like 7300 pounds.
The fruit of the Osage orange tree is called a hedge apple here in Ohio. In addition to being extremely dense the wood is commonly used as fence posts because of its resistance to rot. I’ve also heard that hedge apples repell insects so I always chuck a few into the barn each fall. It couldn’t hurt.
My father in law and his neighbor built the fence here on our property about 1952 or so using osage orange logs for posts. It is still standing, sound and sturdy.
Hedge is real common here in Iowa.
Deer seem to search for hedge balls when snow and ice cover makes grazing difficult.
I know of hedge fence posts that have been in the ground for well over 50 years.
I can personally show you a post that I broke 2 drill bits off just trying to hang a gate.Its been in the ground so long that its partially hollow and a bird has made a nest in it, and it is still so hard I never did hang that gate from it.
They will cause a preacher to cuss trying to drive a fence staple too.
Anyway they are called hedge apples or balls here.
I cut the weird thing open, and the fleshy inside appeared to be similar to (dry) pineappple flesh. However, I used a drywall cutting hand saw blade, so I wonder if the teeth left a pattern in the flesh resembling that of the pineapple texture. (The color of the flesh was similar to that of pineapple yellow.)
Does anyone know?
Also, some links mention the tree has spike-like thorns on it. I’ve seen some young trees that grow and spread like weeds in my past, but no fruit. Maybe they were immature Osage trees? But, IIRC, these trees had small leaves like the fruitless olive trees which are annoying “weed trees”, too. Do these weed-like olive trees have thorns, too? Maybe I’m confusing the two…?
This is all based on the mid-Atlantic area. Never saw the Osage until I moved further eastward towards the Eastern Shore. - Jinx
I’ve got a log in my basement right now. I’ve had it for about 10 years. I left the bark on and painted the ends to slow the drying process. It tends to split as it dries, but not so bad if it dries slowly. I’ve been planning on making a bow out of it for years now…maybe someday I will. I’ve got an old bow my father in law made in the 40’s but I don’t dare shoot it.
Yes it was a mother to cut down and haul out of the woods
Bois D’Arc refers to its use as bow wood. I don’t speak French but I think it pretty much translates into “wood of the bow”
They’re pretty common in Alabama. There’s one favored use that hasn’t been mentioned yet: The branch ends make the very finest of switches, and many a grandma still keeps a selection of these around for when the grandchildren come to visit.
(Modern moms, of course, know that switching a child doesn’t work.) Heh.