badguybuster
Blackhawk
New Culina's Orange Osage N Frames. Mighty Purdy.
Osage sure is pretty
- Thread starter badguybuster
- Start date
You’re right, Osage is an awesome wood. As it get exposed to sunlight, it will change from school bus yellow to a dark brown.
Bob Wright
Hawkeye
Osage orange is known by bodark, bodoc and several other names. It was used here in Memphis by a plantation owner to mark out the borders of his plantation, which gave a neighborhood here of Orange Mound.
Also used for fence posts as its sturdy and rot resistant.
Bob Wright
Also used for fence posts as its sturdy and rot resistant.
Bob Wright
It makes awesome self bows, as well as great looking laminations.
OVERLOADDED
Single-Sixer
Dennis, GWGunsmith, over on Rimfire Central, he's deceased now, made me a pair for my Mark II. Great looking pair! Overloadded
A country road a couple of miles from me is called Bois d' arc. It gets called a lot of names 
The trees were named bois d'arc ("bow-wood")[3] by early French settlers who observed the wood being used for war clubs and bow-making by Native Americans.[10] Meriwether Lewis was told that the people of the Osage Nation, "So much ... esteem the wood of this tree for the purpose of making their bows, that they travel many hundreds of miles in quest of it."[15] The trees are also known as "bodark", "bodarc", or "bodock" trees, most likely originating as a transliteration or corruption of bois d'arc.
The Comanche also used this wood for their bows.[16] They liked the wood because it was strong, flexible and durable,[3] and the bush/tree was common along river bottoms of the Comanchería. Some historians believe that the high value this wood had to Native Americans throughout North America for the making of bows, along with its small natural range, contributed to the great wealth of the Spiroan Mississippian culture that controlled all the land in which these trees grew.
Natural range of M. pomifera in pre-Columbian era America.
The trees were named bois d'arc ("bow-wood")[3] by early French settlers who observed the wood being used for war clubs and bow-making by Native Americans.[10] Meriwether Lewis was told that the people of the Osage Nation, "So much ... esteem the wood of this tree for the purpose of making their bows, that they travel many hundreds of miles in quest of it."[15] The trees are also known as "bodark", "bodarc", or "bodock" trees, most likely originating as a transliteration or corruption of bois d'arc.
The Comanche also used this wood for their bows.[16] They liked the wood because it was strong, flexible and durable,[3] and the bush/tree was common along river bottoms of the Comanchería. Some historians believe that the high value this wood had to Native Americans throughout North America for the making of bows, along with its small natural range, contributed to the great wealth of the Spiroan Mississippian culture that controlled all the land in which these trees grew.
Natural range of M. pomifera in pre-Columbian era America.
A friend freezes and saves the fresh hedge apples and makes a tea that he says cures and prevents cancer. He was giving some out last week. They also reportedly repel spiders in your house. After a while they smell bad. Cattle chew them up and choke on them. I cut it for firewood. The fresh sap is really hard to get out of your hair.
Thumbcocker
Blackhawk
Old timers around here said that when you set a hedge fence post you were supposed to put a rock on top of it. When the rock rotted it was time to change out the post.
OP
badguybuster
Blackhawk
My hunting bow is made of Osage backed with Bear sinew. It is a great all purpose wood
toysoldier
Hunter
Osage Orange is a close relative of mulberry, and the wood is difficult to tell apart. I don't know if anyone has tried to make bows of mulberry, but I made some nice golden grips for a stainless repro 1858 Remington.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2004
- Messages
- 3,936
- City & State/Province
- Alabama, in the bend of the Tennessee River
Yes, mulberry also makes a very decent bow wood. I have a small tack hammer that I made an Osage handle for many years ago. It's pretty common around here.
Around here it's known as hedge, and it's the most noxious of weeds. It grows everywhere, has wicked thorns, and grows in a jumble where an 8' run of straight wood is considered rare. The wood burns so hot, if your stove isn't rated for coal you have a serious risk of burning through your stove. When it burns, it emits huge clouds of sparks that remain hot for long enough to set the surrounding woods on fire when they settle back to Earth. My 40 acres is crawling with the stuff.
It does, however, make the finest fence posts money can buy. If you can find straight pieces long enough.
They will outlast you. Maybe even your kids!
It does, however, make the finest fence posts money can buy. If you can find straight pieces long enough.
They will outlast you. Maybe even your kids!
