hedgeapples

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357Mag from a Marlin 1894, 158gr XTP @ 2000fps! THIS is what you do to hedgeapples!

(Click on picture to watch, wife is narrating!)



The only good hedgeapple is a dead hedeapple!

 

[Ogre]

I didn't realize how incredibly sticky they were until this past weekend... lol, In the past I must have always picked them up after the sticky residue was rinsed off?

 

[ATOMonkey]

I had no idea the Osage Orange tree was so useful. Thanks! You really do learn something new every day.

 

[CountryBoy19]

For those that also don't know, hedge is a relative to mulberry trees...

And it has the highest BTU content of any wood native to North America. Makes for some great firewood. Compared to Oak at 24-25 MBtu/cord and Shagbark Hickory at 28 MBtu/cord (both regarded as some of the best firewoods you can get), hedge has 34 MBtu/cord... it is solid as a rock and it burns like coal. You have to be careful not to over-fire a stove with hedge because it's loaded with energy...

IF you can find a good straight one they are very valuable because they don't normally grow straight, they're normally at least twisted, if not crooked... They are valued for bow making, walking sticks, and rot-resistant fence posts. They will last decades as fence posts...

 

[jeremy]

Osage Orange (Hedge Apples) Make great Fence Rows also...

 

[blackoak]

For those that also don't know, hedge is a relative to mulberry trees...

And it has the highest BTU content of any wood native to North America. Makes for some great firewood. Compared to Oak at 24-25 MBtu/cord and Shagbark Hickory at 28 MBtu/cord (both regarded as some of the best firewoods you can get), hedge has 34 MBtu/cord... it is solid as a rock and it burns like coal. You have to be careful not to over-fire a stove with hedge because it's loaded with energy...

IF you can find a good straight one they are very valuable because they don't normally grow straight, they're normally at least twisted, if not crooked... They are valued for bow making, walking sticks, and rot-resistant fence posts. They will last decades as fence posts...

It sure plays hell on saw chains when cutting hedge apple. Almost not worth the hassle of cutting and splitting it for firewood. As fence post, they will outlast the the fence material itself. I have seen several old post still strong as the day they were put in the ground with barbed wire rusted and falling apart on the ground.

 

[blackoak]

Osage Orange (Hedge Apples) Make great Fence Rows also...

You do see a lot of hedge apple trees growing on property boundaries that were planted for this purpose.

 

[CountryBoy19]

It sure plays hell on saw chains when cutting hedge apple. Almost not worth the hassle of cutting and splitting it for firewood.

That hasn't been my experience. Many people told me that, but the only downside I have is that the milky sap tended to gum the chains up a bit. Just keep the milky sap cleaned off and they didn't really dull any more than when cutting any other hardwood.

Cutting old, dry hedge that is hard as a rock? Yeah, I can see that dulling chains faster...

You do see a lot of hedge apple trees growing on property boundaries that were planted for this purpose.

That's how it got the nickname "hedge". It was planted for hedgerows in oklahoma/nebraska/kansas/iowa etc after the dust bowl to provide natural windbreaks and fencing. The small, ~1" thorns provided natural "barbed wire" like fencing.

 

[CalebToNowhere]

If you put hedge apples around your flower bed, it will keep the spiders out of your house.

Good to know, thanks. I have terribly large spiders...

 

[jeremy]

That's how it got the nickname "hedge". It was planted for hedgerows in oklahoma/nebraska/kansas/iowa etc after the dust bowl to provide natural windbreaks and fencing. The small, ~1" thorns provided natural "barbed wire" like fencing.

Actually dates back farther than that...

 

[CountryBoy19]

Actually dates back farther than that...

Touche, but the most widespread use of it as hedgerows came after the dust-bowl... because it is a thick, brushy tree that grows short and stout it make an excellent windbreak. I realize it's roots go way back, but "hedgerows" of Osage Orange really became famous with Roosevelts "Great Plains shelterbelt" project that started in 1934 in which 220 million trees were planted in 18,600 miles of hedgerow to prevent soil erosion.

Osage Orange also has a less common nickname or "Bodarc" which is thought to have originated from the Bois D'Arc which is french for "wood of the arc", because it was commonly used in bows.

Just some random facts about OO/hedge-apple/hedge/horse-apple/Bodark trees...

I have 4 cords of Hedge wood CSS out back... I save that for the coldest of cold night and really get things cranking... LONG burn times with it. But you work hard for that wood too. Not many hedge trees can be felled so the trunk lands on the ground. Much brush clearing and cutting must be done just to get some usable firewood out of it. I don't waste my hedge... and if/when I move every last piece of hedge will go with me. The rest can be sold and replaced...

 

[Skip]

I stopped by my favorite row today and headed to the range shortly after that. If you hit them with a 45Colt out of a Puma rifle, with say a 270gr bullet, they fly apart really bad! The Ruger Blackhawk even got in on the act! Way fun!

If you hit them just right, as they explode, parts even fly back towards where they were shot from! hahahaha