jackpot and what to do!?!?

[k-hat]

Ok, so i been passing this big fallen tree for weeks now, thinking from a distance it was some kind of oak (ok, i didn't get the tree id badge in boy scouts. . .  wait, i wasn't even in boy scouts!).

 


 So here's what i found on closer inspection.  Is that a horseapple i see!!!!!?       :D     (u may not be able to see any in the pick, but i did!)

 


And here's some of the damage done on the way home from work after i stopped at depot and rented a chainsaw and snagged and ripped my nice pants on a limb(i was gonna go home and change first, but couldn't help myself!)  
 

They are all around 70 - 80" in length, 6-10" diameter:

 


So now i've got all this osage, but i hadn't brushed up on what to do once harvesting (storing and protecting.  I loaned my TBB to a friend the other day).  Are these pieces good as i think they are??  I plan on going back for more tomorrow before the city comes and cleans it all out.  Worth trying for the 24" trunk?  I'm still reeling in shock at this find.  

[fish n chicks]

Are you sure that's not mongolian tulipwood?

[k-hat]

Lol!  You never know, they look so much alike  

[Grey Taylor]

It's difficult to tell the quality of the wood from the pictures but regardless, you'll want to seal the ends ASAP to prevent checking.
Use wood glue, paraffin, paint, whatever you've got handy.
If you've got any sawmills around you can always have them rip that 24" trunk into boards and make backed bows out of them.

Guy

[okie64]

Nice score! I would try to at least split em in half and seal the ends. I guess osage trees have pretty shallow roots, I've seen lots of em blown over from wind.

[Eric Krewson]

I have cut a lot of osage over the years. If I had access to any other osage I would pass on that tree, if I had no osage I would have pulled that tree out of a brush pile just to have some.

Looks mostly like billet wood to me. All the protruding limbs complicate things a bit for staves. I like my billets at least 36" long and preferably 40+ inches.

Buy a qt of shellac at Lowe's for sealing, nothing works better. Spray the bark with bug killer if you plan on leaving it on. You must take the bark and sapwood off at the same time, leave the sapwood and your wood will check while you are watching it. Store the wood in the shade, it won't dry much unless you quarter the logs.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I can't tell from the pics what it is? It doesn't really look like hedge to me, but I'd need a closer up pick of the bark and one of the stump ends to be sure.

Regardless you got some bow wood no matter what it is and I have to give you credit for working your tail off to get it. So enjoy it even if it's oak, pecan, mullberry, or who cares right?    

BTW Khat it's hedge apple not horse apple, horse apples are what you find on the road after a parade.      

If the horses are in an encloser they they are called pasture apples.

[John Scifres]

Looks like hedge to me.  Seal it first.  then split it into staves and then start working it down into bow blanks.

Here's a woodcutting trip I did in a 2009.

 http://sticknstring.webs.com/wood2009.htm

Here's how I rough out a bow:

 http://sticknstring.webs.com/roughout.htm

[k-hat]

Lol Semo, all i know is what the necks (like me) round here callem!  I thought it was just the yanks called em "hedge" apples    

I sealed the ends last nite with titebond, i'll put some more on tonite to make sure it's sealed well.

Eric, I don't typically have access to osage, so this is a pretty big deal for me to get some free, even if it's a bit gnarly   :p     I figured a lot of it would be billet wood.

Thanks for the links John.  I wont be able to get to it until this weekend, but i'm itchn to get to it!

The REALLY sad part is, the trunk was nice and i was looking forward to killing myself getting it home, but when i showed up today at 11am(I just called the city to ask "permission" yesterday), it was GONE!! Nothin left but the roots and a HEDGEapple or two     , not to mention the best 9" log i couldn't get up the incline and had already cut was gone too.  Now how come you can't get the city to do anything you WANT done in such a timely manner?  

I keep trying to tell my self you can't loose something you never had, but it still makes me wanna cry!

[Pat B]

...you snooze, you loose...and I know that for a fact! d;^)
Nice stash of wood though. I'm in the same boat as you with osage. It doesn't grow around here so I will take any I can get and cull out what I can't use.

[KellyG]

I would almost bet that someone else seen it and took it as fire wood. Yall would really cry if I told you how many trees I have help meet that fate in KS. I have seen hedge row of a couple miles long cut pushed and burned or just cut and left. Nice all thought.
Pat I don't know why it would not grow around there. I grew up not to far north of you just south of Roanoke VA and We would find it growing there. Horse Apples is what it is called in them parts too.

[KellyG]

opps was about to post this in the wrong thread.

[wildbill001]

Check with the city to see where they dump their downed trees.  Come cities just haul 'em off to a "holding area" then have a contractor come by and grind them up and haul 'em off.  Other cities just bring them to the local landfill.  You may or may not be able to "rescue" them from there (or the "holding area" for that matter) due to health/safety/OSHA regs but it may be worth trying.

Bill

[k-hat]

Thanks bill, i'll check with em tomorrow, i can dream:)

Glad i'm not the only one callin em horseapples, except now i cant think of that without thinking of the parade variety!  Thanks semo   :rolleyes:  

We do have a plenty growing around here, just not usually where i can get to it without being arrested!

[SEMO_HUNTER]

I guess everybody calls them something different, I prefer osage but growing up we always called them hedge apple because they mostly grew in long hedge rows that divided one plot of acreage from another one. The tree does have many names though and just for the record I'm not a yankee but Roybert is.      

I'm sure he will be along shortly to take a jab at me for that.

I hope you can recover the good log the city took away. Good Luck.

[Pat B]

Kelly it will grow here it just doesn't. I only know of one or 2 trees and the NCDOT bush hog usually gets them before I can even ask for them. I do have a 3 or 4 year old sapling growing here that a friend gave me. It is about 1" diameter so I only have another inch or two to go for bow wood. d;^)

[b.glass]

Semo, I'm with you on what it's called. But we all call it "BOW WOOD"!

Does the other stuff that look like it have thorns too?

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Mullbery resembles osage as far as the leaf profile and the way it grows with limbs every which direction but mullberry doesn't have thorns and when you get up close the bark is different. At first glance from a distance it's easy to confuse it with osage, but up close there's no mistaking it.
Yep, Bois D'Arc is what the French settlers named it when they saw the fine bows, spears, and other tools/weapons the Native Americans had made out of Osage.

Sometimes it's my best friend and sometimes it's my worst enemy, but all said and done I think Osage is the finest bow wood out there.
I wonder if the Indians had uses for the fruits? Maybe medicinal, ceremonial, or somethinge we never even thought of.....maybe trading the seeds to other tribes for planting? That could have helped the spread of hedge further north of the Red River?

[b.glass]

Mulberry I know of but not "Mongolian Tulipwood".

Does osage look that much like Mongolian Tulipwood, does it have thorns?