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[VAN DELL JORDAN <vdjor AT yahoo.com>]

I know that second growth in some trees is straighter
than original.  Wonder if this applies to Osage
Orange?  Perhaps if you make the first cut and then
wait your grand kids could cut posts that are less
crooked than normal.
Van Dell



--- Don Bowen KI6DIU <don.bowen AT earthlink.net> wrote:

> At 12/24/2007, you wrote:
> >It was used in the olden days for fencing before
> barbed wire was
> >invented. And by native americans to make the
> finest of bows. (See
> >OHG files for how to make your own bows and
> arrows).
> 
> According to Labin and others, Osage Orange makes
> great bow material but no 
> known bows in museums from the contact era were made
> of Osage Orange.
> 
> As for fence posts, they are the crookedest you will
> ever find.  a straight 
> OO fence post is very hard to find so they are best
> for barbed wire 
> fences.  Also you have to make sure they are well
> seasoned because a green 
> OO fence post will sprout.
> 
> At one time many farms used a hedge row of OO to
> separate farms.  It made a 
> impenetrable barrier.  One thing  have noticed on my
> recent trips to the 
> midwest is that those hedge rows have all been
> bulldozed away.
> 
> >It is a hard wood and has a beautiful orange grain
> and is as hard to
> >drive a nail into when dry as oak. Great for
> buildings for bugs leave
> >that wood alone
> 
> Not all that great for building because it is so
> crooked.  My uncle had a 
> single 8 foot long board in his house and it was
> only 4 inches wide.  It 
> was the only usable board he could get.  He ran a
> sawmill and it took him a 
> lot of searching to get what he wanted.  His living
> room wall has wood from 
> every tree species in NE Missouri.
> 
> 
> 
> Don Bowen              Awl Knotted Up               
>        KI6DIU
> http://www.braingarage.com
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