Wood ID

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rideau said:
My thought too Scotty. That is amazing wood. What is Box Elder's range? Have never seen any. Does it grow in Southern Ontario?

Mulberry...hedge...osage orange...now Box elder. What IS hedge, by the way? To me hedge = privet, and I KNOW that isn't the sunject of everyone's discussion.
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It sure does grow in S. Ontario. Like a friggin' weed where I grew up (Oshawa area). It's called Manitoba Maple north of the border and is actually a Maple. You have seen it, you just didn't know ;)

I think there is some Mulberry way south like on the Niagara Peninsula and London/Windsor area. Not much I don't think.
I remember seeing a big Hedge/Osage Orange tree on the campus of Brock University in St. Catherines. Didn't know what it was then, but the fruit is unmistakable.
 
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Have indeed seen Manitoba Maple. Very close friend had one blow over last year. Would have taken a good look at that wood and begged a log had I only known. Have given them many cords over the years. Always just assumed Manitoba Maple was a soft maple.

Thanks for the post, and information,
 
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rideau said:
What IS hedge
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Hedge, A,K,A, Hedge Apple, A.K.A. Osage Orange is in the Mulberry family. It is very dense wood with just about the highest B.T.U value of any wood in North America. But don't burn it in an open fire cause it can throw burning chunks farther than cousin Woodrow can spit watermelon seeds! It splits fairly easily and it makes great long bows, if you have the nack. The branches have nasty thorns that can go through a leather work glove like notthing at all. It produces a round, green fruit some call "Monkey's brain" because, well, it looks like a monkey's brain. Get yourself 5 or 6 of the fruits, crush them well in a 5 gallon bucket then fill the bucket with water. dig a trench about 6 inches deep and 10 feet long and pour the mixture into the ditch. In a couple of years you'll have a hedge row that will stop one of these, just ask any surviving D-day vet!

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Wilhelm911 said:
Super heavy stuff, I needed a buddy to help with the piece in the left
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In a year's time, or less, that heavy wood will be as light as a feather. They's ha lot 'o water in them rounds what gotta' come out yet.
 
Osage is amasing wood but I will argue with the "easy to split" post. Stuff is stringy like elm, maybe worse. Fresh cut it is often bright yellow and the sawdust is referred to as bowyers gold. Over time it darkens to a deep brown and sunlight speeds the process. Native Americans used it and black locust for flatbows. I have made quite a few that are great hunting bows. I often think about a bow wood gathering day about 20yrs ago where a friend and I had access to unlimited osage being cut in SW Michigan. I would guess there were literally close to 100 cord laying in log form and we took a dozen or so nice straight pieces for bow staves. I cannot imagine having all that for firewood!!
 
Ralphie Boy said:
Hedge, A,K,A, Hedge Apple, A.K.A. Osage Orange is in the Mulberry family. It is very dense wood with just about the highest B.T.U value of any wood in North America. But don't burn it in an open fire cause it can throw burning chunks farther than cousin Woodrow can spit watermelon seeds!
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And I can spit them a helluva long way! ==c



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BobUrban said:
I will argue with the "easy to split" post. Stuff is stringy like elm, maybe worse.
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I'll be the first to admit that I've not split more than about a half cord of it but it was fairly easy to split. Maybe it was the way it grew or the age of the tree. I shall defer to those who have split more than a half cord.;)
 
Scotty Overkill said:
I'd love to mill one of those box elder logs.....that is some beautiful wood!
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I would like to see some pics of it milled when your done, and the products made from it.
 
Ralphie Boy said:
It is very dense wood with just about the highest B.T.U value of any wood in North America.​
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I gotta find me one of these trees, not to make anything, but to burn;ex But it sure is pretty wood, I'm on a mission now for the spring......Hey Scotty, when you come down, bring your saw, I'll bring the Beer:cool:
 
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Dave USCG said:
I gotta find me one of these trees, not to make anything, but to burn;ex But it sure is pretty wood, I'm on a mission now for the spring......Hey Scotty, when you come down, bring your saw, I'll bring the Beer:cool:
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We've got plenty of them down here in the Heartlands... Love them, either by themselves for a long burn or in a mix just turn up the notch on lesser wood. The ability to really control the air supply on these EPA stoves allows the Hedge to give off maximum heat in a controlled enviroment.
 
I have a nice piece that is milled to roughly an 8' true 2x4 that I have planes to make into a pair of bamboo backed composite all wood/grass long bows. This is a back burner project as I have so many hobbies/obsessions and so little time :)

I will try to get a pic of the milled board posted.

Osage works almost like turning plastic on a lathe - I have made small bowls and cups from it and it is just amazing wood.

Burns great too but it kills me to see some of this clean, straight grained osage going into stoves. Straight, clean, non-twisted, bow length staves are tough to come by.

**EDIT** Photo is of dementional osage board roughly true 2x4 cut from a stave and run through a planer, bamboo that will eventually be the bow back, Osage hunting spear with forged spear blade and an osage flat bow I made. All this osage has been exposed for years and shows how dark it can get. I have seen 50+yr old bows that are almost black to dark purple. If you cut into any of it the underlying wood will be bright yellow just as new cut wood and under the buckskin handle wrap the bow is almost as bright as it was when finished. All my turned bowls were given away so I do not have any photos to share. Osage is so rot resistant I have dug stumps out of ditches that are filled with water for much of the year and after cutting into it with a draw knife it is bow worthy. Amazing stuff.
 

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BobUrban said:
I have a nice piece that is milled to roughly an 8' true 2x4 that I have planes to make into a pair of bamboo backed composite all wood/grass long bows. This is a back burner project as I have so many hobbies/obsessions and so little time :)

I will try to get a pic of the milled board posted.

Osage works almost like turning plastic on a lathe - I have made small bowls and cups from it and it is just amazing wood.

Burns great too but it kills me to see some of this clean, straight grained osage going into stoves. Straight, clean, non-twisted, bow length staves are tough to come by.

**EDIT** Photo is of dementional osage board roughly true 2x4 cut from a stave and run through a planer, bamboo that will eventually be the bow back, Osage hunting spear with forged spear blade and an osage flat bow I made. All this osage has been exposed for years and shows how dark it can get. I have seen 50+yr old bows that are almost black to dark purple. If you cut into any of it the underlying wood will be bright yellow just as new cut wood and under the buckskin handle wrap the bow is almost as bright as it was when finished. All my turned bowls were given away so I do not have any photos to share. Osage is so rot resistant I have dug stumps out of ditches that are filled with water for much of the year and after cutting into it with a draw knife it is bow worthy. Amazing stuff.
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Very nice Bob, That's an art in itself:cool:. My inlaw's live out in you neck of the wood's " Wisconsin, LaCrosse area... My Father inlaw used to work for outer's hunting supplies, 25+ years ago. He told me stories about tromping through the wood's to find the right wood to make there bow's. That's what he did, custom bow's, recurves to be exact. Met his daughter in Newport, RI. drug her here in southern NJ where snow is hit or miss. (she hate's it) "not enough snow for her". OOPs sorry, got off on a tangent.....Beautiful Bob;ex
 
Dave USCG said:
My inlaw's live out in you neck of the wood's " Wisconsin, LaCrosse area... My Father inlaw used to work for outer's hunting supplies, 25+ years ago. He told me stories about tromping through the wood's to find the right wood to make there bow's.
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He may have made them from Black Locust; I think the only Hedge (rare) in WI is in the southern part of the state.
 
Woody Stover said:
He may have made them from Black Locust; I think the only Hedge (rare) is WI is in the southern part of the state.
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Honestly, I couldn't say, Only thing I remember is he said they used to "laminate" many different woods and put them in the jig's for the bow's. He worked there from about the late 50's to around 1980.
I can say they used to go "all" over to get various wood's. He has kept about 6 bow's he built, "prototypes" absolutely beautiful;ex, he gave my wife 2 of them.:cool:
 
Thistle said:
That stuff can bring good money as bowl blanks & carving stock.I seen chunks 3 x 8 x 16 with that firey reddish pink go for $30-50 each occasionally.
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That's what I was thinking, nice bowl stock, or boxes, or
 
I am saving all these wood ID pics I see on here, in a folder for future wood ID
 
Wilhelm911 said:
Picked up some pieces that the road crew left. Super heavy stuff, I needed a buddy to help with the piece in the left. Any ideas? I can get a split picture later today.
View attachment 95292
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Absolutely box elder,a far cry from locust,I'd burn it in shoulder if I had any.
 
Both Box Elder and Hedge (Osage Orange) grow in southern NJ. Hedge is native only to the southern plains, mostly in or near Oklahoma, but it has been planted all over the eastern US and midwest.
 
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