Man........I think I might have got reeeeeeal lucky!

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

My neighbor wants to cut some trees in out "little forest" to plant pear trees. There was one standing dead Walnut and three or four Monkey Ball trees. After watching him cut the MB trees that are 10" to 15" plus. I thought, "damn these suckers are hard"! I looked on line and typed in MB tree and come up with Osage Orange. This is a great score, no?

I figure maybe 2+ cord there. I am scrounging every bit of that stuff and make his life easier and my families life warmer! Gotta love neighbors!

I'll post pics tomorrow....

And maybe I'll get to fire up my new saw...

 

[Hiram Maxim]

Indeed great score on the monkey ball wood.lmao giant tennis balls!

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

No more using the balls to rid us of these monster spiders we get. I called my buddy who has been burning for a long time and he wants to trade his wife for a load!;-)

I told him I already have one of those and she is really all I can handle!

 

[fireview2788]

Yes, a great score. Don't take his wife for it, if he's that willing you have to ask why does he want to get rid of her.

fv

 

[Cascade Failure]

I had never even heard of Osage Orange before visiting this forum. If anyone wants to send me a truck load I'll evaluate it for them.

Anyone?


Hello?

Must be too early...

 

[muncybob]

I'm told we have them around here too but I sure haven't found them yet....what about pics!!

 

[mywaynow]

I'm told we have them around here too but I sure haven't found them yet....what about pics!!

They are known also as Hedgewood because they were planted (and may still be) to establish natural fencing. My understanding is that the farmers would take the fruit and mash them up to a liquid, take a tractor/hoe and run a ditch at the point where they needed fence, pour the liquid into the ditch and in a couple years the trees would form a natural fence. They are loaded with thorns, so the livestock would not push through them. Look around road edges and in hedgerows. Bark looks like Locust and they grow in every direction. We have quite a bit in Central West NJ.

 

[Thistle]

I'm told we have them around here too but I sure haven't found them yet....what about pics!!

They are known also as Hedgewood because they were planted (and may still be) to establish natural fencing. My understanding is that the farmers would take the fruit and mash them up to a liquid, take a tractor/hoe and run a ditch at the point where they needed fence, pour the liquid into the ditch and in a couple years the trees would form a natural fence. They are loaded with thorns, so the livestock would not push through them. Look around road edges and in hedgerows. Bark looks like Locust and they grow in every direction. We have quite a bit in Central West NJ.

5/7/11 At family reunion while walking around the place I noticed this 24" diameter Osage in old hedgerow on cousin's farm in NW Missouri.My granddad set dozens of hedge posts on his 160 acre farm starting in the late 30's.Dad told me he liked to use 9" for corner posts & 6" for line posts,9 ft & 7ft long,respectively.Though that property has changed hands at least twice since his death almost 40 yrs ago,I can still see most all of them along those windy gravel roads.There's miles of the stuff still around in SW & Southern Iowa,NW Missouri,E Nebraska & Kansas.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

How is this stuff to split? My buddy who offered his wife says very hard. I think he trying to trick me? I use a small electric splitter that can bust through just about anything and this stuff looks very nice and straight grained compared to the Elm I just split.

 

[CountryBoy19]

How is this stuff to split? My buddy who offered his wife says very hard. I think he trying to trick me? I use a small electric splitter that can bust through just about anything and this stuff looks very nice and straight grained compared to the Elm I just split.

In my experience it's pretty easy to split. They do grow twisted though so you may find some that splits harder than others. But I haven't so far. I have about 3-4 cords of hedge that was all split by hand. You should be fine.

 

[chvymn99]

Great burning wood, very hot burner and intense. I try to use a mixture Hedge and another wood, to control the heat. It has been known to break and make stoves glow red. The only downside to hedge is that it like to splatter sparks around, just have to becareful when opening up the door.

Hedge really isn't too bad to split, unless you get a knotty piece. Probably one of the easier one to split when its seasoned that I've experienced. Cut it to your chunks while its still fresh, as your chain will thank you for it. As it can dull a chain pretty quickly when it seasoned.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

It sounds like this stuff is gold. I was going to mix it with elm, oak, and cherry to prolong the supply. I am excited to get it cut to length and split but excited to do the work.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

I had never even heard of Osage Orange before visiting this forum. If anyone wants to send me a truck load I'll evaluate it for them.

Anyone?


Hello?

Must be too early...

Have you ever heard of or burned a paw paw tree?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

My neighbor wants to cut some trees in out "little forest" to plant pear trees. There was one standing dead Walnut and three or four Monkey Ball trees. After watching him cut the MB trees that are 10" to 15" plus. I thought, "damn these suckers are hard"! I looked on line and typed in MB tree and come up with Osage Orange. This is a great score, no?

I figure maybe 2+ cord there. I am scrounging every bit of that stuff and make his life easier and my families life warmer! Gotta love neighbors!

I'll post pics tomorrow....

And maybe I'll get to fire up my new saw...

Sounds like you got a real winner there! Congratulations.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

Well, it was great! The kid cutting up the trees droped them then limbed them and barried them under the limbs.... I am not happy! I spent the last 3.5 hours buried in razor wire.....I gave up! I managed to salvage about a face cord possble more.

The guy wants to burn the stuff anyway. I told him to burn the little stuff and I get the big stuff out. I am just mad I can't get it now...I could if I had a few extra pints of blood.

Anyway, holy crap is this stuff monster, diamond hard! It seems like you would have to start a fire with wood then put in some anthricite then put this stuff in! I think I am afraid of it.

I am very determined to get it and I will!

 

[Countryboymo]

If you have never burned any of it I would for sure try to get as much of it as you can. I will also add that even the smaller limbs that you would not normally burn from other trees will still put out a tremendous amount of heat for a long time.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

Buddy, I picked the bone dry! This stuff seems to dry out fast too. I have most of it on the top of my other wood drying. The sawa cut parts are cracking/splitting already. I have to split most of it yet though. This won't happen till I get back from New Mexico on the 18th.

 

[Countryboymo]

It is like coal that grows out of the ground. It don't cut horribly bad when wet but after it is dried out can be a challenge. I found an old 20+yr old brush pile that was loaded with hedge trees on some property my parents purchased when I was younger and thought I would pull them out with the tractor and cut them up and clean the pile out. I had a new chain and had to file it after every tree. I did about three and gave up for awhile. I have burned a lot of hedge but that stuff burned like a blow torch. It did not burn as long as regular seasoned hedge but it was beyond insane heat wise.

 

[weatherguy]

I never heard of osage orange either til I joined the forum, I guess theres not much around here if any, I think the best wood we have is hickory and there isnt a whole lot to be had, oaks another story, you can get all you want, sometimes free.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

I finally got started splitting the the hedge from my neighbor. I thought that when I would drive the maul into this wood the the maul would shatter! Not so much....It actually is not to bad for splitting by had. Some of the uglies are very ubly and will need a jackhammer to bust it up but not too bas so far. Oh, this stuff seems to dry real quick too. My neighbor was actually shocked at the fact that the stumps are already sprouting shoots for a new tree. Here is a pick of some of it.

 

[Jags]

I keep many of the 6 to 10" unsplit and allow them to dry for a couple of good years. These are some serious OH-Sh!t logs I keep back for emergency type stuff. You know the drill. Bad storm, power out for a couple of days, yet have to leave the house for 12-14 hrs at a time, firewood. Just a suggestion.

 

[PLAYS WITH FIRE]

That is what I was thinking. This is the last stuff cut and split so It will be the emergency fund. But even when I do burn it, it will be mixed with other wood. I have about a cord plus of the OO and about 5 cord of cherry, elm, oak and walnut mix. I burned about 2 cord last year cause of our schedule. It was not all hardwood and not too well seasoned. Amazingly when the chimney was swept nothing more than a cup full of powder came out. With the baffle out and a bright light you can see all the way to the top clearly and flex pipe was surprisingly clean! I wanted to know what was going on with my setup so I cleaned it 3 times last year.

Still got a lot of learning to do but I am getting there! The wifey just has to learn now how to run it;-). She thinks as long as she has fire it is good! My stove has a sweet spot at 600F with the air cut to less than 3/4 closed. At this it will burn hot, slow and use very little wood. Ahhh well......

 

[Jags]

She thinks as long as she has fire it is good! My stove has a sweet spot at 600F with the air cut to less than 3/4 closed.

It will come with time. Just gently suggest watching the thermometers to take any "guess work" out of it. My other half likes specifics. Such as tune it back when you hit xxx and watch it cruise...