Telling osage from mulberry

[dreezon]

I have been getting a lot of wood from a nearby horse farm. The guy cuts down the trees, de-limbs them and piles up the trunks with his tractor. Great deal for me. Even better, it's a mix of black locust, mulberry, osage, cherry and the occasional mystery wood. Most of what I've been getting this year I believe to be osage (it's bright yellow-orange with white-isch sap wood), but after talking to the owner of the property, I wonder if I could be wrong. Maybe some or all of it is Mulberry. I know they're closely related and similar looking, and without the branches, leaves or trees, I'm not sure how to tell them apart.

Here's what I think: Mulberry has a yellowy-orange color but also has some other colors (purple-ish) in the wood, and the bark is a very light yellowy gray. Osage wood is solid yellowy orange with bark that has a similar texture to mulberry but is a darker, more orangey gray.

Am I off? Is there an easy way to tell them apart? I know osage is denser, but that can be hard to measure.

 

[smokinj]

Sounds good to me... Also if its a big trunk on the tree Its mulberry.

 

[dannynelson77]

Post a pic! I would say in my experience that Mulberry has smaller ridges perhaps? I dont think the color of Mulberry bark is that much lighter if lighter at all.....

 

[CountryBoy19]

Sounds good to me... Also if its a big trunk on the tree Its mulberry.

I agree.

Osage has an almost neon yellow look to it (relatively speaking) when it's fresh cut. If you're in doubt take a saw to it and see if it's bright yellow. In my experience mulberry isn't nearly as yellow when fresh cut.

 

[midwestcoast]

I've never seen Osage cut-up, so take a grain of salt with this. Mulberry (which I have a bunch of) has the white sapwood and yellowish/gold heart-wood, but when exposed to air & sunlight, it turns much darker maroon-type color within hours to maybe a day. So the ends of rounds and middle of splits exposed to sun will be much darker colored after that time then when freshly cut/split. should be an easy way to tell them apart.

 

[basswidow]

I haven't had any osage, but the mulberry I've cut is very yellow and the saw chips looked like cooked yellow rice. The wood grain was straight high ridges when split. Excellent wood, I wish I had a bunch of it. Osage or Mulberry, sounds like you have a sweet deal working with that neighbor. I have seen some mighty large Osage trees - so I am not sure you could tell by the trunk size? I've seen bigger osage then mulberry.

 

[CJRages]

I've never seen Osage cut-up, so take a grain of salt with this. Mulberry (which I have a bunch of) has the white sapwood and yellowish/gold heart-wood, but when exposed to air & sunlight, it turns much darker maroon-type color within hours to maybe a day. So the ends of rounds and middle of splits exposed to sun will be much darker colored after that time then when freshly cut/split. should be an easy way to tell them apart.

I agree. Mulberry wood exposed to the elements will turn deep purple/maroon while Osage Orange (Hedge) retains a brighter yellow/orange color. Also Osage Orange tends to have deeper furrows in the bark in my experience.

 

[dreezon]

I've definitely seen that deep burgandy color on some of the mulberry I cut last year. The stuff I think is osage has turned a gorgeous orangy brown after a few weeks in the sun. It's definitely neon colored when split. Sound right?

 

[Jags]

Whack the end of the round with the peen side of a ballpeen hammer. If it dents its mulberry, if it doesn't dent, its osage.

 

[smokinj]

Whack the end of the round with the peen side of a ballpeen hammer. If it dents its mulberry, if it doesn't dent, its osage.

lol thats good enough......

 

[Adios Pantalones]

I have had osage with red streaks. It can be bright yellow when fresh and Ive seen it chocolate brown and every color in between after aging.

I have also seen very large trunks on osage, but it's much less common

 

[smokinj]

I have had osage with red streaks. It can be bright yellow when fresh and Ive seen it chocolate brown and every color in between after aging.

I have also seen very large trunks on osage, but it's much less common

Knew I should have quailed that statement big to me is over 40 inchs...lol