What is it

AMP762 · Aug 30, 2004

Could this be your brain without diesel fumes /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

BB_TX · Aug 30, 2004

Proper name is hedgeapple, but called horse apples around here. Happen upon this web site some time ago. Who would have thought you could sell these things. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I have hundreds on them laying on the ground rotting away.

Bird · Aug 30, 2004

( Proper name is hedgeapple, but called horse apples around here )

I grew up in southern Oklahoma, where they were also called horse apples, but I thought the proper name was bois d'arc. And when I was little kid, I thought I knew why they were called horse apples, because my first horse loved'em; ate'em like candy. We didn't have any in our pasture, so I'd go get them from the adjoining neighbor's pasture for him. And then later, I had two other horses, and I never saw a horse that would touch one except that first old horse.

gsganzer · Aug 30, 2004

Horse apple! Otherwise known as bodarc

Solo · Aug 30, 2004

Wow!!
I'm sitting on a fortune.
One mans trash is another mans treasure.
Solo

RobS · Aug 30, 2004

I've always known them as Osage Oranges. The wood of the tree is bright yellow and very rot resistant. Commonly used for fenceposts (the wood not the fruit) /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

gsganzer · Aug 30, 2004

I've seen the logs used for house piers. The wood is murder to cut with a chainsaw.

BB_TX · Aug 30, 2004

OK. Here is another web site on the Osage Orange tree. Read down in it to find the origin of Bois D'Arc.
Lots of fences have been built with Bois D'Arc fence posts. A Bois D'Arc fence post will last an awfully long time.

Bird · Aug 30, 2004

( A Bois D'Arc fence post will last an awfully long time )

Yep, when I was a kid, there weren't enough of the to do all the fence building, so you used those for your corner posts.

8NTX · Aug 30, 2004

Used to have dodgeball / horse apple fights when I was a kid. They DO hurt.

Many years ago, quite a few old homes were built on top of bois d'arc posts. Pronounced BOdark.

johnday · Aug 30, 2004

Native Americans chose to make their bows from them. At least the ones in the midwest did. I don't know how far south they grew. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

BB_TX · Aug 30, 2004

They extend into at least north Texas. I have a lot of them on my land. In fact, my south property line is bounded by Bois D'Arc Creek. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif They are a real nuisance. A large tree in a good year can put off a hundred or more fruit. They are messy when they start to rot. And the branches have lots of thorn on them. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
One of my hunting buddies got into making long bows. He made one using Osage Orange wood. Took a looong time to carve that one out.

texbaylea · Aug 30, 2004

Since I became aware of them I have been finding them here in Brazos county along stream beds. I have found them close but not on my property. What I have now was part of my grandparents 200 acre cotton land so it was all clear at one time.

Vernon

MF1455v · Aug 31, 2004

Ever wonder has fast you can dull a chain saw. Find a dead and well cured Bois D'Arc tree. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Caution: do not try this in dry conditions. The sparks from your chain might start a fire. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Prefect · Aug 31, 2004

I bought a piece of property where someone had logged a bit 20 or so years ago. There was an Osage Orange or what we also call "Hedge" that had been cut down. The log is about 20" dia and about 5' long. That thing has to weigh over 400lbs. You can see where someone had started to cut it with a chainsaw, got about half way through and thought better of it. I just dug the stump out the other day. The feeder roots were not an issue, but the tap root tapered from about 18" dia. to about 3" over a length of about 4'. If that thing had not been on a small hill that I was leveling out, I would probably still be digging to get that out.

That stuff makes good fire wood with two exceptions, it's very difficult to cut and nearly impossible to split. A friend of mine has a log splitter made from the boom cylinder of a JD410 (I think) backhoe with a huge wedge on the other end, mounted on a 10" piece of I-beam. I have seen this thing nearly push the wedge off with a large piece of hedge in there. But...it does burn for a long time and burns really hot. It's good fire wood if you can get it. Cut it green, split it right away then let it sit for a while. It's also fairly impervious to rot and insects.

LMTC · Aug 31, 2004

Double Ditto on the firewood. I once had a good source of it supplied to me for a couple winters as someone cleared a creek bottom. The stuff burned so intensly hotter than any other hardwood that we had to be careful not to overfire the stove. I had no way of measuring it objectively, but it definitely put out more heat than other wood.

BB_TX · Aug 31, 2004

That stuff makes good fire wood with two exceptions 
Is there a third exception? I had always heard that the wood was not good for burning in a regular fireplace as it popped a lot and threw sparks and embers. OK for a closed stove or furnace. Since I have a regular fireplace, I have always pushed it into a burn pile and burned it. Have I been wasting perferctly good firewood? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

MF1455v · Aug 31, 2004

BB TX, you are right. I had some old fence posts I burned last winter. It did get hot but cracked and popped like crazy and if the burning log was moved the least bit it sounded like rice crispys and looked like the 4th of July. I would not want to put it in an open fireplace. Probably would work fine in a closed wood stove or furnace.

Tractors4u · Aug 31, 2004

( They extend into at least north Texas. )

They extend into North Alabama also.

Treed_in_TX · Sep 1, 2004

I just closed escrow yesterday on 15 acres in Bastrop, TX near Austin. We have at least one of these trees on the property. I could see the fruit from the street and wondered what it was. Thanks again to this group for the education. I won't get an up close look until Sunday when we finally get to move in though.