[AT] osage

[Dean Vinson]

Indeed, osage orange is extremely hard and dense, and apparently remains a
preferred wood for archery bows and fence posts.  Burns hot.   Makes a good
hedge, which as I understand it was among their intended purposes when
planted in the past.

But it's a colossal pain in the butt to work with on a large scale.   Grows
fast and thick, with a seemingly infinite quantity of curly, sprangly,
intertwined, thorn-covered branches and suckers, a fair percentage of which
die after some years--and then, given their extreme hardness, remain in
place.   All good qualities if you want a natural hedge and don't mind it
spreading out over the adjacent land, but makes for lots of work for a
would-be cleaner-upper like me.  The main trunks are likewise twisted and
curled, so it's hard to get a log long enough and big enough to be useful
for much.    

Dean Vinson
Saint Paris, Ohio