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[lego1970]

Originally Posted by jape

Don't underestimate the osage orange - good straight sticks 7 to 8 foot long and four inches diameter plus are worth a bit to traditional bowyers. They like it green, just seal the ends in wax. You can often make more money looking at value-added purposes like musical instrument making and bow making.

As an aside, I had what we call a 'stationary engine' here, a single cylinder Lister running a belt-driven cement mixer and a generator for a couple of years before we got power up. When a mechanic took it down for maintenance before selling it on, we discovered the piston was carved from a block of red gum (a local timber sometimes trees of 2000 yr age). It had worked flawlessly for two years I know of.

That's pretty cool. I'll have to check out Red Gum. One of my Parents friends is great with making small wood working crafts such as cars, working padlocks, and even a hand mixer for the kitchen with working gears made out of wood. He's always showing my exotic pieces of wood that he buy's from around the world. Some of that stuff he shows me doesn't even feel like wood.

Like you said there are some bow makers and fence post people that will take Hedge but otherwise seems like most mills around here won't touch it, nor will loggers. While I lack the connections, I personaly have never been able to make a dollar off of hedge other then for firewood. I only use a maul to split firewood so somtimes it's more work then it's worth. Plus most of the people I sell firewood to are people in apartments or homes that only burn wood for aesthetic reasons and don't know or care whether it's cottonwood or osage orange. Matter of fact most of the people I sell to would probably rather have cottonwood just because it throws out a better looking flame. Most of the homeowners that burn for actual heat either cut it themselves or buy cords of wood from guys that have the equipment to split in that volume. I have a lot of respect for the Osage Orange and if I was a tree, it's what I would want to be. Regardless if it's female or male, the tree will make you draw a little blood climbing it, but then it will allow you to tie into the smallest of limbs....even dead. It's as tough as nails, disease tolorant, prickly, obnoxious, hard on saws, makes a mess of yards, and even after you kill it, it will last a century just standing there. It's just a tough ole tree.