It sure plays hell on saw chains when cutting hedge apple. Almost not worth the hassle of cutting and splitting it for firewood. As fence post, they will outlast the the fence material itself. I have seen several old post still strong as the day they were put in the ground with barbed wire rusted and falling apart on the ground.For those that also don't know, hedge is a relative to mulberry trees...
And it has the highest BTU content of any wood native to North America. Makes for some great firewood. Compared to Oak at 24-25 MBtu/cord and Shagbark Hickory at 28 MBtu/cord (both regarded as some of the best firewoods you can get), hedge has 34 MBtu/cord... it is solid as a rock and it burns like coal. You have to be careful not to over-fire a stove with hedge because it's loaded with energy...
IF you can find a good straight one they are very valuable because they don't normally grow straight, they're normally at least twisted, if not crooked... They are valued for bow making, walking sticks, and rot-resistant fence posts. They will last decades as fence posts...
You do see a lot of hedge apple trees growing on property boundaries that were planted for this purpose.Osage Orange (Hedge Apples) Make great Fence Rows also...
That hasn't been my experience. Many people told me that, but the only downside I have is that the milky sap tended to gum the chains up a bit. Just keep the milky sap cleaned off and they didn't really dull any more than when cutting any other hardwood.It sure plays hell on saw chains when cutting hedge apple. Almost not worth the hassle of cutting and splitting it for firewood.
That's how it got the nickname "hedge". It was planted for hedgerows in oklahoma/nebraska/kansas/iowa etc after the dust bowl to provide natural windbreaks and fencing. The small, ~1" thorns provided natural "barbed wire" like fencing.You do see a lot of hedge apple trees growing on property boundaries that were planted for this purpose.
If you put hedge apples around your flower bed, it will keep the spiders out of your house.
Actually dates back farther than that...That's how it got the nickname "hedge". It was planted for hedgerows in oklahoma/nebraska/kansas/iowa etc after the dust bowl to provide natural windbreaks and fencing. The small, ~1" thorns provided natural "barbed wire" like fencing.
Touche, but the most widespread use of it as hedgerows came after the dust-bowl... because it is a thick, brushy tree that grows short and stout it make an excellent windbreak. I realize it's roots go way back, but "hedgerows" of Osage Orange really became famous with Roosevelts "Great Plains shelterbelt" project that started in 1934 in which 220 million trees were planted in 18,600 miles of hedgerow to prevent soil erosion.Actually dates back farther than that...