About 7 or 8 years ago I went to a Craft Fair at War Eagle, Arkansas and there was a booth with a banner from Howard, Kansas. They were selling wooden kitchen utensils carved from (I think) Osage wood. Is there another name for Osage trees? I bought one because it was from the town my father was born in and have it hanging in my kitchen. Not used but looked at often.
I don't remember the name of the people that had the booth but they said their son carved the utensils. Just wondering if anyone knows who they were and if they still go to the Craft Fairs.
Ms Bear
The Osage Orange tree is commonly known as hedge trees here. They have thorns and produce a softball sized fruit that we call hedge apples. About the only thing the hedge apples are good for is to feed the small varmints during the winter. They are hard and full of seed that germinate really good. Thus, our pastures are full of hedge trees if control isn't used. The wood is very hard and when freshly split open, a bright yellow. It burns very hot, but pops and sends sparks everywhere. It isn't a good fireplace wood. My husband has made some small hand tool handles from it and once made a replacement part for the back of a drawer that wouldn't stay on it's runner. As far as I know the part is still working.
As to who from Howard might have made the tool that you bought, someone else might have an answer.
In this small "burg" that I live in, the kids love to use the hedge apples for Halloween. They gather them up by the bushelfuls, then take them to the "main drag" and dump them out into the street and run over them, making a big mess. ::) Too bad someone doesn't make them clean it up. :police: :police:
That, too, Lois.
I forgot the most important thing. The trees make very good fence posts, withstanding rotting for many, many years. In the pasture we used to own, there was a row of old stumps of the trees that had been cut for posts that had been there for as long as I or the previous owner could remember. When a hedge tree is cut, if it isn't desired for it to grow again, the stump has to be treated to prevent regrowth. There was also a row of trees that had been cut for posts and wood and allowed to grow again. At that time, the regrowth was ready to cut for posts and good, big posts at that.
I think the Osage Orange was introduced to Kansas by settlers just for the purpose of hard wood posts as Kansas was pretty much treeless due to fires and wood being the only fuel available at that time.
Weren't the hedge trees used quite a bit during the dust bowl years (early 1930's?) to help keep the soil from blowing so bad? We notice now that farmers are doing away with most of the hedge rows. (They may be sorry)
OSAGE ORANGE TREES – Did you ever wonder where the hedge trees in this area came from? J.W. Stephens, who lived one mile east of Fiat, was responsible for bringing them to this area. On March 3, 1885, Stephens advertised in one of Severy's newspapers, the Southern Kansas Journal, that he had 200,000 Osage Orange plants for sale. First class yearlings sold for $1.25 per thousand and second class yearlings at $1.00 per thousand.
I don't know who makes things from hedge around here, but my husband had a craftsman from Oklahoma stop by the farm once and ask permission to gather some up. He brought some sample wooden "flowers" and other small things that he made later, and showed the beautiful long bow he had made too.
I know that the wood is also called "bois d'arc" (sometimes pronounced Bow-Dark) and it was used to make bows. It can be a beautiful orange colored wood when finished out, and I've always figured that's where the "osage orange" name came from.
I once saw a show on television (I think it was Trading Spaces) where the carpenter was going on and on about this beautiful orange wood that he'd found, how wonderfully tough it was and what great grain it had. The only trouble was that it cost a fortune because this 'ba-duke' wood had been imported from Austrailia. That made me laugh for weeks!
The hedge trees were planted in a row along a boundary line, providing ready to fasten to fence posts (no digging post holes). They were useful in anchoring the soil and breaking up winds. More useful, though, were the rows of different kinds of trees that were planted in an attempt to save the blowing soil. They were also planted along fence lines, four and five rows deep. I think they were called windbreaks, doing just what their name suggested. Breaking up the winds that picked up and moved the soil from Oklahoma to Nebraska and back again. A lot has been written in history about the dust storms. The ones I remember weren't as bad as the ones written about. I do remember hurrying to bring in any clothes that might be on the clothesline and closing windows just as if a rain storm were coming. My mother tucked towels and cloths in any cracks to prevent the dust from sifting in. In fact, the memory is so clear that my throat has become dry & tickly. Must go get a drink of water.
There is a man who lives in Newton, and owns a home at Climax, that makes furniture out of old hedge trees. His name is Tim Hartlep. His furniture is sold under the business name of Elegant Rustics. His website address is: http://www.elegantrustics.net/other%20works.htm
Isn't this interesting? I just remembered that my husband also replaced a pocket knife handle with hedge wood. When sanded very smooth it was quite attractive. I think I kept that knife but am not sure where it is.
This was a pretty orange color and has darkened with age.
After having to help replace fence posts as they rot I can see the advantage of using the trees that have been planted in a row. Also after living in Arizona I can appreciate the use of wind breaks, a lot of oleanders were planted for that reason there. Everytime I went back to visit I remembered after two days of moving sand (called dusting) why I left. Dust storms that lasted for hours and sand was in and on everything. Don't think you are going to eat during one. Those are old memories, I left there over 25 years ago.
Ms Bear
Richard Clark's son has made some of the utensils. I know my mom had one of his hanging up but never used. The wood really does make a good fire. We have an outside boiler that heats our house and our shop. It keeps us nice and toasty. The city came out twice to read our gas meter when we put the boiler in. They thought it had been read wrong. Our gas use is almost nothing.
I have a pen and pencil set that was made by Dick Hisle out of hedge. It is really pretty and I have put it away. Maybe someday it will be worth some money.
We seem to have gotten a little offtrack about the kitchen utensils, but when I saw that you were getting a little off track about the original purpose of bringing "Hedge" trees into Kansas, I had to jump in and put things straight. I was always taught as a boy that Osage Orange"Hedge" trees were planted AS THE FENCE, only later with barbed wire becoming more available that they were used as posts. And, you wouldn't really want to use a live tree as a post because it would grow around your wire and you would have a very hard time removing the wire when it came time to repair or replace the fence. I had never heard of the person that supposedly introduced this wonderful tree. But it may have seemed to be a good idea at the time that turned out to be a curse instead.
More information Quote from: http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm#Top
Before the invention of barbed wire in the 1880's, many thousands of miles of hedge were constructed by planting young Osage Orange trees closely together in a line. The saplings were aggressively pruned to promote bushy growth. "Horse high, bull strong and hog tight." Those were the criteria for a good hedge made with Osage Orange. Tall enough that a horse would not jump it, stout enough that a bull would not push through it and woven so tightly that even a hog could not find its way through! After barbed wire made hedge fences obsolete, the trees still found use as a source of unbeatable fence posts. The wood is strong and so dense that it will neither rot nor succumb to the attacks of termites or other insects for decades. The trees also found use as an effective component of windbreaks and shelterbelts.
You are right, Carl. That is why the trees are still found very close together in a straight line. I should have remembered how hard it is to get wire out of a tree. Usually we would just cut the wire on each side and leave it in the tree much to the detriment of chain saws in the future. We didn't nail to a live tree if we could help it, but sometimes it was easier than setting a post where it was needed. I didn't know about the pruning to shape them. Reminds me of the multiflora rose that became popular in the 50's, was it? Turned out to be a nuisance, too.
Where I grew up in central Illinois, my mom would put "hedge apples" in the basement to keep spiders away. I don't know if it worked or not. I've tried it since, but all I ever end up with are shriveled, discolored blobs. Maybe the spiders are so grossed out by it, they leave!
The hedge apples are supposed to drive the cock roaches away, too, but it never worked for me.
I can't remember if I have said this before.. ( my mind is foggy cause I am freezing to death in this hateful cold weather)
Anyway.. back to the topic at hand..
DeEtta Beaumont once brought Mark and I a plate of fried hedge apples into the store so we could try them. She said that she had eaten them for years.
Hell, I thought that they were poison and..like a rambling idiot, I tried to tell her so.
..
Like a... she was standing there ..alive and kicking??... after just telling me that she had eaten them all her life?? ((duhhhh ..takes a bit to sink into the blond head)
Anyway.. we tasted them and by golly they were good.
You just wash them and scrub them real good and then slice them thin and dip in egg and flour and fry.. just like you do squash. Mark always liked sugar sprinkled on his but I like my plain. I have cooked them several times..usually when we have company...just to hear them try to tell me that they are poison for humans to eat.. ;)
HA! Yet, much like fried squash and bull fries, if I don't like it, I don't care if it's not poison... I'm not gonna eat it! HA!
I have to be with you on this one, Joanna. At my age I don't have to eat anything I dont like.
Isn't that kind of like fried green tomatoes? I don't like them but my kids have always loved them.
Hope it isn't to cold and nasty there. Raining just enough here to keep me from hanging my laundry but might get nasty by tomorrow afternoon.
Oh, Ms Bear. We are all staying inside because it is cold and nasty here. It has sleeted since yesterday, (Friday), and the weatherman says that we have about an inch of sleet. It is not hanging on the power lines because it isn't rain, which is a good thing. Jim and I have not been out today, but we are going to bundle up in a little to pick up Mother's mail and get our own. Then we will just hunker down some more, keep the fire place burning and saty warm. The temp at the moment is 22 degrees outside. I don't know what the wind chill is. I'm just so thankful that we aren't getting what western Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska last week. They are still trying to get out and get electricty.
It is short sleeve weather here, misting just enough to make the roads slippery. In Houston all it takes for slippery streets is two drops of rain, warm or cold. We are supposed to have sleet and cold by tomorrow afternoon.
My kids are in NW Arkansas and one of them has a fireplace and still has power, two of them have lost power and haven't heard from the fourth yet.
I can't imagine trying to survive for more than a day or two. I think the most we have had really cold weather here was only three or four days and then it was over. We still had the fireplace then, I do have a propane heater for a backup now.
Hope all of you will stay safe and warm.