Kansas Quail

[Phil Yearout]

They’re drill marks from cutting the stone.

[Steiner]

That’s a good point Phil. We did see posts still in use with pins in them to hold the wire though.

[Phil Yearout]

Yeah, they'd use that way of attaching the wire. Those grooves left by the drills were handy for keeping wire in place too! Those posts can weight several hundred pounds; that's probably one reason you often find them where they were put originally . I have just a piece of one that often finds its way into some seasonal decor here at the house...

[Rick Roemer]

I find it interesting to see how different regions solve the same problems. Fence posts are a good example. Depending where you go they’re made out of different materials, using what was available regionally. Osage orange is pretty common where I’m from, Kansas definitely takes the award for heaviest fence post and probably most long lasting!

[mobirdhunter]

The Midwest prairie can grow Osage Orange also. It is some of the hardest — and heaviest — of all woods. You can dull a chain saw or burn out a stove with it.

[Kevin McCormack]

On our great waterfowl lease off the Wye River (MD) years ago we had 4-5 ancient Osage orange trees. As the decrepit branches would die and fall off, we set about them for firewood in the old house. They would bring visible sparks off a chain saw in broad daylight; trying to split sections with a mall would spin you around as the bit sank into the wood spiral grain, hard as a rock and super grainey. It burnt slowly and hot as a coal furnace. When we would make a fire with it, last man up to bed would rake the remaining pieces and coals to even out the bed then replace the screen. When we came down the next morning, the ash was almost as fine as sand.

[Phil Yearout]

Years ago I bought my firewood from a fellow; every year he asked the same question “fireplace or stove?” Fireplace I’d say and he’d say “I’ve got some hedge (that’s what Osage orange is called in these parts) it burns good and hot and works great in a stove but it’ll pop like hell; you don’t want it in a fireplace.”