Trivia....Do you store your OSAGE Bow under your bed????

[Uncle Russ]

I got an Osage / Bamboo backed Bow from my good friend Rick Evans, and while working on that puppy I have read everything I could get my hands on about Osage.....

I came across this bit of trivia in my reading.......
"Maclura pomifera, commonly called Osage-orange, hedge-apple,[1] Horse-apple, Bois d'arc, Bodark, or Bodock[2] is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, typically growing to 8–15 metres (26–49 ft) tall. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on different plants. The fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, but bumpy, and 7–15 cm in diameter. It is filled with a sticky white latex. In fall, its color turns a bright yellow-green. It is not closely related to the orange: Maclura belongs to the mulberry family, Moraceae, while oranges belong to the family Rutaceae.
Maclura is closely related to the genus Cudrania, and hybrids between the two genera have been produced. In fact, some botanists recognize a more broadly defined Maclura that includes species previously included in Cudrania and other genera of Moraceae.

Osajin and Pomiferin are flavonoid pigments present in the wood and fruit, comprising about 10% of the fruit's dry weight. The plant also contains the flavonol morin.

It was once thought that placing an Osage orange under the bed would repel spiders and insects. This practice has declined with the rise of synthetic insecticides. However, scientific studies have found that extracts of Osage orange do repel several insect species, in some studies just as well as the widely-used synthetic insect repellent DEET.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maclura_pomifera

That is my own emphasis with the underlined part.....especially the part of comparing Osage Orange to DEET!

   My goodness! The things we learn as we go through life..........

Uncle Russ...

[Spotted Bull]

I have actually sat and watched a squirrel eat like 4 of the horse apples before running off to other pursuits...pretty funny seeing him pull the fuzz out to get to the center!

Be burn it during the spring and summer to keep skeeters away at campouts!

[Fletcher]

I would think it better to just put a pan of green shavings - not a dried and finished bow.

I have some scraps if you want to try.

Fortunately for me here in NW Montana we don't have nasty pisen bugs so no real need of repellant under my bed.

Just happy with 3 comforters on top.  May hit near '0' tonight.    

[Uncle Russ]

Fletch, you have been around this sport for a long time, have you ever, in your entire life time, heard this before?

How about Rick Evans, Longhunter, and some of the other Bowyers on this site?

You know, I ain't the youngest old rooster in this pen, and I have been around Bows & Arrers for some time now, and I will guarantee you that I have never heard anything even remotely close to this.

Makes me wonder about the effectiveness of Wikipedia and where they get all their information.
Now I'm just sayin.........

I realize this is more a trivia thing that anything else, and ain't worth a nickle to nobody, and on top of that  it may well be true.
But you can betcha I am going to have my ears open when I hear Osage talk in the future.

Uncle Russ...

[rickevans]

Like Fletcher said, a finished bow, probably not. But a pile of green shavings, yes. Somewhere back in my bow making days, i read that the friut from the tree (hedge apples) was used in the house as a decoration and also to repel insects...need to see if I can find the reference.

Uncle russ...how are you doing with the bow?

[Riley/MN]

I have heard of putting the fruit in the house to repel spiderly critters....

[Fletcher]

I did a bit of research and Googling.  Seems Osage (Hedge Apple) fruit and green bark will indeed
repel most spiders, termites and centipedes.  Cedar or juniper shavings will repel ticks and fleas -
they make great stuffing for pet beds.

I reckon other plants can do the same - but then agin a lot of them make me sneeze so make sure
the cure ain't worse than the problem  

[greggholmes]

I got a flier in the mail the other day from a nursery. One of the trees they had on sale was osage, i thought, how long to grow my own bow? Then i thought, i already have a bow.

[rickevans]

Osage grows pretty fast, it was used to make living fences for live stock.  Big gnarly thorns! Biut to get it to grow straight enough and big enough for a bow stave, that's a good 10-12 year project...