Harry, Osage Orange is from our western states and was brought East to be used as living hedges. The Osage Indians used the tough yellow heart wood to make bows, hence the French trapper's name for it, "Bois d'Arc" or "Bow Wood". It is almost impossible to get through a fence or hedge made of the stuff because of its dense growth habit and many sharp thorns. There was the remains of an old Osage fence across the street from where I grew up, but at that time I didn't realize it had been planted to act as a fence as there were but few trees still standing in the 1940s.. There is still a nice Osage fence at the Missouri Botanical Garden ( Shaw's Gardens) in St. Louis, MO, but the trees have grown too tall to act as a fence for anything but giraffes. At one time I supplied Dixie Gun Works with small slabs of the heartwood to use for hand made hunting knife handles (scales). The big green (grapefruit sized) seed balls were a favorite for throwing at other boys in our neighborhood, but they left your hands sticky. The heartwood ought to work great in your bandsaw guides. Jesse in Troy, TN USA where it is foggy and has been all day. Harry, . . . We also used Osage Orange, "Bois d'arc", and it did well but was hard to come by. - Jesse Livingston. Jesse, We've got plenty of that stuff around here. We've always called it "Mock-Orange." MODEL ENGINEERING DISCUSSION LIST. To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, send a blank email to, modeleng-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.