You don't want to use Osage Orange (ala Bois D'Arc/Hedge) for any of these purposes. OO is certainly tough in some respects but....
1) Terrible at dampening vibration especially when well seasoned. Not good for a handle that's going to be striking anything.2) Gets a bit brittle when seasoned. Again, not great for a situation where it might be striking something as in a handle. It'll splinter and break easier than a wood with more elasticity but yet less overall hardness.
3) OO splits and cracks terribly if not VERY carefully dried. It'll still probably crack over time anyway. It's not the worst warping wood but it does warp quite a bit.4) It's UV light reactive and WILL lose that nice yellow/orange/brown streak coloration. Not something I'd want to stare at all the time as in a bench or a musical instrument.
5) Once it's well seasoned, it is HARD AS STEEL (not too much of an overexaggeration). You don't want that in a workbench top. You'll ruin your bench chisels, hammers, and hand planes if you accidentally come into contact with the bench top.OO has it's uses but these aren't any of them. I just got finished clearing out a row of 6 trees today. What a mess those knarly branches make of everything. I split a few chunks of the larger trunks of these and they're in the kiln now. The rest is firewood. It makes good firewood. Burns hot. None of these were worth the trouble of making corner posts out of them. They make good corner posts too. Very disease and rot resistant. Just don't go too long before getting them in the ground and some nails in there otherwise you'll never get them driven in.
- Andrew