Oh, my osage oranges are big enough! They were planted as hedgerowes around the perimeter of an historic property in the 1840s. Osage oranges make good fence posts, but not really a good building material--as far as lumber goes. Perhaps you could devise a post structure, or perhaps a dug out vessel of some kind as a planter -- it would last for your great grand children.
The Indians made bows out of it. Here in Alabama, woodworkers sometimes use the orange wood as inlays along with magnolia (which is white). And some woodworkers make dough bowls, but even in that application there tend to be a lot of splits in the wood that have to be filled with epoxy.
Yes tepee like structures would be a good use for the pliable branches--especially those pesky ones that are growing out in the middle of my driveway!
