Replies

1. 
   ChipTam | Mar 14, 2004 03:16pm | #1

   You might want to take a look at some of James Krenov's books.  He has used apple wood for furniture and I believe at least one of his books show photographs of a piece (or pieces) made from apple wood.

   If Jon Arno is out there he may correct me but I believe a typical problem with fruit tree wood is that fruit trees cultivated for the fruit (unlike wild varieties) are designed to have a maximum number of branches and a short trunk.  Also, fruit trees reach maximum production quickly and tend to be short-lived in a commercial orchard. 

   Chip  

1. 
   MarvArnold | Mar 14, 2004 03:50pm | #2

   There have been recent discussions about apple for woodworking. I just did a search for "apple" and found about 50 messages. Check it out. Have a great day.Marv

   The musican woodworker

1. 
   BigGrampy | Mar 14, 2004 03:59pm | #3

   Thanks for the help. I checked out some of those discussions, and it has given me some ideas of what to do with these few trees I've got access to.

1. 
   burk | Mar 15, 2004 07:37pm | #4

   Couple of things you should know about if it hasn't been mentioned already. Any fruitwood from any commercial orchard should probably be avoided. Commercial orchards spray their trees and the pesticides get into the wood. I've read about guys getting sick from the sawdust. Don't use it for bowls or plates. Secondly, the stuff is brittle - make sure your tools are sharp. That being said, applewood is really pretty. The colours can range from creamy white to darkwalnut, all in the same board. Like cherry it gets darker with age. I'm sitting on about 100 board feet, waiting for the right project. I got it from the site of an old orchard that had been out of production for over fifty years, so its pretty safe.

1. 
   BigGrampy | Mar 15, 2004 07:56pm | #5

   Thanks for the info. The trees I'm looking at are an old stand of large apple trees that haven't been cared for in probably 25 years. I'd guess these trees are about 75+ years old, and some of the trunks are 2' in diameter, and about 6' before the first branches. Some of the branches look like they'd be big enough to get some useable lumber from also.

   I'm really looking forward to what I'm able to retrieve from this stand.

2. 
   Napie | Mar 15, 2004 10:10pm | #6

   Apple is some of the best turning wood I have ever used!  I love working with it.  It is a bit difficult to dry though.

3. 
   burk | Mar 15, 2004 10:34pm | #7

   Napie is right about the drying. I took my logs to a sawyer with a kiln and he dried them for me so my stock came out stable. I had tried drying some of my own and it twisted and cracked. As far as the branches go, you might have more success using that for turning stock. Branches grow with built in tension/compression forces (bottom of the branch in compression, the top in tension) and it can be really hard to dry and work the stock. I dried some of the branches and they literally exploded during sawing. It was kinda cool but a lot of wasted effort.