Replies

1. 
   Kevin | Jul 17, 2003 11:43pm | #1

   I don't know anything about Bradford Pear. As far as I can tell the commercially available Pear wood is Swiss Pear... which I assume comes from Switzerland? What I do know is that I've got a small chunk of Pear wood from an Arborist here in Oregon. I have no idea what type of Pear it is, neither did the Arborist. What I wanted it for was to cut a tree round for my girlfriend who teaches basic tree science to elementary and middle school kids. I cut a round and then sanded it down... ending with 320 grit sandpaper. Then I finished it with several coats of nitro lacquer. Pear wood has a really wonderful creamy, pinkish-orange look when it's finished with just a clear finish. It's really quite beautiful wood IMO.

   From what I can tell, having seen some "Swiss Pear" in the local Woodcrafters store, is that it is primarily used for turning bowls and stuff like that, or used for inlay work. I don't think it grows tall and straight enough to yield lumber long enough for building cabinets or furniture.  There is some simulated Pear Wood high pressure plastic laminate commercially available that looks amazingly like the Oregon Pear Wood that I finished, except that the laminate is a little more pinkish-orange than my wood. It's close though, and it's a nice looking laminate IMO.

   The Oregon Pear Wood that I have is fairly hard. About the same as Western ( AKA Big Leaf) Maple. And it's got a somewhat similiar look too, at least in terms of the wood grain and texture. Hmmm... maybe Birch would be an equally good comparison. Both are a "ballpark" sort of similiar look.

   If it were me... and you see any of the Pear that looks long and thick enough to work with, I'd grab some.

   Regards,

   Kevin

2. 
   stancalow | Jul 18, 2003 01:24am | #2

   Jet I have salvaged some and worked with it.  It's great and well worth the effort.   I've just never seen any B.P. trees that were big enough to yield furniture-sized lumber.  I've used it to make some small jewelry boxes, frames, and as contrasting trim.   I have seen pictures of old British furniture and boxes madewith pear, and they are beautiful.  They grow big pear trees there. 

   Like Kevin said, it is very creamy white and fine-grained, whiter than maple but with almost no figure.  Very fine to cut sand and work.  I just never figured out the best stain/finish for it. 

   We consider them "temporary" trees around here.  The neighboring subdivision to mine has their streets lined with B. pear.  In about 10 years since planting, a third are gone and at least half the remaining have had major damage from ice and wind.  I occasionally cruise the streets after storms to see if any usable stuff turns up. 

1. 
   Kevin | Jul 18, 2003 01:55am | #3

   Hmmm... the Pear I finished wasn't whiter than Maple IMO. I assume your referring to eastern Maple as your baseline on "whiteness." The piece of Pear that I have is about as off-white, in comparison to the really white eastern Maple, as the distinctly browner western Maple is. Except that my Pear is a warmer off-white than the western Maple's brownish off-white coloring. Definitely creamy, though... and very attractive IMO. What I have is neither pink nor orange. But, those are the colors that come to mind when trying to describe it's color in comparison to the brownish western Maple. That may very well be due to my piece being from some kind of Pear that looks a bit different than the Bradford Pear? Now I wish I knew what kind of Pear mine comes from. I know that Bartlet Pear is grown commercially in Oregon for the fruit. That may be what mine is from. I really don't know.

   Regards,

   Kevin

1. 
   stancalow | Jul 19, 2003 12:54am | #5

   Kevin

   Yes my reference was eastern hard maple, as I am unfamiliar with western.  Since old  and/or big bradford pears are rare around here, the logs I've salvaged have been from relatively small young trees, so maybe don't have the color of older.  Here's a phot of a scrap I found in the shop on top a piece of hard maple for comparison. 

   
1. 
   Kevin | Jul 19, 2003 01:20am | #6

   Hmmm... based on your photo I'd say that my piece of Pear isn't Bradford. Mine looks more like your piece of Maple in terms of being off-white. My piece is actually very small... probably from a limb. It's only about 5" in diameter.

   Maybe a better comparison would be Apple, which I have a small piece of also. My piece of Pear is slightly darker than the Apple, though much creamier looking. Here again, though, I don't know the exact species of Apple. The arborist that I got both pieces, along with some small pieces of a couple different types of ornimental Cherry and a piece of Birch, didn't remember the species. It had been a while since he'd cut them. LOL his driveway was lined on both sides with various piles of wood that were obviously slated for firewood. He must have had at least 20 distinctly different types of wood there... From Sequoia to Hazelnut and everything inbetween. He arguably has the most colorful pile of firewood in the area.

   As an aside, I just acquired a couple of trunk pieces of Hazelnut from a nearby Nursery/orchard which had cleared a spot to grow more stuff for their nursery operation. I belt sanded the chainsaw marks (they'd been cut and were drying in a shaded pile for about 3 months when I got 'em) off and shot some lacquer on one end just to see what it looks like. It looks very much like the Apple I've got. Tight grain... fine texture... nice looking stuff! Both pieces have scattered small burls on them, which look very nice at this stage. I hope to cut into the smaller one here pretty soon to see what I can come up with. I've got the larger one in a big plastic bag hoping to control the remainder of the drying process enough to limit the end grain checking I'm seeing on both pieces. The larger one isn't checked as bad, though. So, I'm hoping it'll yield some sticks that are more useful to me.

   Regards,

   Kevin

1. 
   bobhallsr | Jul 19, 2003 05:00am | #7

   My experience with pyrus calleryana, of which Bradford is a member,  is a yellowish wood.  It was being cut for firewood and I'm sorry that I didn't salvage a few pieces to experiment with.

   I'm pleased to think that there might be some useful application for these trees.  For all their youthful prettyness they rank right up there with old refrigerators as useful landscape objects. LOL

   BJ  Gardening, cooking and woodworking in Southern Maryland

2. 
   kenewald | Jul 19, 2003 11:41am | #8

   Wonder how Bradford Pear chips (cut off's, of course) would flavor ribs?

   -Ken

3. 
   jonsherryl | Jul 18, 2003 05:53pm | #4

   Jet, pear's claim-to-fame is that it is one of the finer textured woods of the apple-like fruitwoods. It is sometimes dyed black and used as a substitute for ebony. Like most of the fruitwoods, it has excellent shaping qualities and is a good choice for turnings. It has low resistance to decay, so don't use it for exterior projects...and it's not particularly reliable in terms of stability, especially when cut from open grown trees...but it's still a very nice wood to work with. Well worth salvaging. 

1. 
   Jimma | Jul 20, 2003 06:42pm | #9

   Just out of curiosity, when a lumber company lists its exotics and includes "European pear", is that likely to be Bradford? The reason I ask is that I have a piece that's about 2 inches thick which is a cutoff from a piece a couple of feet long and about as wide. Must have been a damn' large tree, whatever it was. Really nice color and texture, too.

4. 
   MarkC | Jul 21, 2003 04:29pm | #10

   The Bradford is a particularly brittle tree which would be fine for making small items (jewelry boxes, etc.) but I would hesitate to make heavy furniture out of it.  Other cultivar pears such as the Cleveland Select, Aristocrat, and Chanticleer are much more durable.

1. 
   JETofTN | Jul 21, 2003 07:09pm | #11

   Thanks for your reply.  You seem to know a bit about Pear trees.  I'm only interested in the pear because of the storm here in Chattanooga and the number of trees that were wind damaged and that are being hauled to the wood recycling center.  Most are too small to make lumber but might be large enough for panels up to a foot wide and three feet long.  The real question is "is the inherent beauty of the wood worth the trouble of trying to salvage?"

   Thanks for your help!