Caring for fresh pear wood

William_Sweden | Posted in Wood and Materials on May 22, 2008 03:52am

I have actually a sort of “pre-woodworking” question.

Today I was out walking the dog and met a neighbor loading up the remains of a pear tree into a trailer to take to the dump. I’ve heard that wonderful things can be done with pear, so I offered to lighten his load. i now have a pile of very fresh one meter pear logs 10-30cm in diameter standing in my basement workshop.

My question is, what is the best way to season this wood? I am space-limited in that I only have a basement workshop in a rental building, so outdoor or shed storage is not possible. Time, on the other hand, is not a problem. Do I need to seal the ends of this wood? Debark? Pre-saw? Think about temperature? Creepy-crawlies? Or just let them stand for a couple of years?

Any and all tips and advice on seasoning is much appreciated.

William

Replies

saschafer | May 22, 2008 04:31pm | #1
Are you looking to make lumber or carving/turning stock? Whatever your intended use for the wood, you should cut it up into pieces that are roughly the cross-section that you expect to use (length doesn't really matter) as soon as possible. Coat the end grain with a moisture retarder, such as Anchor Seal, melted paraffin, roofing tar, several coats of paint, etc.

If you're making boards, stack them up outdoors, protected from rain, or in an unconditioned shed/garage, with stickers in between and a weight on top, and provide plenty of air circulation. You want to get the moisture content down to 20% or so reasonably quickly to avoid fungus and mildew.

If you're making carving/turning stock, you can set the blocks on end on a dry surface (off the ground), but you still need plenty of air circulation.

I don't have experience with pear, but I expect that it's much like apple as far as drying goes. Assuming it's from a relatively small and gnarly tree, you can expect to get a fair amount of warping and splitting no matter what you do.

-Steve

William_Sweden | May 27, 2008 10:10am | #2
Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. I am not yet sure what I will do in the end with this wood. I am thinking turning stock, mostly. I have heard that fruitwoods are a good substitute for exotics when it comes to instrument making, and I hope to start with making irish pipes in a few years. So this wood will go to turning, eventually.

But, I should be able to get a few pipes per branch, as they are all quite large. I am thinking maybe I should split these branches into quarters. If I were to do that, should I do it now while they are wet? Or let them dry a couple of years first?

Thanks again for your help!

/William

saschafer | May 27, 2008 03:05pm | #3
The rule is to minimize cross sections before drying. Therefore, for boards, always reduce them as much as you can to the thickness you expect to use while they are still green. For turning stock, blocks, etc., always reduce the stock to as close to its final dimensions as possible while it is still green.

You'll lose less of the wood during drying that way.

-Steve