Three out of the five main stumps in our backyard plum have died. The remaining two would look silly without the rest of the tree. As a result the whole tree is coming down. The largest trunk is around 12″ across and I would love to save it for some accent wood. See the pix attached.
First, am I wasting my time or could I get some good would out of this?
Second, any advice on preparing this wood?
thanks
Joe
Replies
Buried treasure
Under all of that bark you are going to find scores of VERY good bowl turning stock blanks.
On another Forum you would get a "You Suck" award !! That's a good thing.
how to cut
I would be glad to sell it.
Does this type of wood get turned when it's green?
Should I cut it into 8-12" logs as turning blanks?
Are the dead (been dead for about a year) trunks still worth anything?
thanks for the response
give it away
leave it as long as possible as it will crack badly and only be good for firewood,
. there is to much twisting in the treeto be any good for lumber. it is not really worth anything
ron
which site?
p.s. what's the other forum you're talking about?
Other site
OWWM.org
Leave the tree standing till you do a lot of reading by some of the master turners. Raffin, Darlow, Ellsworth and Conover. Their Bowl books are very good and will teach you how to cut up and preserve the blanks. Just jumping into cutting will get you a lot of cord wood and material for smoking your favorite piece of Salmon. Just about all of the fruit woods are great for bowls and utility utensils, tool handles. Pear used to be a favorite for old saw handles.
The old dead stock will probably have a lot of cracks and checks in it but that's not all bad. "Artistic" bowls and Vases can be turned from them with great visual effect. There are many personal tastes, and some people like the cracks and abnormalities of knotts, worm holes, pitch pockets, mineral streaks etc. etc. They can all add character to a piece. IMHO perfectly clear lumber is bland and boring.
Turning green lumber is great fun and easy on the tools too, but reading up on the technique is still advised. I can't write a book here ;-)
Plum is great.
We lost an ornamental plum tree to a blight that swept the neighborhood. I made lots of kitchen utensils out of it. Big spoons, smaller paddle type spoons for mixing bread dough before kneading, salad tongs, little mauls for breaking up dried Raman noodles inside their packages, that kind of thing. The wood has held up well over the years, looks great, takes hand washing in stride, I don't put the spoons in the dishwasher. I made them with green wood and finished them with mineral oil. They still have a kind of purple cast to them. Only one checked a little, it was a strange invention of mine, a four pronged fork where the prongs were in two rows of two prongs. It works great for removing a single strand of spaghetti from boiling water to see if it is done. The check splits open a bit and then closes up again and doesn’t cause problems.
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