Just picked up a dining table, six chairs, buffet and china hutch made from something called ‘fruitwood’. I googled the word and discovered that fruitwood was commonly used in french colonial furniture making and that’s the style it’s in, though of early ’60s vintage. My dictionary and knowledge of the english language tells me that fruitwood will be the wood of a fruit bearing tree which isn’t so limited a species. Can anyone tell me a little about ‘fruitwood’…if there is such a plant?
Thanks for your time. Chris
Replies
Chris, the term fruitwood is usually used to refer to the woods of fruit bearing species in the Rose family (Rosaceae). This would include; cherry, apple, pear, peach, plum and a few other lesser known Old World species. The Europeans make better use of their orchard species in cabinetmaking than we do. Most of these Rose family fruitwoods have fine, even texture and good shaping characteristics and are nice cabinetwoods, but (with the exception of our North American black cherry) the species in this family seldom become large enough trees to be of major importance in the commercial lumber industry. The term fruitwood also refers to the color many of these woods develop once they reach their long term patina...which is sort of a soft light tan.
The wood most commonly used in colonial French furniture of North American origin (the so called French Provincial style) was/is pecan. This style spread up the Mississippi valley and throughout the south central states from the original French colony in Louisiana...and this also happened to be the native range of pecan. Genuine, Old World french Country style furniture from which the French Colonial style developed was typically made out of an assortment of other woods including chestnut, the above mentioned fruitwoods and even some of the European yellow pines...but the French cabinetmakers also made use of a lot of New World mahogany, both imported into France and at the source in their Caribbean Colonies.
Jon,
I never pass up a chance to pick up orchard 'fruitwood'.
I was fortunate enough to have had access to an apple tree which was located in northern New Mexico (I'm from Santa Fe). This tree was over 100 years old according to a spanish gentleman who claimed to have played in this tree as child. Don Manual Crespin was about 85 years of age at that time. This tree had been dead for many years and was being used for firewood. I was able to save this gorgeous wood because Don Manual knew the property owner and he saw how passionate I was about saving it. I still have various large limbs and a section of the trunk which is about 18 inches in diameter and stands about 30 inches in height. I have made various things from this wonderful wood but my favorite is the smoothing plane which I made several years ago and which I still use. James Krenov was my inspiration for that and all of my wooden planes.
As you well know, apple twists as it grows which is maddening because this makes it very difficult if not impossible to work with. The grain of the apple trunk is swirled liked one of grandma's marble cakes. It is truly a wonderment of mother nature's magical wand - as are all trees.
Warm Regards,
Phillip
Thank you both. We have everything loaded up in the china cabinet, plastic on the upholstery and the old stuff up for sale. The dining room looks great.
Hello
I am interested to know how do you know the Spaniard gentleman Manual Crespin
I believed he is my husband relative. His ancestors are from
Spain his last name match him.
:-)
Jon Arno,
Thank you so much for your wonderfully detailed explanation of "fruitwood." I have often wondered about it myself.
Dale
Bed frames
Hello
I have a pair of twins bed frames I believed from the 1960s. I want to sell them but I don't have a clue about price
the furniture are label. Fruitwood 328-B.
Hope you can help me figure out.
Thanks
I need some advice folks. Could I use fruitwood as a material for support of charcoal grill smoker? Maybe someone has experience in that? Should I use another type of wood for this purpose? I'm a grilling beginner so I want to discover more about this "culture".
This crowd won't know much about smoking meats, but if you're wondering if fruitwood would work for building the actual wooden structure to hold something... I shouldn't be a problem.
Apple, Pecan, Hickory, Cherry, Apricot, Peach, Mesquite are all great traditional woods for smoking meat. Pecan, Hickory and mesquite all produce nuts which are a type of fruit. Just make sure that they don't have any chemicals on them (don't break up a piece of 1960s french provincial furniture to smoke your brisket)
Hi folks, I'm considering buying a "fruitwood" coffee table for my screened in porch. While I can protect it from direct rain, I'm in Virginia and it's humid. The table is blocked and glued. I'm concerned about warping, swelling and splitting. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
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