Apple wood

[fshenkin94]

Has anyone ever tries turing apple for pens or anything else? How is the grain? I just ran across a new subdivision in my area that used to be an orchard. Most of the trees have already been taken out, but there are a few left on the ground. Just wanted to find out if it would be worth it to fire up the saw and get some.

 

[Gary Max]

It's turns real Real nice---if you can get into any knots or crotches you can find some real sharp grain.

 

[wpenm]

It turns good and smells great. A good wood for the teacher's pen![]

 

[MDWine]

Most fruit woods are very pretty woods. I'd snatch some of that apple if'n I wuz you!

 

[JimGo]

Yep, looks nice, and smells great! I had some spalted apple that really looked sharp!

 

[alamocdc]

Oh yeah! Like Michael said, all fruit wood tends to be rather pretty.

 

[Borg_B_Borg]

I bought some spalted apple wood from ipopperwoods on eBay. The spalting shows up as numerous white spots on the wood. I thought it would be interesting to turn it, but once turned it wasn't pretty at all, at least not on a pen. It pales in comparison with almond, peach, apricot, or even plum. Apple wood may appeal to someone more on the strength of it being the wood of an apple tree than on the strength of its appearance alone.

Steve

 

[Dario]

Fruit wood in general also tend to crack fast so TLC of your collected wood is recommended.

If they are down now....you got the right timing because sap is down and wood is not that wet (less prone to cracking/checking). The harder parts to collect usually yield better wood []. Root areas are chainsaw bar and chain killer but worth it if you can collect them.

Good luck!!!

 

[Ryan]

I have a large block of apple I cut up and I was not too impressed. It is rather plain. It is about the same color as maple with little to no rays.

Ryan

 

[Jeff Mayfield]

Turns nice, but what I had turned out to be pretty plain.

 

[wdcav1952]

I say go for it, and if you can get any root of an apple tree it can be very nice, particularly if spalted. Check page 1 of my album for an example if you like.

 

[KenV]

I am making an emperor with apple orchard trimmings - the guy who gets this has the orchard. I was able to find some "feather" along one side of a by following a knot down the branch.

A lot of apple wood is plain. It was a wood of choice for Disston saw handles and was used in many wood planes (alternative to beech). It is tight grained and even the plain stuff works for glue up pens and laminations.

Coat the material well and expect some checks. Shellac, paraffin, anchorseal, old paint can all be used.

 

[TomServo]

The stump usually makes for interesting grain, and tends to be incredibly hard