Cracked Crab Apple

[texasfootball21]

I have a client who wants a pen made out of wood from his crab apple tree. He provided me two limbs with a 2-3 inch diameter, each about a foot long. The pieces have cracks throughout them and seem to be wet.

Can this wood be worked? Has anyone worked with crab apple?

Thanks.

 

[areaman]

I cut down a crab apple tree my parents had in their back yard, most of the wood was good but the main trunk has a lot of punk in it. as far as working it green I havent had any problems with it at all.

 

[sbell111]

I can't help you with the green issue and have never dealt with crab apple. However, sometimes we have found an awesome piece of wood that demanded to be made into a pen, but had cracks in it. On some of those occasions, I have just filled the cracks with thin CA after drilling the blank. It worked great.

 

[leehljp]

I don't personally know how much crab apple itself cracks but for most woods, the ends should be coated with a sealer within an hour or so if one wants to prevent cracks.

AS to the wet / green wood that you have, you can cut them into blanks about 1 to 1 1/8 inch square blanks and microwave them. (That is the overview.)

1. 1 to 1 1/8 is needed because it will more than likely shrink, twist or bend. Therefore it is necessary to cut them oversize or the finished blanks will be unusable after drying.
2. Microwave them for about 20 seconds, let them cool down for 5 minutes. Repeat for 4 to 5 times.
3. if you have a sensitive scale, weigh them before you start then each time after you microwave them and let them set. AS the moisture is steamed out, the blanks will get lighter. When they stop losing weight, they are getting close to dry.
4. Be careful, you might want to do the blanks one at a time. Learn from the first one. If you microwave too long, the wood might burn or at least turn brown from over heating. I have done this successfully several times so it is not a complicated process, but it does require strict attention.

 

[Daniel]

I had lots of Crab apple. I loved the color when it was still green but just like an apple darkens when exposed to air. so will the wood. I dried nearly all the stuff I have in the micro wave and have since had it in my shop. it is now well over 4 years and as dry as it will ever get. At least I think I still have some of it. That was about the time I stopped looking for scrounged wood and pretty much use only the really expensive stuff and even that I only get as I need them.

 

[texasfootball21]

Okay sounds good, thanks for the tips. I may ask my uncle to cut another piece and coat the ends with sealer, as the cracks on this one are pretty severe.

Thanks again, more tips welcome.

 

[leehljp]

Latex paint is not the best but it is acceptable as a coating, and it is probably the most commonly available material. Water barrier coatings are fine too. Wax is OK but it should be hot enough to coat the end well.

 

[scotirish]

Crab Apple and cracking

It takes Apple a while to completely dry out! :tongue::tongue::tongue: I used some "dry" Crab Apple to make a pen almost a year ago, and last week I went to use it and it has cracked on both ends of each blank. I suspect, as it is a soft wood, that it absorbs and releases moisture from the ambient air.

The Old Oak Tree

Work safe: Remember the only 'SAFE' power tool in the shop, is the one with the plug pulled out of the socket!

If quitters never win, and winners never quit, than who is the fool who said, 'Quit while you"re ahead'?

 

[monkeynutz]

I've done some pens from Flowering Crabapple. They turned and turned out very well. Didn't notice any cracking. Perhaps the cracking is more a function of the moisture than the specie. Controlled drying is an art unto itself. I will probably never get the hang of it, so I just let somebody else do it for me... :wink:

 

[workinforwood]

I always use apple, and I harvest it myself. I have an assortment of different species of apple, perhaps 6 different kinds. Apple is not soft, it is 7.7 on the Janka scale, and that is harder than hard maple and all Oak species. I use apple for carving mostly, as the sap wood is very similar to the color of skin after normal oxidation takes place. It carves very well and holds excellent detail. I am actually using some crab apple right now for a face and body. Apple, like most fruit tree's is very unstable in the green. I do not microwave wood, as that causes structural cell damage which alters the properties that make it so suitable for carving. I initially dry it as a log. Leave the bark on, and paint the ends with oil based paint. Latex paint is incorrect because latex paint is semi-permiable, which means it allows water to escape. I just buy the cheapest reject can of oil paint at the hardware store and use that. I date the log. In 2 yrs on a 6-10 inch diameter log, the wood will have lost around %50 of it's moisture content. That's the moisture that causes the most distortion. Now I cut it up 1/4 inch extra thick. I plane the lumber a couple passes. Planing the lumber to a smooth surface allows a more even drying of the wood. Just imagine the wood after it goes through the band saw with all the saw marks. There is almost twice the surface area exposed on the face of the board as when it is planed smooth because of all the saw marks. Weigh a board and mark the weight on the end. Sticker and stack with some cement blocks on top and as high off the ground as possible. I stack mine in the attic...the attic is the optimum situation because you have air flow and heat, regardless the time of year. Close to the cement will add moisture to the wood as cement always contains moisture. Anyhow..in 6 months re-weigh the board. 3 more months weigh it again. When the weight no longer goes down, the wood is dry. Properly dried air-dry lumber is usually more stable and easier to work with that kiln dried lumber, but requires serious patience and some labour. Kilns, especially these days, are in such a hurry that they might as well use the nuker too. I am not saying nuking wood for a pen is so bad, but the bigger the project, the more the problems you'll run into with that process because of stability issues. There's a reason patience is a virtue.