Plum Tree Wood?

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Kind of amazing that I now see pen blanks everywhere I look. I had the pull rope on my chain saw break a few weeks ago. Yesterday evening I put a new rope in and gave it a pull. Started right up.

Standing there with running chain saw in hand the plum tree caught my eye. Damson Plum, about 15 ft. high. Most of it dead limbs, haven't had a plum on it in 3 years. About 2 ft. from the ground five very large branches join the trunk at roughly the same place.

I cut all the branches off. Sawed straight down through the crotch for about 15 in. That put me about 8 in. under the crotch area. Then I cut both halves off and took them to the shop. Set the bandsaw for a 3/4" cut and started slicing.

I have about 50-60 pen blanks. Some of it looks beautiful. Reds, purples even some yellow places. There were some termites in the heart and signs of some very tiny holes like powder post beetles make. A tiny amount of spalting and I suspect the yellow is spalting because it was in the areas that the dead limbs were attached.

Anyone used Plum Wood for pens? Do the colors hold up or do they all go brown over time?

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Well Kim, If you hear a big bang from the Oak Ridge, NC area - DUCK!

I just read the post about drying blanks in the microwave. One of the things I worried about was the evidence of wood eating bugs in the wood. I was going to put the blanks in a big trash bag, get one of those bug bombs that you let loose in a room and fill it with bug killer. But I got to thinking about heat killing bugs and right now the blanks are in the oven (not microwave, to many blanks) (wife not home) and the temperature in there is right at 167°F. I have the thing on BAKE and just a tad higher than WARM. Gonna let them soak for about an hour in there. I figure that should kill the bugs and who knows perhaps dry them out a little bit. Using my BBQ remote reading thermometer to monitor the temperature.

 

[DCBluesman]

I've turned a small number of plum blanks and can tell you that it turns beautifully. The yellow may be spalting, but that's more likely if it is lightly marbled with black. The plum will fade, as do most birghtly colored woods. You can reduce this a bit stabilizing the blanks with either Minwax, lacquer or CA. I am NOT going to open that can of worms again, but some stabilizing methods will preserve the colors. BTW, the plum also appears to dry well using the microwave instructions...I'm into day 3 and it is reacting like applewood.

 

[its_virgil]

I've turned plum and it has some nice colors as does many of the fruit woods. I especially like apricot...some beautiful grain..but plum has a variety of colors. The microwave will kill the bugs also. Good luck with the plum and post a picture of some of the blanks or a finished pen.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[Daniel]

I came across quite a bit of flowering plum about two years ago. had no problem wit checking, I micro waved dried most of it. The purple vanashed about as fast as an apple will turn brown. but it still made soem pretty pieces for making pens with.

 

[rjenkins]

I've had limited experience with Plum. Have several smallish bowls (maybe 6" dia.) roughed out and drying. Seems to be typical of fruitwood to be unstable -- high percentage of checking and outright cracking. Seems to be the story for the Peach, Plum, and Apple. As far as pens go, I've turned one from Plum and it is beautiful wood with the bold but complementary colors. Turn nicely. Mine developed a couple of cracks that would make them only suitable for a keeper. If you're drying them you'll probably have a lot better success rate than I.

Good luck wid it.

 

[wayneis]

Another thing you can do is have them stabilized. Steve and Carol at River Ridge Peoducts has a special going on now where he will do them for a buck a blank. I just sent him thirty five blanks last week and they are on the way back to me now. I have already turned some of his blanks that he has done and he does a nice job.

Wayne

 

[woodwish]

Ivan knocked down a buge flowering plum in front of the school where I teach. Figured I should do my civic duty and cut it up. I kept all the larger pieces as a momento (the tree was there before me and I have been there 30 years). I have been busy with other cleanup duties and haven't had much time to do anything with it. I did cut up one small piece into about 60 blanks and started drying some in the microwave. This plum is orange in color, almost looks like I dyed it. After I turn some pens I hope to laser engrave something sbout Hurrican Ivan on them and use them as special gifts to the people that helped us in this area. Unfortunately Ivan created more downed trees than a thousand woodturners could turn in a lifetime, most of it is just being hauled off to be burned or burried.

Ray

 

[ilikewood]

There are some of us in this group who only see an occational lightning storm. Maybe you could help some of the members of this group out who are not being blessed by Ivan's fury. [] Wood trades work real nice and you benefit as well!

 

[Efletche]

I've done that here in Florida for both Charlie and Frances. I've been able to get oak, maple, cedar, Loquat, Fig, several citrus species. I even picked up some Holly and Sassafras from Maryland while I waited out Ivan. Most are branches that are 1-3 inches thich. Are these appropriate for turning or should I have focused more on the thick trunks?

 

[tipusnr]

I've been working with branches (limbs) lately myself in the harvesting area and the smallest I've been able to get anything useful from is 2" diameter. Then that only gave me 3/4" x 3/4" blanks that should shrink a little during drying.

The biggest challenge in harvesting limbs for me (once I made friends with my band saw) was the fact that the pith moves around quite a bit and keeping it from being a part of the blank was often a challenge.

Good luck. Haven't found too many interesting storm damaged woods myself but I continue to look.

Let me know if you get anything you want to sell. I like trading but you've got to have something they want first. Evidently I don't as the trees I have access to are fairly mundane.

 

[Efletche]

I've lasted 40 years drinking sassafras tea and candies without problems so far. I was going to use the sassafras in my smoker last year when I read about the carcinogen properties. The trunk wood (mine averages 2-4 inches in diameter) has a nice color to it. I have a couple where the base of the trees was enlarged. Don't want to call it a burl, but the colors in it are incredible. By the way, last year I bought almost 100 board feet of reclaimed American Chestnut from a man who just moved here from Virginia and this stuff had been setting in a barn for over 40 years. Haven't decided what tio make from it yet, but I may try a few pens.

 

[woodman928]

The Carcinogen in the Sassafras is in the bark the red Sassafras is more than the white. Also when heat is used to make the tea or anything else it Kills the carcinogen dead none of it remains. I know this from the many tests that a friend of my had to do when he had Red Mountain Sassafras. It makes great smoking wood and is still sold as smoke wood and pellets in a lot of BBQ supply stores. And when turning it smells Soooo nice. [^]
Jay