I am into new territory and will appreciate your thoughts.

 

I have inherited an 8 foot apple log - 20 inches at the base,  from an apple tree that may have been 30+ feet tall, so far with out any rotting, though I haven't cut it up to buy some time for my chain saw repair. 

 

I've been turning, from bark to bowl for several years.  I'm pretty well acquainted with how to pull bowl blanks from a log for twelve inch bowls and platters.

I have worked with some small apple blanks before. They came out wonderfully.

 

I see only one site that sells apple bowl blanks, and they are pretty small because most apple trees are pretty small.  I also read that fruit wood tends to crack more than other hardwoods but that has not been my experience.

 

So, some questions:

.  Does anybody really care about apple wood for turning, or is there some reason it is not very common?  Is this a gold mine or fool's gold? 

. I could get some rather large blanks - up to 16-18 inches across, up to 7-8 inches thick, or a zillion much smaller blanks.  I don't need a zillion small blanks, nor can I turn huge blanks.  

    Does anybody care about such large blanks of apple?  

.  If this was your inheritance, what would you do with it to best distribute the wealth?

.  How would you cut a 20" log up differently than one that was 12-14? Are there some special cuts warranted with a bit of a rare piece? 

 

I'm not a reseller with a profit motive on this but I know that I have some serious chain saw time coming up to make the most of this piece.   My friend Ron D, an administrator on this site, can advise me on how to "sell" and ship blanks to recapture the costs.  If I have offended some rule about posting for sale, I apologize. 

 

Thanks,

 

Robert in central Indiana

      

Apple is beautiful wood but twice turning hasn't worked well for me. Nearly everything I turned cracked so badly I couldn't save them. I've never tried to turning it to finish green but would like to try sometime and see if I have better success. I do know, a lot of saw handles were apple wood and those who restore old tools desire it.

 

Steve

I just recently got a small log and it is my first.  I have turned other fruit wood and some crack and some don't.  Good luck with it.

To me it is Gold. I made some boxes out of it one time. It was a piece of spalted applewood .

Herb

6 minutes ago, Dadio said:

To me it is Gold. I made some boxes out of it one time. It was a piece of spalted applewood .

Herb

WOW! Love the book matched lid.

This is a piece of art!!

9 minutes ago, Dadio said:

To me it is Gold. I made some boxes out of it one time. It was a piece of spalted applewood .

 

WOW Herb...

Gorgeous...

Herb, you keep outdoing yourself with your fantastic projects.

Beautiful work Herb!!

 

Steve

Bob, would you consider slabbing it? 

The piece of apple fire wood was about 14" long and 6" in diam. that these two pieces were made. the top pic is a bandsaw box and the second is cross cut end grain. same block of wood for both.

 

The tiny holes in the top are worm/bug holes.

Herb

Edited September 13, 20178 yr by Dadio

Thanks for these replies.

Slabbing is feasible as a fellow at our church has a portable sawmill.  Still out of my league as to what to do with slabs.

Maybe half slabs and the rest bowl blanks. That would get it down to something more workable for me.  

 

So, it looks like apple wood is desirable, possibly for more than just bowls.  

Still looking for more responses to help me think through this.

 

Robert

14 minutes ago, Bob Hodge said:

Still looking for more responses to help me think through this.

Bob, Some possible ideas Apple Wood Projects. If you slab it (or some of it), it appears slab wood & live edge table tops are desirable as are cutting boards. Herb's use in a BS box is another great idea.

 

I'm following along as I have a few pieces too although nothing like you have.

5 hours ago, Bob Hodge said:

 My friend Ron D, an administrator on this site,

BTW Bob, a belated welcome to TPW...Any friend of Ron's is a welcome addition to this site. Of course it doesn't hurt that you're a Hoosier either.

Living that close to Ivanhoe's has to be distracting . Probably the best ice cream place in all of Indiana.

Anyways, great to have you here and jumping in the mix. Looking forward seeing how you decide to go with this "wooden gold."

Bob, if you have a band saw you can slab it yourself..

Herb

Apple (and other fruit woods) are also desirable for wood paddles used by hot glass workers.   From the sound of the size of that piece, i would think you would want to try turning it and see what happens, but slabbing some out may be a good alternate choice.