Apple

I've turned a little of it. It seems to turn well but the wood, at least the wood that I had, didn't seem to have much character. Mostly quite white with a little tan grain. I seem to recall some that looked better than what I had, so maybe it is the species.

Hey, it's free. What could be better?

Only thing with apple, and all fruit bearing trees, is that the wood cracks rapidly; like while you're turning it. I've had some that was plain, like Harry said, but I've also had some with great grain. I'd suggest turning it right down to finish thickness, if you hear it snap (crack), keep soaking the inside with oil (Danish, mineral, tung, ?) and let the oil replace the juice flying out as your turning.

It's a fun wood to turn.

Ruth

======================= In addition to the cracking that Ruth mentions, if you turn it thin, like a rimless platter, it will warp immediately into some VERY interesting shapes. You can't plan the final shape (or at least I don't know how), but it's worth the experiment. A common way to do this is to turn a shape like a lily bottom expanding into a flat surface (this may not make sense to you, but if not, I'll try an ASCII drawing).

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

I have turned apple many times. However it was for pens. The wood I had did have a very plain grain however I found it sanded and finished very nicely. I didnt have any problems with cracking at all. But the wood had been in a friends shop for over 4 years so allot of the moisture was already gone.

Dvivian

As several have already mentioned, it is fun to turn, warps and cracks, but is very interesting if you turn it thin enough so it doesn't crack badly. I have a goblet on my desk that I turned thin from a branch of my grandfather's apple tree. It looks like something a forest gnome might drink his honey mead from.

One thing that nobody mentioned, though, is what an absolutely marvelous _smoking_ wood apple is. Save your shavings and all of your off-cuts for the barbecue grill or smoker. Soak them in water and wrap a handful in a couple layers of aluminum foil and toss them in the grill the next time you're doing pork or chicken especially, or even beef or any other meat. The flavor is out-of-this-world!

No waste, either, since you use the whole tree!

=====>At the risk of disagreeing with my betters, I have never had a problem turning apple (or any fruitwood, for that matter). Simply use LDD as prescribed and you will have some fine, unwarped and uncracked items to display or use. I have two pepper grinders that I turned a few years ago, one from apple and one from pear, and they haven't cracked or warped and still produce ground pepper. (NB: The wood for these grinders was cut using a dropstarted chainsaw, but I attribute the non-cracking, non-warping to the LDD! Shellawax was the finish.*G*)

Leif

That's almost as nice as turning it very thin and watching it warp.

Take pork ribs and put a dry rub on them, let em sit for 24 hours. Wet apple chips on the hot side of the BBQ (replenish as necc), ribs on the cold side. For about 6 - 8 hours. Then add sauce and grill for the final touch, 15 minutes a side.

Drool...