Dwarf Apple

We are lucky to have an orchard and have access to quite a bit of fruitwood as the trees are injured or killed by animals (dear and bear) and other forces of nature like the wild winter weather we have here in the pacific northwest. My experience with apple and other wood from fruit trees has been like yours. I have had the most success when I can get on it right away - hopefully within a day or so, rough them out to 1/10 of the diameter, make sure the pith is completely gone, seal them and let them sit for a year (it's cool and humid hear all year long). Most of them end up in pretty good shape using this methodology. Because the wood is so figured and sometimes colorful and the bark is tight, fruitwood makes great reversed chucked bowls. Good luck JD, Bob.

My only experience with fruit wood is with 2 branches,each about 4 feet long and 7" or 8" in diameter, from a large cherry tree. The branch was sticking out into the field where I have to mow and so it had to come off. I took the pieces home and painted the ends within a few days and then put them in my wood storage building. West central Wisconsin. That was 6 years ago. A few months ago I dug them out and sawed them into pieces as long as they were wide. Only one round showed any cracking and it was not severe. (I gave a couple of the pieces away and the rest I put into a plastic garbage bag).

I have made 3 bowls from this wood so far and the only cracking was when I (improperly as a test) drove a spur center into the end of one piece rather than taking the time to cut grooves first. That crack only went about 3/4 of an inch, and it still made a fine bowl (by my standards, at least). Is there a big difference between forest-grown cherry and fruit orchard cherry? Why don't I see this cracking problem that seems to be prevalent? It can't be due to my knowledge of the subject, since I don't have any.

Pete Stanaitis

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JD wrote:

I don't think that cherry (grown wherever) has the tendancy to split as much as apple and some other fruit woods.

I agree. I've a wood pile full of wild cherry and haven't experienced much trouble with it. It is a real joy to turn.

JD

Orchards are pruned for production and picking, which loads their trunk much differently than shade and gravity out in the woods. If cherry, for instance, has some competition from popple, it will shed the laterals and reach for light before they can shut it out, making a great, straight tree. Left out in open pasture, there will be multiple large branches at low levels, making the wood underneath them gorgeous to look at but difficult to save.