Apple is the wood of choice for the glass blowers I know as shaping
tools. They use small bowl shapes (3 to 6 inches ID) with a handle
sticking straight out the side. They keep in soaking in a tub of water,
then use them to shape the end of the glass on the punter sp?.

They say that cherry will do, too.

Pete Stanaitis

Prometheus wrote:
Hello all,

Well, it's the season for people to start doing DIY tree-trimming
again.

For some reason, everyone I know seems to be cutting up apple trees
this year- either topping them to make the fruit easier to reach, or
knocking them down altogether.

Before I did any turning with it, I did a quick google image search to
see what I might be getting out of the 4' piece of trunk I got from a
guy at work, and there seemed to be a real lack of turnings made from
the stuff.

I know fruit woods have a reputation for cracking, but I've turned a
few bowls out of the stuff already from wet to finished (with
translucent walls, to make sure it's dry) and it's superb to work
with- it not only smells nice, but there was no cracking, and very
little distortion. Surprisingly (to me, at least) it seems to be more
stable than maple or birch, and almost similar to willow.

The guy who cut down the tree didn't eat the apples from it, so I am
guessing that it was a random cider apple tree, and not one of the
prized varieties you might find in an orchard- that may make a
difference, though I don't know enough about fruit trees to know.

So, if any of you other folks get a chance to get your hands on some
of this, it's worth giving it a spin- the stuff I've got has a nice
dark star-shaped heart that contrasts really well with the creamy
sapwood, and looks great finished. It's also easy to hollow- at least
in the face grain. I think I'm going to make a nice big vase from it
tomorrow... it's been a while since I made one of those. I'll see if
it still is easy to hollow in the end-grain, or if that will be the
thing that makes me curse it!