Graham,
The heartwood of apple has a very nice color, it is also fairly hard.
Overall a really nice turning wood. It does like to split and warp though.
Try turning a green very thin flattish bowl and watch it warp as it dries.
This can give some interesting shapes. Apple warps as much as any wood I've
turned.
Tony Manella
http://home.ptd.net/~ndd1/
Lehigh Valley Woodturners
http://www.lehighvalleywoodturners.org/

"Graham Nichols" wrote in message
...
I am standing out of a window looking at the remains of a "windfall" apple
tree in my garden. Is the wood suitable / desirable as a woodturning
material? I have never used any before but have heard that fruit wood
sometimes gives a very nice appearance. I notice that there are large
amounts of sap and the wood looks very white, wet and soft.
Any ideas on how to use, preserve etc would be of interest.
G