Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just acquired a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter, most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?

TIA,
Max

"Maxprop" wrote:

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?


Beautiful wood. Difficult - well, easy to turn and finish, IMHO, but
moves a great deal and is prone to cracking - might want to apply
whatever method(s) you believe in with some fervor. ie, boiling, ldd,
paper bags, anchorseal, microwave...

Or just turn it and see what happens. Or try drying the blanks first,
but unless you are making small blanks (or parts for segmenting), I
think you'll have better luck with at least roughing it green, and might
want to try finish turning a few green and letting them go oval.

--
Cats, Coffee, Chocolate...vices to live by

On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 23:26:57 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:

Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just acquired a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter, most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?

Cracks like crazy, as most fruitwoods are prone to. Although, I've
had pretty good luck drying wet pieces in the microwave, as well as
using LDD. Split any large pieces lengthwise, ASAP, and end coat them
with Anchorseal, if you have it. You can try mismixed latex paint,
but I've found it to be almost useless in this application.

It turns beautifully wet or dry, has gorgeous sapwood and heartwood.
The crotch pieces make nice bowls, especially if you have a crotch
with three or more limbs coming out of it.

Finish as you would any other moderately soft hardwood. Depends on
what you're using it for. I've used danish oil, beeswax, poly and
mineral oil/beeswax, all with decent results.


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
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"Ecnerwal" wrote in message

"Maxprop" wrote:

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?


Beautiful wood. Difficult - well, easy to turn and finish, IMHO, but
moves a great deal and is prone to cracking - might want to apply
whatever method(s) you believe in with some fervor. ie, boiling, ldd,
paper bags, anchorseal, microwave...

I ran out of Anchorseal, so I resorted to lavishly applying some white latex
paint to the ends of the logs. I plan to begin cutting some of them up soon
into bowl blanks. I have too much wood to turn all of it now, so some will
no doubt dry, and I'll most likely turn a few rough bowls green.

Max

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 09 Aug 2004 23:26:57 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:

Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just
acquired a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter,
most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?

Cracks like crazy, as most fruitwoods are prone to. Although, I've
had pretty good luck drying wet pieces in the microwave, as well as
using LDD. Split any large pieces lengthwise, ASAP, and end coat them
with Anchorseal, if you have it. You can try mismixed latex paint,
but I've found it to be almost useless in this application.

Uh oh.

It turns beautifully wet or dry, has gorgeous sapwood and heartwood.
The crotch pieces make nice bowls, especially if you have a crotch
with three or more limbs coming out of it.

Finish as you would any other moderately soft hardwood. Depends on
what you're using it for. I've used danish oil, beeswax, poly and
mineral oil/beeswax, all with decent results.

I have lots of stock to experiment with. Thanks for the advice.

Max

"Maxprop" wrote in message
ink.net...
Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just acquired
a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter,
most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?
===========================
Max,
Try turning a few pieces like a rimless platter, but with a small spigot at
center. Allow it to dry. It will warp like crazy in the process, leaving you
with some "art" pieces. One thing, though, is that you need to do it fast,
as it will warp on the lathe while you're turning it. You may be able to
slow this down with a water spray bottle. Good luck with it.

Ken Moon
Webberville, TX

"Ken Moon" wrote in message

"Maxprop" wrote in message

Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just
acquired
a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter,
most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?
===========================
Max,
Try turning a few pieces like a rimless platter, but with a small spigot
at
center. Allow it to dry. It will warp like crazy in the process, leaving
you
with some "art" pieces. One thing, though, is that you need to do it fast,
as it will warp on the lathe while you're turning it. You may be able to
slow this down with a water spray bottle. Good luck with it.

This stuff is amazing, Ken, and you're absolutely right. I turned an 8"
rough bowl today, wrapped it in newspaper, placed it in a plastic bag, and
checked it about an hour ago. Indeed it was already becoming oblong as it
dried. I may try boiling my rough turnings, but then again I may split the
stuff up and have some fragrant firewood instead. Gotta admit I'm
disappointed. The heartwood is lovely.

Max

I've turned some smaller apple bowls, and while they did turn very easily,
they also warped a lot. But I think that adds some character to bowls
myself. Pix at http://www.woodenschu.com/natural.htm in the upper left-hand
corner. Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

"Maxprop" wrote in message
ink.net...
Thanks to nature (wind) and my neighbor (cum chainsaw), I've just acquired
a
sizeable lot of apple wood. Some of the pieces are 20-24" in diameter,
most
roughly 14", and the heartwood is a medium red/brown.

Any thoughts on turning apple? Ease? Precautions? Finishing?

TIA,
Max

"Tim Schubach" wrote in message

I've turned some smaller apple bowls, and while they did turn very easily,
they also warped a lot. But I think that adds some character to bowls
myself. Pix at http://www.woodenschu.com/natural.htm in the upper
left-hand
corner. Click on the thumbnail for a larger picture.

Your work is very nice, Tim. And the apple bowls have beautiful grain
patterns. Too bad the stuff is so unstable. The rough bowl I turned
yesterday is still moving dramatically. I may attempt to turn some to the
finished level and let them warp, as has been suggested.

Max

"Chuck" wrote in message

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 04:18:54 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:


I may try boiling my rough turnings, but then again I may split the
stuff up and have some fragrant firewood instead. Gotta admit I'm
disappointed. The heartwood is lovely.

Max,
Absolutely save your shavings and small pieces for your barbecue.
Soak them in water for half an hour or so, wrap them up in aluminum
foil, poke a couple of holes in the foil and place it directly on the
coals. This is just awesome smoke for pork, and it tastes pretty good
with any other meat, too.

Waste not want not!

I still have a huge bag of mesquite chips sent to me by my brother in
California, but your suggestion is intriguing. The aroma from the logs
(sitting temporarily in the driveway) is so pungent that we can smell it
from the living room.

Max

I hate to disagree with everyone, but Apple wood seems to have developed an
"urban legend" around a nasty behavior. I have never found that Apple takes any
more caution than many other common turning woods, and there are a lot of other
woods that will warp and crack more. Maybe I am just lucky.

My experience with Apple has been to let it do all of the movement and cracking
BEFORE turning it on the lathe. I do this by cutting it into lathe ready round
bowl blanks and coating them 100% all over with AnchorSeal or other wax. Get
the AnchorSeal good and thick by applying additional coats before it has a
chance to dry. Then set it in the corner of the shop until next year.

Don't try to make the blanks too big or too thick. 10 and 12" diameter and 4"
or less thickness would be the maximum, and stay away from the pith.

You will lose a few of them, but the results are worth the wait. Dry Apple
turns and sands easily.


Russ Fairfield
Post Falls, Idaho
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 04:18:54 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:


I may try boiling my rough turnings, but then again I may split the
stuff up and have some fragrant firewood instead. Gotta admit I'm
disappointed. The heartwood is lovely.

Max,
Absolutely save your shavings and small pieces for your barbecue.
Soak them in water for half an hour or so, wrap them up in aluminum
foil, poke a couple of holes in the foil and place it directly on the
coals. This is just awesome smoke for pork, and it tastes pretty good
with any other meat, too.

Waste not want not!


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget


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-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Given the pruning habits of old orchardists, the wood was likely subjected
to many different loads in its life, thus the bad behavior. You may have
been more fortunate, and received wood from neglected trees rather than
carefully tended orchards. Tends to cooperate better in drying.

With the modern practice of using espaliered trees, we'll see a lot less
apple to turn in the future. I'm fortunate to have a lot of volunteers
along the old road where kids threw cores out of the sleigh on the way to
school, and quite a few in the woods, where they grow somewhat more
vertically. Only one that tasted good to we humans was one down by the
river which the bank beavers dropped out of sheer spite, in my belief, since
they didn't eat the bark.


"Russ Fairfield" wrote in message
...
I hate to disagree with everyone, but Apple wood seems to have developed
an
"urban legend" around a nasty behavior. I have never found that Apple
takes any
more caution than many other common turning woods, and there are a lot of
other
woods that will warp and crack more. Maybe I am just lucky.

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 13:39:01 GMT, "Maxprop"
wrote:


I still have a huge bag of mesquite chips sent to me by my brother in
California, but your suggestion is intriguing. The aroma from the logs
(sitting temporarily in the driveway) is so pungent that we can smell it
from the living room.

Not to dis the mesquite people, but there's simply nothing like the
aroma and flavor of apple-smoked ribs, chops, shoulder, sausage, etc.
Heck, if you try it and don't like it, you can always send the
leftovers (wood or meat!) to me. I try to use bigger pieces, more
like chips, than I do the shavings, because the chips and chunks last
longer in the fire.


--
Chuck *#:^)
chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply.


September 11, 2001 - Never Forget


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-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"Chuck" wrote in message

Not to dis the mesquite people, but there's simply nothing like the
aroma and flavor of apple-smoked ribs, chops, shoulder, sausage, etc.
Heck, if you try it and don't like it, you can always send the
leftovers (wood or meat!) to me. I try to use bigger pieces, more
like chips, than I do the shavings, because the chips and chunks last
longer in the fire.

Last Thanksgiving I slow-cooked a turkey on the old Weber kettle. Took
about three hours, and rather than throw chips or a foil bag of chips on the
coals, I put a waterlogged chunk of hickory on the grill adjacent to the
bird. The result was superb. A bit of smokey flavor, but mostly just a
rich hickory aroma and some flavor. I'm definitely going to try this with
apple this year.

Max

"Russ Fairfield" wrote in message

I hate to disagree with everyone, but Apple wood seems to have developed
an
"urban legend" around a nasty behavior. I have never found that Apple
takes any
more caution than many other common turning woods, and there are a lot of
other
woods that will warp and crack more. Maybe I am just lucky.

My experience with Apple has been to let it do all of the movement and
cracking
BEFORE turning it on the lathe. I do this by cutting it into lathe ready
round
bowl blanks and coating them 100% all over with AnchorSeal or other wax.
Get
the AnchorSeal good and thick by applying additional coats before it has a
chance to dry. Then set it in the corner of the shop until next year.

Don't try to make the blanks too big or too thick. 10 and 12" diameter and
4"
or less thickness would be the maximum, and stay away from the pith.

You will lose a few of them, but the results are worth the wait. Dry
Apple
turns and sands easily.

After reading the other posts, I had somewhat decided to try this anyway.
I've cut some 3" and 4" slabs for drying, but haven't cut them into rounds.
I'm fresh out of Anchorseal, so I coated them heavily with latex
paint--which probably won't help much--and stacked them in a corner of the
basement wrapped in newspaper. If the latex will help long enough for me to
get a 5 gal bucket of Anchorseal, I'll probably have a few chunks that
survive the drying process. I'm always open to suggestions.

Max

Hello Russ

I think your right on that "urban legend", yes apple does warp, crack,
etc., but in my experience like you say not more than a lot of other wood.

What seems to make a great deal of difference though is how or where it
grows, in the commercial apple orchard tree where with heavy feeding
shaping and heavy load of fruit make for more build (grown) in tension
and stress, where as for a tree grown wild this is not the case and
there is less stress release and warping, anyway apple is one off my
favorite woods , it can have some beautiful grain and color, sometimes
with spot burls and curly grain.

I usually rough turn and stuff it in a paper bag for a few weeks to a
few months depending on the drying conditioning, apply CA on any spot
that is cracking prone and keep a close eye on the drying progress the
first couple of weeks and finish turn in 1 to 2 years

Have fun and take care
Leo Van Der Loo

Russ Fairfield wrote:
I hate to disagree with everyone, but Apple wood seems to have developed an
"urban legend" around a nasty behavior. I have never found that Apple takes any
more caution than many other common turning woods, and there are a lot of other
woods that will warp and crack more. Maybe I am just lucky.

My experience with Apple has been to let it do all of the movement and cracking
BEFORE turning it on the lathe. I do this by cutting it into lathe ready round
bowl blanks and coating them 100% all over with AnchorSeal or other wax. Get
the AnchorSeal good and thick by applying additional coats before it has a
chance to dry. Then set it in the corner of the shop until next year.

Don't try to make the blanks too big or too thick. 10 and 12" diameter and 4"
or less thickness would be the maximum, and stay away from the pith.

You will lose a few of them, but the results are worth the wait. Dry Apple
turns and sands easily.


Russ Fairfield
Post Falls, Idaho
http://www.woodturnerruss.com/