Pear Wood - Who’da Thunk It?

[charlie b]

Was given a four foot, 5 inch wide board of pear wood. A sawyer error produce a nice double wave on one face due to a bandsaw mill blade losing tension during a cut. One edge was fairly straight, the other with a nice curve in it The thickness varies from about 3/4? to maybe

1 1/2? and this rippled board is going to make an interesting jewelry box.

But first I had to get one edge straight. Clamped it in the shoulder vise, the other end held up on a peg in the front face of the bench. Got out the #7 and made the first pass on the semi-straight edge.

Hmmm - this stuff planes nice.

Second pass - curlies that look more like light brown paper rather than wood - no visible grain. And the planed surfaces were almost glass smooth - with no discernable grain. Very interesting.

Did a little ROS sanding on the ?waves? face and then went at it with a scraper. Again it was like scraping paper, no grain feel at all. And again, a nice shiny surface.

This stuff loves hand tools!

When you think fruitwood it's cherry that comes to mind. But pear is wonderful and I'm now looking for some apple wood. Wonder what prune wood is like?

If you can lay your hands on some pear wood - try it. You'll like it.

charlie b

[igor]

We have a winner!

[Jim Wilson]

And it turns beautifully, too!

-anonymous pear fan

[Mike Richardson]

Gives me the shiz

[Leon]

When I think of the fruit wood, "finish" that many furniture stores have, I think of medium brown with no grain showing and lots of fly spots on it. ;~)

Prune wood? I Plum don't know.

[Robert Galloway]

Moral of this story. When friends ask if you'd like their wind damaged or diseased/dead ornamental from the yard. Latch on to it. They're tickled when they see something made from "their" tree.

bob g.

Le>

[Robert Bonomi]

Yup. pear is a joy to work with.

there appear to be many literature references to it, with a traditional oil finish. 'prune danish'.

[John W. Wells]

And for recorders (the musical instrument). Perhaps for the same reason.

--JWWells

[Richard Cline]

I have a small orchard. Whenever I remove a tree or prune a large branch I take it to the shop to see what the wood looks like. Most of the woods are not very interesting. I would judge that apple, orange, lemon, and avocado are not very interesting. There is very little grain structure and the wood is not hard enough to finish well. Plum is a very attractive wood and it will finish well. Also, apricot is an attractive wood. Both plum and apricot grow to fairly large trees so there may be some good sized pieces of wood.

Dick