Bradford pear wood?

[Charlie Harley]

Has anyone ever worked with Bradfor pear wood?

A neighbor's tree fell down two weeks ago. I snagged a few pieces of the wood, sealed the ends, and then put them away 'till dragging them out last night.

The wood had turned almost orange! The bright color was only on the surface, but even underneath it was a peach color.

Also, the wood was extremely wet. Is this normal for a Bradford pear or does it have something to do with being late October in Ohio?

I must say that it turned very nicely, cutting almost like a dense wheel of cheese. The grain isn't highly figured but it will be interesting to see how things turn out.

 

[Mark Wollschlager]

I like turning it almost as much as cherry.
Pretty wood, cuts very nicely when wet.
Hard as a rock when dry.
I just finish turn and let it move.
There is a piece on my lathe now.
A lot of urban areas are getting rid of them so there is a pretty regular supply.

mark.

 

[dkulze]

Beautiful wood. Highly sought after up here in NE.

Two things. First, it will be extremely wet at first. This is completely normal and should be taken advantage of, since like Mark said, it basically turns into concrete when fully dry.

Second, strong tendancies to check/crack if you look at it wrong. Dry it gently and use anchorseal or bagging (or DNA, or boiling, or voodoo, or whatever) if you're not going to turn it to finish thickness at first go. If you do turn it to finish, relatively thin and very consistant thickness is recommended.

Dietrich

 

[georgetroy]

I turn a lot of Bradford pear. As said it is kind of orangey. Small pits are easy to seal with super glue. I turn it wet in HF, natural edges and vases. The more you turn it the more you will like it, in my opinion. GT

Has anyone ever worked with Bradfor pear wood?

A neighbor's tree fell down two weeks ago. I snagged a few pieces of the wood, sealed the ends, and then put them away 'till dragging them out last night.

The wood had turned almost orange! The bright color was only on the surface, but even underneath it was a peach color.

Also, the wood was extremely wet. Is this normal for a Bradford pear or does it have something to do with being late October in Ohio?

I must say that it turned very nicely, cutting almost like a dense wheel of cheese. The grain isn't highly figured but it will be interesting to see how things turn out.

 

[wdspinner]

Beautiful wood and turns extremely nice. Finishes VERY well to boot!!!!

 

[underdog]

Ditto to all the above.

Great wood to turn, but not a lot of prominent grain or figure. I'm thinking that it's a good candidate for embellishment, like carving, piercing, elements, texturing, painting, woodburning etc.

 

[hockenbery]

Works great for weed pots where you leave some bark. the bark seems to stay without special attention.

I ditto Jim's comments. I used quite a bit of Bradfrod pear in Maryland. Occasional pieces have nice figure but most will be an uninteresting brownish wood.
The pieces I've turned sometimes had a nice orange color but this usually fade rather quickly to brown.

Have fun!
Al

 

[Barry N. Turner]

Almost Like Boxwood

I turn a lot of Bradford pear. As said it is kind of orangey. Small pits are easy to seal with super glue. I turn it wet in HF, natural edges and vases. The more you turn it the more you will like it, in my opinion. GT

Bradford Pear is rather wet when green. When dry though, it is quite hard. It has a very close, rather non-descript, grain that turns much like boxwood. I like it. It does move though. I recommend rough turning, letting it dry, then finish turning. It sands to a glass-smooth surface.

 

[underdog]

Of all the wood I've turned (which isn't all that much when you get right down to it) it turns the most like Maple. It has a tight uniform grain that machines well. It has even less pronounced grain than Maple though.