Bradford pear

[Brian Kopp]

I’m sure this is old hat to most of you already but here goes.

I’ve been using Bradford pear for turning kitchen utensils and dry goods scoops on my lathe. The stuff is now my favorite wood to turn. It’s a very fine grained dense hardwood that’s easy to work with.

They’re now considered an invasive species in many states. The branches break off easily in wind storms because of bark inclusions on the branches extending too far into the trunk, so lots of homeowners just want them gone, thinking the wood is junk because it breaks off so easily.

It occurred to me today to contact a local tree service to see if they have any Bradford pear logs from taking down those damaged trees, so I called the first one that popped up on a local web search.

He said he has tons of Bradford pear from taking them down. He’s going to start setting them aside for me and deliver them to me regularly. He laughed that he probably has more of it than I could ever use.

So I now have a permanent unlimited supply of Bradford pear logs for wood turning.

You might want to contact your local tree service too if you’d like to give this wood a try.

The picture is of some of the Bradford pear utensils I’ve been making.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Brian, nice pieces. It's really good wood for turning. Smooth cuts and very stable in my experience. Similar story around here. Thousands of them planted for landscape ornamental trees all over the area but, once they get to a certain size they're a hazard for blowing over and splitting. Folks have a love/hate opinion about them. I don't see many people planting new ones these days. Guess word got around.

 

[Charles Cadenhead]

I don't see many people planting new ones these days. Guess word got around.

Some states like Georgia has outlawed them and are paying people to remove them. One of the issues with the ornamental pear trees is that they're aren't sterile and cut pollenate with fruiting pears to produce a franken-tree that's not nice to look at, very bushy and has very long thorns.

 

[Randy Anderson]

And the blooms smell awful. It's funny to watch people pick up a bowl at the market and admire it, then I tell them it's bradford pear and they're always surprised but interested.

 

[Brian Kopp]

I found large Bradford pear logs on a Marketplace ad for “free firewood.” It was a two hour round trip, but I made two trips in my Crown Victoria, filling up the trunk and back seat, after I read online that Bradford pear was well regarded for wood turning. I’m glad I did. The stuff really turns nicely, it’s rock hard and looks fantastic once oil is applied.

I was just making these as a hobby, giving them away to family and friends. After sharing photos online, people have actually commissioned me to make utensil sets with a utensil canister for them, as well as dry goods scoops. And they’re willing to pay good money for them. I just started turning in October and never expected to be selling stuff.

 

[Dan Stromberg]

I've never called a tree service but I've occasionally been tempted to. Part of the reason I've hesitated is that a lot of the services around here sell their wood as firewood and I can envision them saying "sure, you can have some, but not for free". Then my head goes to the opposite extreme thinking I could never consume enough of it that they would think of me as any more than a nuisance. But the old adage is definitely true here.... if you don't ask, the answer is always no!

 

[Tom Gall]

@Brian Kopp A nice gesture would be to give the tree service guy a set of utensils like in the photo above. This may insure more "free" wood and maybe some other desirable species in the future!

 

[Randy Anderson]

I've never had a tree service ask me to pay for wood as long as I get what I want quickly and stay out of their way. They're just loading it up to haul off and really don't care. I often trade a finished piece in exchange for wood, if it warrants. Keep a small finished bowl in your truck so you can show them what you use it for. I've had the crew get really interested in helping me find nice pieces, until their boss yells at them to get back to cutting. My luck is driving up on them around the area - chasing the sound of chainsaws. I've not had luck with them calling me to come look when they're on a job site.

Brian, I've had bradford pear develop a thick, tough, reddish brown oxidation layer on the outside of once turned items like natural edge bowls and hollow forms. It can be a bear to sand off and get to the nice wood coloring. It, and a few others, are woods that I soak in a liquid dish detergent solution for 24+ hours right after turning. It's not a common step but I learned it from Reed Grey (Robo Hippy) who is on the forum here and has some nice youtube videos. It really helps with the sanding process after the piece dries.

 

[Brian Kopp]

@Brian Kopp A nice gesture would be to give the tree service guy a set of utensils like in the photo above. This may insure more "free" wood and maybe some other desirable species in the future!

Actually this guy was great to talk to, and had no idea Bradford pear had any value to it for woodturning. We had a great conversation and though his headquarters is 15 miles away, he said he’d stop by here once or twice a month and drop off more Bradford pear than I could possibly use. I sent him photos of these utensils and told him I’d make whatever I’m able to for him in exchange for the Bradford pear wood and he said no, he’d commission me to make some stuff for him soon. Wow, that’s pretty cool, but I’ll give him a set of utensils anyway.

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

Bradford Pear has been my favorite wood to turn for a while. You have some very nice pieces.

 

[Brian Kopp]

I found a chart of the Janka hardness rating for Bradford pear compared to other hardwoods:

They must be referring to hard maple here. Surely soft maple doesn’t have a higher Janka rating than oak?

 

[Aaron Harris]

I remember the late 80's or so when every Southern driveway had to have an alley of Bradfords. As much as they are a nuisance, they are one of my favorite woods to turn. And Randy. I thought the reddish/orange/salmon colors in once-turned wood were just the natural colors of the wood, but what do I know. It finishes like a dream, and I love those colors. As my neighbor two doors down is an arborist, and my son worked for him for four years, I get more free wood than
I can keep up with, literally (I know, don't gloat). I turned this "trophy bowl" recently from a big one they dropped down the street a couple of years ago. The one minor crack got medium brown Starbond, and a punky/spalted patch inside got copper mica epoxy. And yes, so stable in drying unlike my nemesis cherry.

 

[Brian Kopp]

I remember the late 80's or so when every Southern driveway had to have an alley of Bradfords. As much as they are a nuisance, they are one of my favorite woods to turn. And Randy. I thought the reddish/orange/salmon colors in once-turned wood were just the natural colors of the wood, but what do I know. It finishes like a dream, and I love those colors. As my neighbor two doors down is an arborist, and my son worked for him for four years, I get more free wood than
I can keep up with, literally (I know, don't gloat). I turned this "trophy bowl" recently from a big one they dropped down the street a couple of years ago. The one minor crack got medium brown Starbond, and a punky/spalted patch inside got copper mica epoxy. And yes, so stable in drying unlike my nemesis cherry.
View attachment 53104

Beautiful!!

 

[Michael Anderson]

Brian, I've had bradford pear develop a thick, tough, reddish brown oxidation layer on the outside of once turned items like natural edge bowls and hollow forms. It can be a bear to sand off and get to the nice wood coloring. It, and a few others, are woods that I soak in a liquid dish detergent solution for 24+ hours right after turning. It's not a common step but I learned it from Reed Grey (Robo Hippy) who is on the forum here and has some nice youtube videos. It really helps with the sanding process after the piece dries.

Thank you for sharing this information, Randy. I am a fan of Bradford Pear in every way (as a turning wood), aside from the oxidation. So much so that I refuse to once turn it if I’m trying to keep the natural color. I’m going to remember this detergent trick though, and hopefully that will change my mind. Cheers!

 

[Brian Kopp]

The picture of the kitchen utensils I posted at the start of this thread were from one large 2” thick kiln dried several year old piece of Bradford pear I picked up several months ago.

I’ve subsequently made a number of items from some Bradford pear logs from a tree that was taken down this winter. The colors and patterns are much more pale blond than the deeper colors noted in the first photo above, which ran through the entire thickness of the kiln dried board.

Is this the coloring you’re referring to? I actually preferred the color and pattern of the kiln dried items over the freshly cut wood.

This is a muddler (used for mashing fruits for mixed drinks) I made for a friend from the relatively fresh cut Bradford, for comparison:

Here’s the kiln dried items:

Brian, I've had bradford pear develop a thick, tough, reddish brown oxidation layer on the outside of once turned items like natural edge bowls and hollow forms. It can be a bear to sand off and get to the nice wood coloring.

 

[Randy Anderson]

Thank you for sharing this information, Randy. I am a fan of Bradford Pear in every way (as a turning wood), aside from the oxidation. So much so that I refuse to once turn it if I’m trying to keep the natural color. I’m going to remember this detergent trick though, and hopefully that will change my mind. Cheers!

Michael, I swore off of it as well for single turned items. I put a few on my reject shelf and left them. The LDD method does help a lot. It can still be some 80 grit work to get it all off but easier for sure.

 

[Randy Anderson]

The picture of the kitchen utensils I posted at the start of this thread were from one large 2” thick kiln dried several year old piece of Bradford pear I picked up several months ago.

I’ve subsequently made a number of items from some Bradford pear logs from a tree that was taken down this winter. The colors and patterns are much more pale blond than the deeper colors noted in the first photo above, which ran through the entire thickness of the kiln dried board.

Is this the coloring you’re referring to? I actually preferred the color and pattern of the kiln dried items over the freshly cut wood.

This is a muddler (used for mashing fruits for mixed drinks) I made for a friend from the relatively fresh cut Bradford, for comparison:
View attachment 53107
Here’s the kiln dried items:
View attachment 53108

Brian, the spatula on the left and middle spoon reminds me of what I see on once turned items. The light color near where the handle meets the flat and the light areas in the bottom of the spoon. Not sure same thing I experience but it reminds me of it. If you end up with a smooth dark/light color then could be ok but, my experience is it begins to be sanded away in lines and patches that leave an inconsistent look and don't have the same feel as the underlying lighter wood. On your utensils I think things look good. I suspect if you sanded more on the inside of the middle spoon the light color area would show through more and more and look like the flat on the spatula on the right.

 

[Brian Kopp]

I suspect if you sanded more on the inside of the middle spoon the light color area would show through more and more and look like the flat on the spatula on the right.

That middle, smaller spoon was what was left of a large spoon after I had some catches on the rim of that one. I had to do a lot of sanding with 2” and 3” disks on my hand drill to salvage it, and that gave its bowl the darker color.

Overall this particular board was a uniform darker color, even when I was re-sawing it longways on my bandsaw to make two utensils from the thicker board. The only lighter color that you see where the handle meets the flat on the spatula on the left was the exception.

I assume kiln drying and age gave it that overall darker tint throughout the entire board.

 

[Paul M. Kaplowitz]

I have been getting my wood from tree services for 30 years. They would rather give it to me than pay for it's disposal at the landfill. The state of SC has banned planting of Bradford Pears and there is a massive effort to cut down and dispose of existing ones. Whenever I can get a large one I grab it. While most split before they get big, I regularly get ones that are 20+ " in dia. Many are Burgandy in color. It is wonderful to know that we have so few problems here in SC that the legislature has time to ban trees. I live in Charleston which has been a a major seeport for hundreds of years. We have many trees that were brought from all over the world and are now considered invassive. Chinese Tallow, Mimosa, China Berry, Aillanthus, Tong Oil, Ginko, Camphor, Empress, Eleagnus, and Wild Olive to name a few.

 

[Brian Kopp]

My local tree service guy called yesterday. He was driving through town and saw a stack of Bradford pear logs in someone’s driveway. He actually stopped and asked the homeowner what he was going to do with them. The homeowner was just going to cut them up for firewood so Ben showed him photos of the stuff I’m making from Bradford pear wood and asked if I could contact him and make arrangements to get some of it. The homeowner said that was fine and texted me photos of the logs today so I know what I need to pick them up:


Fortunately I picked up a used 18” 220v Rikon bandsaw with 12” resaw capacity last month. And a used Stihl MS660 yesterday for an Alaskan chainsaw mill. Looks like they’ll get put to good use.

 

[william smith]

I remember the late 80's or so when every Southern driveway had to have an alley of Bradfords. As much as they are a nuisance, they are one of my favorite woods to turn. And Randy. I thought the reddish/orange/salmon colors in once-turned wood were just the natural colors of the wood, but what do I know. It finishes like a dream, and I love those colors. As my neighbor two doors down is an arborist, and my son worked for him for four years, I get more free wood than
I can keep up with, literally (I know, don't gloat). I turned this "trophy bowl" recently from a big one they dropped down the street a couple of years ago. The one minor crack got medium brown Starbond, and a punky/spalted patch inside got copper mica epoxy. And yes, so stable in drying unlike my nemesis cherry.
View attachment 53104

Love turning it,lots around here too

 

[Brian Kopp]

I processed a couple Bradford logs into various blanks this winter. One spatula blank had too much bark on it so I tossed it in the firewood pile. I subsequently pulled it out and set it aside.

On Friday, just out of curiosity I put in on the lathe to see if I could “salvage” it but the handle would have been too thin if I had turned off all the bark.

Glad I didn’t turn it all off. It turned out to be the most unique kitchen tool I’ve made so far (The second photo is the spatula and a mason jar honey dipper I made by recessing the metal mason jar lid into the cherry wood top, and inserted the honey dipper stem into a corresponding hole on top to hold everything together.):


And I turned a cooking spoon to make a pair:

 

[Tim Otto]

 

[Arthur McViccar]

I’m sure this is old hat to most of you already but here goes.

I’ve been using Bradford pear for turning kitchen utensils and dry goods scoops on my lathe. The stuff is now my favorite wood to turn. It’s a very fine grained dense hardwood that’s easy to work with.

They’re now considered an invasive species in many states. The branches break off easily in wind storms because of bark inclusions on the branches extending too far into the trunk, so lots of homeowners just want them gone, thinking the wood is junk because it breaks off so easily.

It occurred to me today to contact a local tree service to see if they have any Bradford pear logs from taking down those damaged trees, so I called the first one that popped up on a local web search.

He said he has tons of Bradford pear from taking them down. He’s going to start setting them aside for me and deliver them to me regularly. He laughed that he probably has more of it than I could ever use.

So I now have a permanent unlimited supply of Bradford pear logs for wood turning.

You might want to contact your local tree service too if you’d like to give this wood a try.

The picture is of some of the Bradford pear utensils I’ve been making.
View attachment 53066

I have found that bradford pear soon became a favorite of mine, once I started using it. And it spalts very nicely.

 

[Tim Otto]

the one at center is Bradford Pear.

 

[Brian Kopp]

A local homeowner just gave me a huge pile of large Bradford pear logs from six mature trees he had taken down this winter. All he asked for in return was a vase he could put flowers in.

It took three trips with a 5’x9’ U-Haul trailer to bring them all home.

The logs are around 48” in length to give an idea of their size. The homeowner loaded them with his Kubota tractor and I had to pull most of them off the trailer with a logging cable connected to the front bucket of my Ford tractor to get them unloaded.

Now I have more Bradford pear logs than I’ll ever be able to use, so if you’re near the northwest tip of Virginia you’re welcome to come get a couple. Just shoot me a PM.

 

[Charles Cadenhead]

Epic haul! If my FiL was a little closer I'd send him your way.

 

[Brian Kopp]

Epic haul!

Definitely! There’s enough here to start a small Bradford pear blank business for wood turners, and my local tree service guy has promised to deliver so much of it in the future I’ll get sick of it. (It’s cheaper for him to drop it off for me than pay the landfill to dispose of it.)

Hmmm…I wonder how you’d go about starting up a “Bradford pear blanks for wood turners” side business?

 

[Perry Hilbert]

Some states like Georgia has outlawed them and are paying people to remove them. One of the issues with the ornamental pear trees is that they're aren't sterile and cut pollenate with fruiting pears to produce a franken-tree that's not nice to look at, very bushy and has very long thorns.

we have sand pears growing invasively. The fruit is quite tasty, but hard like a granny smith with even harder spots like sand through out the flesh. Deer and other animals love them.
Some people say they are a hybrid with bradford pear, but they are not.

 

[henry dalton]

It is hard to find large Bradford pear trunks. Nice haul!

 

[Brian Kopp]

It is hard to find large Bradford pear trunks. Nice haul!

Thanks. The guy who gave me the Bradford pear only asked for a vase for a bouquet of flowers in return, so I made my first vase several days ago, out of walnut. The proportions are way off, the waist is too thick, but I made it to hold a 3”x10” straight sided glass insert so the vase could hold water.

But the grain and figure turned out to be awesome. I had never seen curly walnut before:

 

[Charlie Knighton]

Yeah, get it when u see it, good idea of uhaul trailer, BP is great wood which does not darken like cherry

 

[Brian Kopp]

Yeah, get it when u see it, good idea of uhaul trailer, BP is great wood which does not darken like cherry

I don’t have a truck so I occasionally rent a UHaul trailer. Heckuva lot cheaper than investing in a truck.

 

[Gerald Rutledge]

I don’t have a truck so I occasionally rent a UHaul trailer. Heckuva lot cheaper than investing in a truck.

How much do they charge for a day?

 

[Brian Kopp]

How much do they charge for a day?

$25 for a 5’x9’ utility trailer with 3’ sides.

$15 for a slightly smaller motorcycle trailer which I usually rent.

If I rent a trailer once every month or two I’m only spending $120 - $150 a year. I have a Ford Crown Victoria which pulls a trailer easily. But some day I will get another truck.

 

[Chad Holt]

Bradford Pear is very nice to cut but a beast to sand. Love/hate relationship. They can get pretty large around here.

 

[Brian Kopp]

Bradford Pear is very nice to cut but a beast to sand. Love/hate relationship. They can get pretty large around here. View attachment 58595

WOW!!

 

[hockenbery]

You have some spectacular Natural Edge rims.

 

[R Henrickson]

Bradford Pear is very nice to cut but a beast to sand. Love/hate relationship. They can get pretty large around here.

There are huge numbers of them around here -- both as street tree plantings and feral groves. I don't know that I've seen one that size. Generally around here they self-destruct when considerably smaller than that. Sometimes an ice storm helps them disintegrate. Nice wood to turn, although rather bland in terms of grain.

 

[Tim Otto]

It burns good too...about like oak. I just put some in my soapstone stove. However, split it when it is green. These are sealed with yellow blue, no cracks after sitting for two years.