Q about Citrus Woods

[Archie Hendrick]

Being from the north, I'm familiar with our fruit woods (apple, cherry, plum, etc.) and I've read a bit about some from other regions (e.g., olive). However, a recent post from a Creeker about scoring some apricot wood got me thinking:

Why don't I see posts from woodoworkers using citrus woods (orange, lime, lemon etc.)? Are they used and I'm just missing it, or are they not used for various reasons (Don't get big enough? Are their inherent oils/resins a problem?)

Just curious. Thanks,

Archie

[Lee Schierer]

I turned a bowl out of plum once. It was a very hard piece of wood and had a lot of internal stresses that created cracks as it dried.

[Robby Tacheny]

I think size is the biggest issue for fruit tree's. The way they are typically grown yields short trunks with a lot of branches. You would probably have just a few board feet of usable wood. Also, as mentioned, some don't dry as well others.

I think almost any wood *can* be used, its just that your typical orchard fruit tree's have very little usable wood. The exception might be old trees grown in people's yards. There might be less pruning which would allow a tree to get taller and develop a thicker longer trunk which might yield better boards and less fruit as a result.

When I was a kid I remember having some very large pear trees in my front yard. They yielded little fruit due to the size I would guess. We had a very large and thick apple tree also that was struck by lightning. It was easily 12 - 18 inches across, because I remember nailing wood to it as stairs for climbing. However, wood in people's yard is dangerous to saw because of random metal (like my nails).

So I would guess that those two sorts of issues negate most fruit wood from being used.

-R

[John Thompson]

Agree with Robby on size being the biggest factor...

[Tim Thomas]

The most common use of fruitwoods that I have seen is in carving. Things like this:

Pear wood goblet

[Robert Parrish]

I have been trying to turn some pens from orange wood the past few days with mixed results. The wood splits and has worm holes in it. It's a same because I can buy orange wood for $40 a chord. Maybe I'll try a small bowl.

[Archie Hendrick]

Thanks for the feeback, guys. Up here our wild apple trees and those in abandoned orchards can get pretty sizeable diameter-wise and often the trunk is tall enough to get a log from. I was wondering if this holds true for other fruit trees.

Is there even such a thing as a "wild" orange, peach, etc. tree?

Tim, that pear goblet is wild...in a different sense. I really like it.

Archie

[Robby Tacheny]

You know, I just realized/remembered that apple wood and other fruit wood is prized for it flavor when smoking meats. That might also account for even less of it being used for furniture.

Apple wood smoked ribs or a finicky bowl? I'll take the rack of ribs please!!

-R