Pear Wood

[Greg Snyder]

I just had to remove a pear tree in my yard for some construction and wondered if it would be good to use for wood working projects. The main trunk is about 8" for about 3'. I thought about cutting it out and saving it. Any thoughts?

[Mike Cutler]

Yes, save it.

Pear wood is pretty dense and strong. It makes great tool handles, jigs and fixture can be made from it. It also has a pretty reddish brown hue to it when finished.
Even though the size of the trunk you have isn't huge, you could propbably resaw enough 3-4" wide material to do a panel glue up, or a nice small project. Maybe a jewlery box.

Pear is also a nice turning wood. If you decide you don't want it after all, I'm certain a local woodturner would be glad to take it off your hands.

Don't burn it, or trash it. It does have value.

[Gary Herrmann]

It moves a lot as is dries in board form. I've got a couple left. Nice wood, but I prefer turning it.

[John Thompson]

As suggested... tool handles and in this case a burnisher made from a carbide rod. This one was made for me by Tony Z. who is you guessed it.. a turner amongst other talents.

Sarge..

[Frank Drew]

Greg,

I'd recommend end-coating the log and splitting it down the center (through the pith) ASAP, all to help reduce checking.

There's some very nice ($$) pear wood brought in from Europe ; I think it's mostly steamed, which evens out the color. Similar to what a lot of mills do with walnut in this country.

[Hank Knight]

Are we talking about fruit-bearing pear or ornamental flowering (Bradford) pear? Is there any significant difference in the wood from the two varieties. The Bradford pear trees we have around here are fast growers and I always assumed their wood would be fairly soft. One of the local grocery stores took down a dozen or more large Bradford pears in their parking lot recently. Maybe I should have asked for the trunks.

[Jeff Mohr]

I've used Bradford for flat work and it is pretty nice...kind of like soft maple in texture but some of the pattern is nicer. My stuff tends to have an oragne hue as well....I'll have to see if I can dig up a pic or two.

[Greg Snyder]

Thanks for the ideas. Mine is a fruit bearing tree. I want to save it and was wondering what options I have for drying it and resawing it. There are some smaller parts about 4" in diameter that I could save for turning.

[Cliff Stannebein]

Save the crotch area for small turnings, desk clocks, or jewelry box?
Pop the grain with BLO.

[Greg Snyder]

Well the tree came down and unfortunately the main trunk got destroyed in the process. After looking at it, it was in bad shape anyhow. I did save the main uprights that are straight and about 6' long and range in size from 4"-6". So I am looking for suggestions on what to do with it and how to dry it. It will be some time before I get to use it.

[Chris Schumann]

You could slice it very thin and make Viking or Shaker oval boxes out of it. Then drying would be very quick.

[Josiah Bartlett]

Save the chips and offcuts- they make very good smoke for smoking meats and fish.

[Ben Franz]

IIRC James Krenov used pear wood fairly often in his elegant work.

[Greg Snyder]

Thanks for the replies. I am looking for ideas on how best to dry and store it for now. I dont know if it would be better to paint the ends and let it sit in the garage or to split it on the bandsaw. I may try to do small turnings (knobs & handles) with the 4" pieces and may want to cut the 6" piece into flat stock for decorative trim.

[Chris Padilla]

Greg,

Do you have any pics of the wood? I think we could provide better advice seeing them.

Personally, you should seal the ends ASAP and then cut it down. Get rid of the pith (center) as that is where most crack start form due to uneven drying.