Scored some apple...

[Scott M Perry]

Not sure how I'm going to get it out of the truck, though.


Apple by Scott --, on Flickr

They're about 22-28" diameter, a little more than 2' tall each. Dropped my springs about 6"...

[David Weaver]

Wow...I'd rive that into quartered bits and see how straight the grain is. If you're lucky enough for them to pretty much run vertical with no twist, I would religiously visit the riven or split bits daily gluing any cracks that begin to form. It goes without saying that you should seal whatever you split.

I have no idea what the base tree would've been that branches would've been grafted to (the universal case is that edible apples come from grafted trees because the odds of a good tasting apple from a tree grown from seed only are very low), but if it's anything like some of the better apple I've used, then it should make great tools and tool handles.

I got my apple blanks wet - they checked like crazy and I had to visit them with CA glue daily to stop cracks - the same was true of a very wet cocobolo blank I had.

[Scott M Perry]

Thanks, David. First order of business is getting them home without them sliding forward into the cab of my truck. Then getting them off-loaded.

The tree was very large, and very old. And the wood is almost dripping. I can't wait to break into it and see what I've got. Tool handles, boxes, you name it. Use the off cuts in the smoker. All good.

[Pat Barry]

Just have everyone stand clear an roll em off

[Frank Drew]

I had some apple that size long ago, sadly before I got into bowl turning so they went for firewood.

Apple can be an absolute bear to split, though. Coat the endgrains ASAP, if you haven't done so already.

[Scott M Perry]

Got 'em off the truck, easy peasy. The boy helped me roll them out of the way. Need to get them sealed.

[Chris Griggs]

Nice score man...way more exciting the fallen red oak I just took from my inlaw's property...though I was able to quarter it up which makes it more appealing.

Seems like that will take up way too much shop space. You should probably drop one of those off at my place


So are you planning to saw this up and dry it or is it going to be cut into turning blanks? Both?

[Scott M Perry]

Chris, next time you find yourself up this way, stop by and I'll hook you up with some.

I'm planning on riving it to manageable pieces and letting it dry. There are a bunch of small projects I've always wanted some apple for. Not planning on turning it. Don't have the right gear for that.

[Chris Griggs]

Cool! That will make for some very nice stock when you rive it. Hopefully it will dry nicely. Make yourself at least one saw tote with it...that'll be sweet!

[Chris Fournier]

You'd best break those out instantly regardless of sealing. Apple is incredibly unstable. I helped cut down and process a VERY large apple tree once. We sent one of the logs off to be sliced into veneer and one we broke out into lumber. The veneer was spectacular, the lumber really didn't make it. Crazy gluing your drying apple is simply going to cost you a fortune and yield some pretty iffy billets that will most likely tear themselves apart as you begin to machine them.

I did enjoy carving spoons out of apple billets and the pecky veneer made cherry look drab. Good luck!

[David Weaver]

You'd best break those out instantly regardless of sealing. Apple is incredibly unstable. I helped cut down and process a VERY large apple tree once. We sent one of the logs off to be sliced into veneer and one we broke out into lumber. The veneer was spectacular, the lumber really didn't make it. Crazy gluing your drying apple is simply going to cost you a fortune and yield some pretty iffy billets that will most likely tear themselves apart as you begin to machine them.

I did enjoy carving spoons out of apple billets and the pecky veneer made cherry look drab. Good luck!

Probably cost ten bucks in glue for both of those logs (a 4 ounce bottle of CA glue at the very most, but probably not that much). The key is to catch the cracks right away. I just cut a cocobolo blank apart that I did that to (one that was dripping wet) several years ago and none of the surface cracks went deep like they have on vintage billets that I've used (where deep cracks make you throw away half of the wood. It was a pain to follow a couple of sopping wet blanks with CA glue, but the total cost in glue for me with two large blanks was probably a buck or less. Every crack that I glued stopped where I glued it, the only mistake I made was leaving it go for a couple of weeks early on and some of the cracks got larger than I'd wanted them to do. I can't rememeber how long it was before those surface cracks stopped - probably a month, and then you don't have to do anything to it.

If there's a better solution, I'd like to see it. It's not something I'd do on something common like cherry, but when you're saving something uncommon and very nice.....apple is just a bear to dry, but it's one of the few woods worth the effort. Beats watching checks an inch deep developing.

[Chris Griggs]

Isn't it less likely to check if he cuts it into 1"-2" thick QS stock, as opposed to just letting the quartered chunks dry? Won't it dry more evenly that way? I don't heads or tails about drying and sealing stock, so just curious.

[David Weaver]

Given what I've seen with it drying before, I'd give stock an extra inch of thickness for any plane billets. if it doesn't crack, it will twist some or move unexpectedly.

I've had three different apples - one was a very waxy feeling wood, about as hard as maple, but wouldn't break out in any direction - you could rasp back against it and it wouldn't splinter out - it felt like it had been infused with wax. I sent the last bit of it I had to george (of course, it was the worst cracked stuff but that's all that I have left). It's still the nicest wood I've worked of any kind. The grain looked great on it, but it didn't have any of the behavior you'd normally associate with grain direction - it worked great in every direction.

The other two have been different - less uniform in color and more like maple, hard and dry feeling. I didn't like those nearly as much. I have no idea what is commonly used for grafting, but those two types are entirely different. Most of what I've seen commercially dried (primarily at hearne) looks more like the latter.

No clue how much of it was the difference in wood vs. the difference in drying.

[Steve Voigt]

Isn't it less likely to check if he cuts it into 1"-2" thick QS stock, as opposed to just letting the quartered chunks dry? Won't it dry more evenly that way? I don't heads or tails about drying and sealing stock, so just curious.

I think so. If it were mine, I'd probably split it in eighths, or split in quarters and then bandsaw. Then coat the ends. The smaller you can get the pieces, the better your chances of success.
The other thing is to dry it outside for at least a year, protected with roofing tin or something, but stacked for maximum air circulation.

[Chris Griggs]

I think so. If it were mine, I'd probably split it in eighths, or split in quarters and then bandsaw.

That's exactly what I did with the green fallen Black Oak (e.g. red oak) I just took home. Split it into quarters before loading it into the car and, got as many good 5/4 QS cuts out of each quarter as I could, and then stickered it (though in the basement not outside).

What do you guys seal the end grain with? I know turning blanks are typically dipped in wax. I didn't coat the ends of the stuff I cut up as I assumed QS oak would be stable enough to dry without major checking problems, but I did gob a bunch of paste was onto the ends of the pieces I didn't saw up into boards. Imagine either shellac or just about any way would be okay for sealing the end grain?