Scored the Mother Load of Apple (and a proposition...)

[Ben Martin]

Sooooo.....

I responded to a local ad about an apple tree being cut down and the wood was free for the taking. Having never succesfully gotten a response from one of these ads, I once again shot off my typical e-mail, "Hi, I am a woodworker and interested in some of your _____ tree to use for various projects, let me know."

10 minutes later my phone rings, the lady was very nice and thought that it was pretty cool that I would be using the wood for a purpose rather than heat (BUT, I would love to have some apple smoked BBQ...), she says that she would send me an e-mail with pictures of the larger logs so that I could make a decision if they were big enough; I told her that I would be interested in anything 6-8" and up.

An hour later the e-mail comes, but I was in the shop and missed it, 30 minutes after that, I got a call again from her trying to see if I was actually interested. As luck would be, my cell phone froze, wouldn't do anything for 10 minutes as I frantically tried to call her back, saying that I wanted the wood. Finally I got through to her, made arrangement and was off to the races. I tossed the wheel barrow in the truck, my two trusty furry companions and headed down closer to the heart of Chicago.

When I got there, I was amazed and what was in front of me, this thing didn't look like an apple tree, but a maple or oak tree, this thing was huge; must have been 5' in circumference at the bottom at least. She points to some of the "larger" logs that she had sat aside for me, I was like a kid in a candy store digging through the piles. I must have loaded the truck for half an hour, until I didn't think the suspension would take anymore.

I gave her my thanks and returned home.

There is one little caveat to the story though, the tree had to be taken down due to carpenter ants getting to some of it, so while all of this would isn't usable, there is definitely thousands of pen blanks in it and plenty of beautiful bowls

Ok, enough talking, I will show some pictures.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/General%20Workshop%20Pictures/001.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/General%20Workshop%20Pictures/002.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/General%20Workshop%20Pictures/004.jpg

My truck has an 8' bed...

Ohhh and the other thing, there is still 12' of this tree standing! That 18" wide piece came from 12' above the ground, I have made plans with her to return on Monday night to get the rest of the logs.

This tree held special meaning to the owners, they got engaged underneath it. The owner requested that I give her first dibs at buying a piece that I have turned from it, I told her that she wouldn't have to pay.

I have been watching some turning DVDs and they used apple in them and the pieces were gorgeous.

Another thought I had, what is the record size of an apple tree (I am not sure what exact species this was), but I have never seen one this large! I will show the pictures to my buddy at work tomorrow, whose parents own an orchard and get his take.

Now the proposition...

I am from the generation where the word shop (as in shop class) was a 4 letter word. I have never actually turned anything decent in my life only messed around with my lathe.

(Ok, I will post a picture, stealth gloat...)

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/330621040_photobucket_6848_.jpg

If anyone in the Chicago area (I live in Bolingbrook in particular) would be willing to come over and give me some turning pointers, meet another Creeker and hang out, I would generously compensate your time with some apple wood and a cold beer! Shoot me a PM if you are interested.

Thanks for reading if you got this far!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

First thing you have to do, right now is to seal the wood or all you will have left will be firewood, oh and welcome to the forum.
It looks like the tree wasn't very healthy anymore, looks like some spalting in he big piece and brown spots that might be rotting, the log farther down could very well be hollow, not unusual with big Apple trees, still have fun and take care.
Hope you find someone to help you get started the right way, find a turning club they can help you.

[Nathan Hawkes]

WOW! Amazing score, and GO SEAL YOUR LOGS!!!! You will be very sorry if you don't drop the computer right now. If you're unfamilar, using a very thick coating of anchorseal--a wax emulsion, will keep the wood from drying out and cracking. You MUST do this quickly with apple, moreso than any other wood I've worked with. If you don't have access to this, a very thick coat of latex paint on the endgrain--not oil based paint. this is important. Good luck, and find a turning club, just don't let them talk you out of all your wood!

[Ben Martin]

Thanks guys, the wood was cut this past weekend, so it has already dried a couple days, I am going to seal it when I get home from work tomorrow, hopefully it isn't too late. I will just be using latex based paint since I won't be able to get Anchorseal that quick. Won't cutting the ends off expose some new wood that the checking hasn't gotten to yet, giving me a "fresh cut"?

Leo, you are correct the other end of that log has been gotten to by the ants. But for the price of free, I will deal with it! The tree split into two main leaders about 6' off the ground, the ants only went up one half, the other side is still good.

[Bob Vallaster]

Ben,
As noted above, your first order of business should be to seal the end grain.
Next, you can find a bunch of enthusiastic turners in a local club like Chicago Woodturners. (I was a member when I lived in the area.) Their website is here: http://www.chicagowoodturners.com/CWT/index.html Regular meetings and occasional special events with reknowned turners.

BobV

[Barry Elder]

Latex paint will not work on fruit wood, from my experience. Use heated paraffin wax or two coats of Anchorseal.

[Matt Ranum]

Thats some nice wood and so is the stealth gloat with the lathe. The beauty of this wood is even if it splits on you, you still have some tasty wood for smokin'. :D

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Wow Ben, Congrats on the load.:eek: Do what the guys said for sure and if it were me I would twice turn any bowls I would make and boil them after the first turn then bag dry them. It will really help to stabilize the wood which can do crazy things after it is turned, the worst of which is cracking. By the way I love your lathe, hope this apple will fill that too clean space with curlies.:)

[Doug Wolf]

I scored some cottonwood and silver maple a couple months ago (3 pickup loads) and couldn't rough turn it for a week a two. I put it in black plastic garbage bags and twist tied the bags and left on the floor of the shop. Outside temps were running in the 90's. When I opened the bags to remove the wood they were dripping with moisture but not one piece had any cracks and/or checking. The largest piece was 20" accross and 18" long. When I finally got around to it, it took 4 days to rough turn and the plastic bags kept all of it from turning into firewood. I rebagged the turnings in brown paper bags stuffed with the damp shavings I got from the wood and put it on the concrete floor for awhile. I've used this rebagging procedure with good luck here in the low humidity of Colorado.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Congrats on a great load of wood. Ben I would check and see if you have a Rocklers or Woodcraft close by to get some anchorseal. 2 coats for sure. I tried latex paint on apple and cherry. It doesn't work well. Yes you can cut off the ends to get to fresh wood depending how deeply it cracks. I always cut my logs 6" longer so if they do crack I have room to cut of on each end. Have some fun Ben making curlies.

[Ben Martin]

Well, my local Woodcraft has a gallon of Anchor Seal. Only problem is that I think I am going to need more than a gallon.

From what I have read is that latex based roof tar is a better alternative than paint when in a pinch, I might be forced to go that route. I guess the other alternative would be a 1:1 mixture of WoodGlue and Water? to thin it out.

Also, what should I do about the wood that has the carpenter ant damage? Should I seal the end grain and leave the holes in the middle to dry as they may?

If anybody has any input on that, let me know.

[Scott Hackler]

You would be surprized how far a gallon of Anchorseal will go.

[Paul Singer]

I agree with how far the anchorseal will go. I got three gallons from our woodturners club for $6 a gallon thinking I would go through alot. Well i have used it all summer and I am still on my first gallon.

Also I would cut off as much of the damaged stuff as possible then seal the clean end. No since trying to save bad wood plus there may be some ants left in there.

[David E Keller]

I agree with how far the anchorseal will go. I got three gallons from our woodturners club for $6 a gallon thinking I would go through alot. Well i have used it all summer and I am still on my first gallon.

Also I would cut off as much of the damaged stuff as possible then seal the clean end. No since trying to save bad wood plus there may be some ants left in there.

+1 on the cut and anchorseal. You could easily seal that load of wood three or four times over with 1 gallon.

[Mike Cruz]

Ben, I really hope someone will take you up on your offer. Funny, you'd think you'd have 10 guys over this weekend...

All you really need is that one that has a heart of gold, though...

[Ben Martin]

Ben, I really hope someone will take you up on your offer. Funny, you'd think you'd have 10 guys over this weekend...

All you really need is that one that has a heart of gold, though...

I would have thought so too Mike, ohh well, I didn't expect giving away free wood would be so hard!

I do plan on attending some of the local wood turners association meetings, that would seem like the easy way to get going.

I got all of the logs Anchorseal'd and place under my deck last night, sitting on top of the rock I have underneath it. Should I cover the logs with a tarp now?

Like everyone said, the Anchorseal went a long way. I used maybe 1/3 of the gallon, gave both ends 2 very generous coats.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/General%20Workshop%20Pictures/330621040_photobucket_21151_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/General%20Workshop%20Pictures/330621040_photobucket_21174_.jpg

(And this was using my Sawzall to get stuff to size, I won't have a chainsaw till Monday!)

I have received another e-mail from the PO of the logs, requesting for me to make her some plates with the wood, cutting the log vertically into sections (sort of like how you would cut a roll of cookie dough). I did a little bit of research and hadn't seen anything like that, only people making plates/platters from horizontally cut boards. Seems that controlling the drying of the wood and avoiding splitting would be very hard.

Hopefully my back can rest up before Monday when I go to get the "big logs"...

Here are some more pictures of all of the accessories that came along with the lathe. (Ignore the spindles for the State Spindle Sander that I bought from him as well...)

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/330621040_photobucket_6836_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/330621040_photobucket_6837_.jpg

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/330621040_photobucket_6838_.jpg

And here is my favorite part, the minty WWII era paper S/N tag, it is a 1943 model.

http://i424.photobucket.com/albums/pp325/martbj/330621040_photobucket_6850_.jpg

[Mike Cruz]

Ben, I had a HUGE figured walnut log that I was offering up to anyone who wanted to come cut it up with me...for fun. I got one of those angels I was refering to. But only one...

As for your Lathe, I have a 1947 model. :) My plate doesn't say the year, but I called Delta and through the serial number they were able to figure it out. Kinda neat...

[Kevin Stanbary]

I'm kinda in the area... about 1 1/2 hours away. Unfortunately I'm swamped at the moment. Perhaps not the best tutor anyway as I'm still trying to figure all this out myself... :rolleyes: I'm sure the club meetings will be a help, although I have yet to do that myself as well. Good luck!

[charlie knighton]

cool, congratulations, its amazing what happens to woodturners, enjoy