Downed Apple tree; what are it's project strengths?

[Aaron Rosenthal]

My 80+ year old apple tree died a few years ago, and yesterday I noticed it has fallen on it's side.
It's a huge thing, and although a lot of rot, still, there's some good wood there. Waste not, want not, I'd like to make the decent parts into a few projects.
There's much more than I'll ever be able to use in my smoker or BBQ, and I have a lot of Alder for my salmon smoking anyway.
What use can I put this legacy tree's to?

[Doug Dawson]

My 80+ year old apple tree died a few years ago, and yesterday I noticed it has fallen on it's side.
It's a huge thing, and although a lot of rot, still, there's some good wood there. Waste not, want not, I'd like to make the decent parts into a few projects.
There's much more than I'll ever be able to use in my smoker or BBQ, and I have a lot of Alder for my salmon smoking anyway.
What use can I put this legacy tree's to?
Yard trees are usually not good for woodworking. They often have metal in them in unexpected places, and they are riddled with reaction wood. It might make some pen blanks or blocks for turning, but IMO that’s about it. OTOH you now have a bonanza of apple smoking wood! You can really go to town with that. Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. You might consider building a bigger smoker.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

LOL! Doug, it's not how much I can smoke, it's how much can I EAT!!!

[Ron Citerone]

I had a similar tree from my parents yard. I slabbed the solid part with a chain saw. The wood was gorgeous. I only had enough for a few small boxes which turned out real nice and had some family value too. If I had ti do it again I would have talked to someone with a band saw mill to see what he could do as my crude methods waisted wood. More about family value than $ value. But to me that is more important.

[russell lusthaus]

Fruit tree wood, especially Apple, make great stock for the making of archery self bows - if you are so inclined. Green is better than dried, but still good none the less.

[Stan Calow]

Around here, stores sell bags of apple wood chunks for smoking. I calculated once that it was a lot higher price than apple lumber by the bf. Maybe worth selling it that way.
I tried to salvage some wood from a dwarf apple once, and it was a lot of work for a little bit of usable wood. So I'd consider it more of a question of how much time you want to put into it.

[John C Bush]

Made Christmas boxes and turned bowls from plum, apple. and pear--Cotlet's anyone?? Logs were ~8" in diameter and resawed nicely on my bandsaw. They had been stored in a basement for years and were very stable vs green fruitwood. The plum had amazing color and I used a ~1/2" thick NE 30"+ section for a table runner for the holidays, Friend made a cribbage board and two runners as well.
I am in Seattle and I would gladly mill it for you when they open the border. ((21" BS @ 14" resaw ht.))

[Jim Becker]

Fruit trees require careful attention to drying to keep them flat, but the material can be really beautiful. I have a hunk of crab apple that I had to take down this past fall and intend to have it milled when I get some other logs done.

The scraps, BTW, can be good for smoking meats.

[Rod Sheridan]

I had milled them into small boards for small projects.

Some of the most beautiful wood you will ever find.......Rod.

[Bill Dufour]

Apple is used for saw handles and carved for casting patterns.

[John TenEyck]

Apple is one of the hardest fruitwoods I know of. It's difficult to mill and loves to twist and split when it dries. My planer protested when I planed some. Cherry and pear are far nicer to work with in every regard. Turning projects are where I'd look to use it.

John

[David Utterback]

You might also use the root ball which may contain interesting grain patterns. They are a beast to clean however.

[roger wiegand]

Beautiful turning stock, but a bear to dry without cracking. Very much worth it if you succeed.

[Tony Shea]

Apple can be a nightmare to dry but if you end up with some usable stock it is absolutely my favorite wood. It's really difficult to find good sized boards of Apple. I've only been able to make a couple small boxes and some spoons out of the Apple I've got a hold of. But like I said before, it is such a beautiful wood to look at and work with.

[Grant Wilkinson]

If you can't use it all, you may want to talk to a local turning club. Apple makes fine bowls.

[Jon Endres]

Apple was the very first wood I milled when I bought a Logosol mill back around 2002. I still have the boards, about 50 board feet of beautiful yet warped wood. I haven't found a good use for it yet. I'm kind of afraid to use it because it's nearly impossible to get actual boards from apple. I've used smaller pieces from the firewood pile for tool handles.

[Alan Schwabacher]

Apple is used for saw handles and carved for casting patterns.

Apple is a very nice wood for saw handles. Disston used beech for ordinary saws, and apple for the better ones.

[John K Jordan]

Apple can be wonderful for woodturning, small or large. Fine grain, good color, sometimes great figure. Like other fruit woods it may indeed warp and crack while drying so seal well.

JKJ

[Alan Kalker]

I sometimes use it to make small decorative inlays as part of a mosaic. The pieces I've gotten are usually too small to do much else with. So most of it goes into our barbeque smoke box.