Your thoughts on Crabapple Please.

[Timothy G. Craig]

Hello all,
Does anyone know if Crabapple (Georgia) is a worthwhile wood to work with? I am not sure of the exact species. So far I can not recall any comments in various forums, magazines, etc regarding working with this type of wood.

A rather large Crabapple tree fell in my daughters front yard. The stump was a solid two feet in diameter, so I figured I cut it up along with some of the larger branches, wax the endgrain and let it dry. It was cut up earlier today and some of the figures are rather unique and most stunning. Some of the crotch areas have lots of dense mini flames, other pieces have outrageous medulary ray flecs, and of course there are a good handful of pieces that are spalted.

Any help from all of you pros would be most appreciated!
Thanks for your help.
TGCraig

[Jim Becker]

Fruit woods including ornamentals can have some outstanding color and figure. They often do tend to be ornery relative to stability, but with care during drying, you can tame them. Turners also love these woods.

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got a couple apple boards - when they dried, they moved a lot. I've heard crabapple is very similar. The pear boards I've got have also moved. I've got a crabapple trunk section in the basement - not nearly as big as yours, but mine is earmarked for turning.

[Rod Sheridan]

Good timing, I just turned a Christmas tree ornament from a piece of crabapple.

I also have used it to make small jewellery boxes........Rod.

[Mike Wilkins]

I have had similar experiences as the others. It can sometimes have a lot of figure/streaks, but once dry it is hard. It will dry into a wavy/potatoe chip shape if not dried properly. I cut some branches into 3/4" thick planks and dried them near the ceiling in my shop with plywood stickers with OK results.

[Pete Brown]

As an aside, branch wood is often very unpredictable anyway. The main trunk and the crotch will get you wood about as stable as the tree will yield. The branches are going to be hit and miss - too much tension and stress in that wood.

A couple months before I started doing any real woodworking with rough lumber, my father in law had cut down a huge walnut tree that was in his front yard (trunk almost 3' in diameter at the base) and had it hauled away for trash. It still brings a tear to my eye when I consider what I missed :)

Pete

[Jim Myers]

I have a couple of hunks of crabapple drying out in the garage right now.

Have to wait to borrow a band saw to cut into blanks but the end of the hunks are starting to turn a real good color. Can't wait to make some pens out of it.