Bradford Pear

[Paul Rains]

Storm blew through Ky, lots of bradford pear limbs and trees laying around neighborhood, this was just what a new woodturner needed to practice on, I have a pile of others that I have been chunking for the last couple of weeks:mad:
any suggestions on turning this wood, it seems awfully wet, is that normal for fruitwood, I turned a cup on it, and was proud that I finally finished something without chunking it, maybe I am getting the hang of it? This cup is so wet I am sure it will split and crack, but I sure loved turning it and not totally screwing it up:) I did take out small piece in bottom, got it too deep, cup is about 4 inches across, and 3 inches deep. It was too wet to try to sand, so a little rough around the edges. I am open to suggestions with what to do with this wood, and how to handle it?

I have attached a couple pictures of my "cup" for posterities sake.;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Paul all green wood is wet. Some more than others and depends on when you cut it. In the spring the sap is going up so will be pretty wet. I cut mine in the dead of winter when the sap is down. One thing you could have did was leave the walls about double that thickness and soaked in denatured alcohol for a day or two then wrapped in a brown grocery bag to dry. Or you could take some anchorseal now, coat it, bag it and let it dry. Most fruitwoods can be pretty cracky.

[mike fuson]

That looking like a nice cup Paul. The alcohol is the only way to go. Sometimes you can turn a wet piece thin and wet sand, but its much better to get it dry first.

[Doug Miller]

If you haven't put any finish on it, you could boil it. Put it in a pot of water and allow it to boil for an hour or so. When time is up, let the water and cup cool. Once cool allow the cup to air dry for an hour or so and then wrap it in brown paper for a few days. Check it and once you feel it is dry you can sand. Should take a week or less to dry.

[Scott Lux]

That is a nice looking cup. Pear is quite cracky, like Bernie said. In addition to the other methods, a microwave can work. But it's not perfect either.

If it does crack, don't toss it out. Set it in your grill. Next time you grill (esp. poultry) that pear will give it the most wonderful flavor. I save all my pear and apple mistakes for the grill. A friend has a smoker and has requested ALL my scraps of fruitwoods. Actually, he requested all the fruitwood, and I told him he could have the scraps :)

Lux

[curtis rosche]

if you turn it real thin, like 1/8 inch or under, the wood will warp wich will give it a neat look, you just have to be careful about the bottom, to thick and it will crack, to thin and it will tear off when trying to part it, after turning put a finish on it, even if its a cheap one, after it warps you can go back and hand sand it or polish it. just let it sit for a week or 2, depending on how thin it is it will do most of its warping is 2 days.

[Paul Rains]

since i finished it off, what would be best way to re-mount to lathe, could I glue a piece to bottom then cut it back off after turning it down some more? Or should I just not worry about turning anymore? Try to dry it out then let it be?

[curtis rosche]

if you turn it thinner it will warp and have less chance of cracking. you could use the bowl jaws if you have a chuck and just do half at a time, or glue on a peice

[Paul Rains]

denatured alcohol?

[Richard A. Rivera, M.D.]

We have had our share of sping storms here in the Dallas area and I hve truned several bowls from bradford pear. I turn it down to 1/8 or 3/16 wall thickness and dry in the microwave. I weigh the bowl with the LOML's digital cooking scale and use 50% power for a couple of min. then re-weigh to get the weight to 20% less than when I started. I then wrap it in about 7 -8 layers of newspaper and leave it in the kitchen for a week...so far...good bowls and no cracking.