Tell me about Peach....

[Jim Underwood]

I guess this is a gloat. One of my co-workers had a peach tree blow down this weekend in the high winds. Turns out it had a few bugs in it going right up through the heart, but not too bad. But it's a beautiful color.

We cut it up (actually he did, and I assisted) into 3-4' lengths, and I promptly took it home and slathered it with Latex paint since I don't have any more of that wax emulsion stuff.... what's it called? Oh yeah. Anchorseal...

It's sitting just outside my shop for the moment, but I would like to know your experience with it?

Does it crack easily? Does it turn nice? Is it beautiful?

[Phil St.Germain]

Peach is a very nice wood to work. Cuts beautifully and can have some great colors. Careful drying and you should not have a cracking problem.

a couple years ago I was lucky enough to get half a dozen peach trees. They were all hollow, but still lots of useful wood.

Phil

[Raymond Overman]

It's wonderful for natural edge bowls. It's easy to work and smells good in the shop. It usually has nice grain and I've seen some that is very dramatic. It will crack if not turned thin and you'll need to move the logs you have out of direct sunlight even if you have them coated on the ends. It's one of my favorite woods to turn.

Here are a couple of examples:

http://www.overmanshop.com/images/gallery/cookedpeach.jpg
Peach crotch that had cracks. Turned then burned with propane torch.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/Peach_NE_Finished.JPG/800px-Peach_NE_Finished.JPG
Natural Edge Peach bowl

[Jim Underwood]

Thanks Mr. Overman. Those are gorgeous bowls. I really like that first one. It's got a lot of character, and the wood has a fine color.

[Jim Underwood]

I roughed out a couple of bowls last night and cut up the other half of the piece I got them out of. There was a crack right down the pith- and of course I had split it the wrong way... So there was nothing to do but quarter the rest. I'll be making boxes and pieces of fruit out of it.

Gorgeous wood this Peach. I'll rough out some more of it tonight I think...:D