Bradford Pear Street Wood Bowls

[Thomas Canfield]

Taking morning walks I went by pile of Bradford Pear limb trimmings out on street for city tree grinder. Walking past the third time, I saw a couple of larger sections with 4" D or so bottom and limbs branching off that were 2 -3"D. Went by with truck and picked up a couple sections and got about 15 straight sections and 4 crotch sections. This is the 4 crotch sections, one split for 2 bowls. Not very big, but fun to turn the green wood with no dust and good sweet smell. Sure beats smell of Box Elder found a couple weeks earlier. Bowls turned to about 3/16" wall and now packed in brown paper bag with shavings for a couple of months or so to dry and then sand and finish. Nice figure in the crotch and limb areas.
Bradford Pear Street Wood Bowls.jpg

[Dave Mount]

Nice score. Does Bradford pear turn pink with exposure to sunlight? I turned some regular fruit tree pear a while back. It was extremely pale yellow-white when fresh, but it turned a vivid pink with time as the bowl sat in the house.

[roger wiegand]

Nicely done!

Ah, so Bradford Pears are good for something! Fortunately they aren't so invasive in the north, but our friends down in the Carolinas are cursing the day they were let loose.

I'd have guessed that at 3/16ths they'd dry in a few days. I've tried the wood chip thing a few times, but often end up with mildew spots. Haven't noticed that it actually helps all that much in thin work.

[John K Jordan]

Thomas, Nice job! Be sure to post finished pics. What kind of finish do you like on bradford pear? If you lived closer, I could probably get you some bigger pieces - people here often cut them down. A neighbor cut one about 15" in diameter and I have that log with one of the famous bradford crotch nests on one end! That one was getting pretty big near his house so I dug out the stump and he has nice grass there now! He has another that needs cut too.

Does Bradford pear turn pink with exposure to sunlight? I turned some regular fruit tree pear a while back. It was extremely pale yellow-white when fresh, but it turned a vivid pink with time as the bowl sat in the house.

Dave, That color change is interesting. I've never put a bradford pear piece in the sun - I'll have to try that. I recently had to remove an Asian Pear tree when digging a driveway and got some nice sized pieces, cut up a bunch of blanks to dry for later tuning. So far, it has behaved exactly like Bradford, creamy white when sawn green, rapidly turning an orangish color on the wet exposed surfaces, back to creamy white when dried a bit and the outside is cut away. After turning, for me Bradford always gradually turned a dark yellowish tan then darkened further with age. This is the only picture I have that shows the color after a year or so (out of the sunlight in a fairly dark cabinet).
carved_bowl_IMG_4211.jpg
Are you putting it in the sun while the turned surface wood is wet or after it dried then turned? What kind of finish? I'll try to turn something from the Asian Pear and try the sun test - the color sounds interesting!

Ah, so Bradford Pears are good for something! Fortunately they aren't so invasive in the north, but our friends down in the Carolinas are cursing the day they were let loose.

Roger, The wood is nice to turn and carve, fine grained, sands and finishes well. Years ago I read an article about how municipalities all over are also cursing the day they planted them up and down the streets and are removing them. Nice shape to the trees, beautiful when blooming in the spring, but due to the way they grow they are subject to splitting and dropping large branches. When cut down they can resprout easily. I read that a huge problem is they can cross pollinate with other pear trees can revert to a nasty, thorn laden tree that is hard to get rid if. For anyone interested, I found this web page with a few details: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ow/3102509002/

JKJ

[Robert D Evans]

Bradford Pear is great for turning small items like finials and Christmas ornaments. It's used as an ornamental tree at a lot of homes. Nice looking tree for about 20 years. Then it splits when the limbs get too heavy. It turns smooth as glass.

[Stan Calow]

It's used as an ornamental tree at a lot of homes. Nice looking tree for about 20 years. Then it splits when the limbs get too heavy. It turns smooth as glass.

We have whole subdivisions that were planted with them as street trees in the '70s. Many of them are only half-trees now. Around here we say that you dont own a bradford pear, you just rent them. I used to go around after storms to look for usable limbs and cut down turns, but rarely saw any that were big enough to make it worthwhile.

Sadly, most of the subdivisions built in the '80s used ash trees, which are now dying from the ash borer.

[Thomas Canfield]

While living in Tyler, TX I found a large tree base and was able to turn a salad bowl almost 20"D x 7" H that my son has since he has large gatherings and place to store. It seems that the trees grew better with the extra rain/yard water in Tyler than here in Fredericksburg. I do not pass up BP trees and have even cut a couple down for the wood but usually find a tree service removing and they are happy to load the 6" and larger sections on my truck. The BP trees usually have about a 25 year life it seems before the trees start snapping in the spring with possibly some snow load on freshly leafed tree or high winds.

I finish BP with both a modified Danish Oil blend with Tripoli buffing before and after coats and then Renaissance wax for a formal finish or just an oil soak with Walnut or Grapeseed oil for everyday salad use. The wood will turn darker with age and sunlight does seem to also darken the wood. Darker color is more of a burnt orange/brown than pink. I encourage the use of BP. Turned green it does have a lot of moisture and will sling sap but not real sticky and the tanic acid must be low since there is little blackening of hands like with green oak.