# Apple wood, any tips



## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 4, 2018)

Guy i know works at an orchard, they pulled out a bunch of trees to burn and he said I can come get some wood. Any tips on processing and turning, thought I remember hearing it'll crack if you look at it for too long haha.


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## Tony (Feb 4, 2018)

@Sprung


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## Schroedc (Feb 4, 2018)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> Guy i know works at an orchard, they pulled out a bunch of trees to burn and he said I can come get some wood. Any tips on processing and turning, thought I remember hearing it'll crack if you look at it for too long haha.



Wax immediately, be prepared for some to crack no matter what. Dry very slowly.

Reactions: Agree 5


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 4, 2018)

Schroedc said:


> Wax immediately, be prepared for some to crack no matter what. Dry very slowly.


Is it safe to rough turn bowls out of or will it crack and warp like crazy?


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## gman2431 (Feb 4, 2018)

Leave it as big as you can hoping to cut as small as you can blanks outta it... Most 6 in diameter pieces I cut and dry yield one 1.5 square piece .


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## Schroedc (Feb 4, 2018)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> Is it safe to rough turn bowls out of or will it crack and warp like crazy?



I've done that, waxed them and packed in shavings in a cardboard box, I usually lose 20-30% of them to checking.


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## Steve Walker (Feb 4, 2018)

Cut, seal, paper bag, store in cool place with minimal air movement, cross your fingers and you should get some spalted pieces that are usable.

If you don't mind "character" pieces, bowls rough turned may crack, but bow ties or splines will take care of that.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 4, 2018)

Steve Walker said:


> Cut, seal, paper bag, store in cool place with minimal air movement, cross your fingers and you should get some spalted pieces that are usable.
> 
> If you don't mind "character" pieces, bowls rough turned may crack, but bow ties or splines will take care of that.



Would a cardboard box work instead of a bag?


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## Steve Walker (Feb 4, 2018)

Yup


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## Steve Walker (Feb 4, 2018)

You just want to limit the air movement, and contain the humidity to slow the drying as much as possible. If you try some rough outs, do like Colin said and use the wet shavings to pack around them.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 4, 2018)

I've tried cardboard box before with just wet wood and put dry shavings to see how that would work, stuff didn't crack but molded. I'd use bags for rough bowls but if I bring some small log sections they'd have to go in a box


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## Steve Walker (Feb 4, 2018)

I have force spalted maple roughouts in trash bags with shavings from the roughout. Yes they get some surface mold, but molds ARE the spalt.


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## Mike Mills (Feb 5, 2018)

I have not had the pleasure of working with apple but would like to. The worst for me for cracking was holly.
I would certainly split through the pith to remove it and then coat the end grain and maybe one inch of the cut with wax or other sealer. You can leave as long as your saw will allow but I always leave at least 2" on each end for potential checks. I assume cut now so at least they should have the best potential of keeping having the lowest moisture. I store mine covered (car port) out of the sun and wind and get few bad cracks. I don't bag until I rough turn but if you have the means then do it.
If you rough turn I would coat the entire exterior and rim and then bag.
This shows a piece of about 6" diameter holly; the shrinkage is not unusual for many woods. If you let you minds eye draw a line from one flat you will see that it shrank back on itself about 1". If left whole then the total widths of all cracks would be about 2" for the small log and probably none of it would be useful.
Others on here can explain variations and types in shrinkage.

As far as mold I do not worry about it as it is easy to remove. I really like spalted wood but per Dr. Spalt, mold has nothing to do with spalting which is caused by fungi. But maybe she is wrong.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 5, 2018)

I just didn’t want to worry about mold and the stuff being in my shop


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## Mike1950 (Feb 5, 2018)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> I just didn’t want to worry about mold and the stuff being in my shop


all the fear of mold- take a deep breath- ya just sucked in mold spores- They are everywhere- just waiting ta sneak up and get ya. Mold- the new asbestos for trial lawyers- and Yikes who can ya blame- it is everywhere so you can blame everyone.........

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Mike Mills (Feb 5, 2018)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> I just didn’t want to worry about mold and the stuff being in my shop



I can understand that, especially the black mold.
If I thought it may be a problem I would mix about a 25% bleach solution and lightly spray the wood.
It should kill any mold present and will not harm it more than maybe 1/32" deep. Kills the green mold on my F150 in a few seconds and I can then not wash it for another six months. :)

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 5, 2018)

Mike1950 said:


> all the fear of mold- take a deep breath- ya just sucked in mold spores- They are everywhere- just waiting ta sneak up and get ya. Mold- the new asbestos for trial lawyers- and Yikes who can ya blame- it is everywhere so you can blame everyone.........


Already breathe chicken dust and wood dust everyday, what’s a little mold gonna do.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Mike1950 (Feb 5, 2018)

Gixxerjoe04 said:


> Already breathe chicken dust and wood dust everyday, what’s a little mold gonna do.


yep- my point- you made it. you have been snorting mold since you were born. especially in a warm moist climate. Just another way to feed the law sharks. Mold and rot are good. We probably are not on planet without them.
You know how we got coal- for eons and eons trees grew and died and they stacked up for millions of years getting buried- mother nature had not developed a way to dispose of them properly yet- this vegetative matter got thicker and thicker for 60 million year and then came white rot... which ended the coal age.... https://www.astrobio.net/also-in-news/fungi-marked-the-end-of-the-coal-age/
Your chance of dying from a mold related incident and getting killed by a asteroid are close to the same.... JMO

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 5, 2018)



Reactions: Like 3 | Way Cool 2


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## rocky1 (Feb 6, 2018)

Same deal with your public water supply. Require them to sample, if sample results test positive for Coliform Bacteria, they are required to post public notice in every major newspaper serving the system. 9 times out of 10 Coliform bacteria in a water sample is the result of a sampling error. You touched the rim of the sample jar, layed the lid of the jar down on the kitchen counter, bumped the neck of the jar on the bottom of the faucet.

Coliform bacteria are EVERYWHERE in the air you breathe, on virtually every surface you touch in non-clinical environment, on your clothes, on your skin, and they are for the most part harmless. But, your water system is required to post public notice and make a big damn deal of it, if for some reason that harmless bacteria happens to wind up in a sample jar, and notify you that your drinking water had bacteria in it a week ago. Two weeks ago in the case of weekly newspapers.

We as a society have allowed those who think they know more than us, to create an overwhelming sense of "We're gonna die!" over everything we do.


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## Alan Sweet (Feb 7, 2018)

@rocky1..... When I was in grad school back in 70s, the chemistry department ran an honors class for some hot shot and very intelligent chemistry graduate students. The school was Iowa State University; a science and tech school at the time. The objective of the class was to take a gallon of water from a stream that ran into a major river in the state. They wanted to see how many of the natural elements they could test for and detect in the water. The results made every one happy at the quantity of elements detected and at the minute level they were able to detect. The effort took well over a year. Something like 56 of the first 80 elements in the periodic table and at levels so minute they had never been detected at such low levels. The students were proud, the teachers were proud, the department published them happily and the school praised them.

The news media..... "Arsenic found in Des Moines water supply. .... " Iowa State University confirmed that they had discovered the deadly poison, arsenic, in the city's water supply. " blah,blah, blah

My opinion of the media and reporters is some what lower than my opinion of lawyers and politicians.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 2


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## ClintW (Feb 7, 2018)

I got a thick Apple stump 2 years ago. Cutting the pieces to exclude a large portion of the pith area really helped. I waxed all open sides of the pieces also. The pieces did shrink quite a bit but I kept them not too large maybe 6 to 8 in across and full length. A majority of the pieces have yet to crack and look pretty good. It had been sitting down cut for a few months so the ends were checked I made sure to cut them off sufficiently. Only lost a few pieces pretty happy with it.


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## DKMD (Feb 9, 2018)

Nice score on the apple! I’d be tempted to turn something thin from the fresh wood and let it warp... I’ve turned some crabapple locally, and it turns like a dream.


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## Gixxerjoe04 (Feb 9, 2018)

DKMD said:


> Nice score on the apple! I’d be tempted to turn something thin from the fresh wood and let it warp... I’ve turned some crabapple locally, and it turns like a dream.


Well of course when I cut everything up, I split two pieces with my chainsaw and got home only to realize they had someone already split, not from drying, just couldn’t tell when cutting. Thought about trying a hf but have only made one so far.


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## Mr. Peet (Feb 10, 2018)

I milled several, but they were 6-8' logs, 12"-16" diameters. Cut 10 & 12 quarter thick. Waxed the ends and waited 5 and a half years, then sold the blanks. Had 20-30 loss. Dad said that Disston always aged apple for 20-50% longer than maple, and in full length planks. Maybe I rushed a little. Not sure that helps any...


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