[bcarvings]

Hi,
A few of my trees in my yard where blown over by wind, and/or struck by lighting. The trees names are 'Flowering Pair'. I can't seem to find it in any books. Also I only know of one website that sells them. I want to dry them and then carve them, or make tables out of them. Why are these 'Flowering Pairs' not used for carving? What is the wood used for, I have unbeleiveable amounts of this wood and won't throw it away. Thank you

[Colin_Partridge]

bcarvings,
Do you mean Flowering Pear if so yes its quite carvable in fact it carves really nice. The only problem with it is that it checks really bad I posted a picture of a carving I did out of a wild Flowering Pear I believe its on the woodspirit album it was in the spring. The heart wood it a beautiful peach color I had a lot of fun carving it.
Colin

[Colin_Partridge]

Sorry I was having a seniors moment disregard the last post. It was wild plum that I carved not wild pear.
Colin ??? ??? ???

I believe it's called a Bradford Pear. I have read someplace (maybe here) that pear is carvable.

You should strip the bark off and seal the ends of the pieces before drying them. Depending on the thickness, it could take several years for it to completely dry.

[AlArchie]

I believe there was an evaluation of pear wood a couple years back in WCI in which it was given 3 1/2 stars.....maybe it was 3, but I do remember it was reated as an excellent carving wood. I remember because my neighbor cut one down and asked me about it right after the mag came out. Unfortunatley the trunk of his was badly deteriorated so I never did get to try.

Al

[squbrigg]

Pear is a very fine grained wood, hard and is perfect for ship modelling. It can be carved and carved well, but it a very hard wood, so your tool angle needs to be adjusted.

Prepare your wood now, as soon as it has been cut down. Get the bark off, slab it and split/cut it into manageable size billits and wax the ends, then stack them using spacers to dry and let the air circulate around and through them. In a couple of years they'll be perfect. Some suggest that you can carve them green and they are probably correct, but I like my wood dry and stable first.

Pear is a ship modellers dream , so if you have some left over, my address is............

Good luck with your 'windfall', better than any lottery!

Bob

I second everything squbrigg said: I've had a bit of experience with the stuff and it will check badly unless you do as he says. I do recommend spliting it with wedges vice sawing it. The reason is that when split with wedges, it will split with the grain, usually along a grain line that would normally check. Whereas if you saw it, you violate those grain lines. Around here you can get wedges in Wal-Mart for a couple dollars. A pair should set you back less that $10.

[Cut_Fingers]

I tried doing some carving on a Pear wood limb, which was green. I was shapping it with a Dremmel tool.

The wood was so hard, I finally threw the 10 inch limb section away. I guess so much for working with green wood.

This is a hobby where you live and learn and learn and learn.

[squbrigg]

Ohhhh noooo! Throw wood away!!! Pear wood at that!!! Pull my hear out and thump my head on a wall ........blasphemy!

Green wood will dry, just needs a little time and patience. What a beautiful wood Pear is too! Power carve it lad, but never throw it away. :'( Just think of all those beautiful ship model carvings I could do with Pear!

Bob

[Cut_Fingers]

Hey Bob, I realize now that throwing away the pear wood was probably a sin. I was a BAAAD Boy :-[

However, my Mother has a couple of Pear trees on her property which have branches that break off annually.

Do you suggest me collecting those and letting them set for a year or so before trying to work with them.

I just about ruined several of my Dremmel bits working on that last piece. I don't think they are large enough to make ships. The branches are typically less than an inch or 2 in diameter.

Thanks for your in-sights.