Peach / Apricot Wood

[crash]

A neighbouring orchard has sold up and the new owner is going to rip out all of its trees in the near future, and I have full access to it.

I like to dabble in wood working, and was thinking of cutting out some of the main trunks to eventually make something out of.

Will it really be worth it in the end? as alot of the trunks are not all that long (probalby 500 to 700mm in useable length) and maybe 300 to 400mm diam. But I do like to make small boxes which I thought the wood would be best suited for.

I have a friend who is a wood turner who is going to cut out some stuff for his own use.

Would there be a market for such small pieces?

If all else fails I would have a huge supply of fire wood.

[jx2mad]

Hi. I am dabbling in this activity too. If you have a lathe the wood would make some nice bowls, goblets etc. Jim

[Landy Smurf]

market as in selling the wood or market as in selling what you make from the wood?
I think it would look quite nice though

[87County]

If you have somewhere to store it and dry it I wouldn't hesitate

Are you equipped to mill it into storeable sizes ?

It can be done with a chainsaw and then there are portable mills like :

Lucas Portable Sawmill - YouTube

[goingbush]

Best to use it for woodturning rather than furniture, make lathe blanks by cutting into sections and dipping the ends in hot wax, or paint with hot wax, this seals the grain and stops it drying too fast and cracking. will take about 2 years to dry out,

cured wood turning blanks are very expensive

SELECTED TURNING SQUARES (http://www.thewoodsmith.com.au/thewoodsmith/selected_turning_squares.htm)


There is a fortune gone up in smoke, all that gidgee and lancewood bulldozed and left to rot or burned in central QLD, Ive fetched $30 on ebay for a turning blank, most people see it as waste or firewood

[loanrangie]

Would be good for smoking meats with ;).

[goingbush]

Would be good for smoking meats with ;).

Indeed, .... especially with the wood shaving waste from the lathe.

or cut it lengthways with a chainsaw when green, save & dry the shavings.

there must an easier way to make shavings ???

[shorty943]

I have a guitar I am building, the side wings are of apricot wood, it's hard, solid, beautifully grained and multi coloured.
I'd say cut, season and stash as much of it as you can find room for.

[crash]

market as in selling the wood or market as in selling what you make from the wood?
I think it would look quite nice though
Market for selling the wood.

[crash]

If you have somewhere to store it and dry it I wouldn't hesitate

Are you equipped to mill it into storeable sizes ?

It can be done with a chainsaw and then there are portable mills like :

Lucas Portable Sawmill - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuxVre4WJeU)
A bandsaw is all I will need, the logs are not that big.

[crash]

Indeed, .... especially with the wood shaving waste from the lathe.

or cut it lengthways with a chainsaw when green, save & dry the shavings.

there must an easier way to make shavings ???
I have thought about this as well, but creating the shavings would be the hard part - maybe with an electic plane set to a thick cut? With a cahinsaw you risk oil contamination from the bar oil.

Looks I could be busy over the next few weeks.

The other tought is the smaller pieces could be pen blanks.

[Bigbjorn]

There is a fortune gone up in smoke, all that gidgee and lancewood bulldozed and left to rot or burned in central QLD, Ive fetched $30 on ebay for a turning blank, most people see it as waste or firewood

Gidgee is THE firewood. Often former Winton residents when returning to town for a holiday, wedding, funeral, etc. would tow an empty trailer out to fill up with gidgee. Produces very hot coals and reduces to a fine white ash. Camp cooks always had the horse tailer bring in some gidgee for the fire.

There is no shortage of gidgee scrub in the west. Get yourself out there and cut a load. It is as hard as hell and blunts chainsaws smartly.

[DeeJay]

I have thought about this as well, but creating the shavings would be the hard part - maybe with an electic plane set to a thick cut? With a cahinsaw you risk oil contamination from the bar oil.

Looks I could be busy over the next few weeks.

The other tought is the smaller pieces could be pen blanks.


You can use vegetable oil instead of engine oil.:)

[bell1975]

I have thought about this as well, but creating the shavings would be the hard part - maybe with an electic plane set to a thick cut? With a cahinsaw you risk oil contamination from the bar oil.

Looks I could be busy over the next few weeks.

The other tought is the smaller pieces could be pen blanks.

x 2 for pen blanks. I'll buy a dozen off you.

Maybe try and find some trees that already have some dead wood on them (or fully dead) as they will be dry and more desirable to sell as blanks - woodturners usually want dry (stable) timber so they can use it straightaway, well, I do, on the odd occasion that I get into my lathe shed.

Sigh. I really should tidy up that shed one day soon. Kick out the snakes and spiders and do the acrylic pen that I told my wife I'd do ahem, cough, er, ahem 2 cough, years, ahem, ago.

[Slunnie]

Maybe try and find some trees that already have some dead wood on them (or fully dead) as they will be dry and more desirable to sell as blanks - woodturners usually want dry (stable) timber so they can use it straightaway, well, I do, on the odd occasion that I get into my lathe shed.


Depending on what the blank is for, some items like dishes and bowls can be carefully microwave seasoned.

[Tank]

I would be very wary of working with that wood, I don't know how old this wood is but it will be full of every known Pesticide and Herbicide known to man. If old enough (50/60's) could have DDT, Agent Orange/White, Tordon, you don't know, it will have at least been sprayed with a chlorine based spray and if you burn it you will produce Dioxins. Unless the orchadist was a deadset organic farmer you will be playing with a witches brew of toxic carcinogens and beware if he decides to burn it off, because if this crap lands on your property you will own it forever, would be lovely smoking food with that brew, regards Frank.

[Bigbjorn]

Ummm, Agent Orange, Tordon, 5-T40 were used to kill trees. Not likely to contain those. However chlorinated hydrocarbons like DDT, BHC, Gammexane, Lindane were poured onto crops of all kinds from the late 1940's on. These actually saved the sugar industry in Far North Queensland. Not good for people and animals though. Even so, they were used on livestock in volumes that stagger the imagination today now that we know more about the long term effects.

[Tank]

Quote: "Agent Orange, Tordon, 5-T40 were used to kill trees."

Brian, agreed, but those herbicides were used to kill weeds and woody scrub before the orchard trees were planted and to keep weeds down when they had established trees, not nice stuff, regards Frank.