Bradford pear

[Mauser06]

I know pear is favored for it's carving and used once in a while. 


I have a couple Bradford Pear trees in the front yard.  They are well over grown and notorious for blowing down....

I'm going to speed the process along here before they get leaves. 


Like most pear trunks, there isn't a ton there to get blanks from...but maybe. 


I have a good sized shop and not using much of it right now.


Is it worth while to drag the trunks in and seal the ends and forget about them a few years and then see if there's a stocks hidden inside? 

Don't know if Bradford pear is worthwhile or not...seems like guys use it for turning and such.

I don't know if it's ever related to fruit pear. As far as I know they are purely a landscape tree...and I hate them lol. The flowers in the spring kill my allergies.  They hold their leaves till like January...and they love to fall down and create a giant mess.

[Eric Kettenburg]

They are very fast-growing and most fast-growing trees do not make good gunstock wood, being on the softer side.  I have not tried to use it for anything but just based upon my firewood experience, it is much softer than a fruit pear or apple wood.

[Sawfiler]

I wonder how your going to get a straight enough section of trunk. These usually fork out pretty quickly from the ground. Fruit trees as a general rule have very little grain which is one of the reasons they are preferred  for carving - nothing much to split out. Apple, cherry, peach, pear are all similar in the amount of ‘grain’ they exhibit and tend to be fairly dense woods in their best state. I don’t see an issue with it if you can find a clear chunk big enough for a stock. But like any other wood - some is good stuff and some is junk. Depends on how the tree grew.

[Mauser06]

Thanx!  Wasn't sure if the wood was different or not.  The tree grows kinda shaped like a pear tree...bark is kinda similar from what I remember grandma's fruit pear to have. 


Sawfiler, you're absolutely right. I doubt there's a longrifle stock inside. Was thinking maybe pistols or half stocks.  Just be kinda cool to make something from a tree from my first house.  Everything else I have is oak.  Except a small maple someone planted 5-10 years ago.


Still may save the trunks and see what the wood is like...if nothing else, it's supposed to turn well and might make nice turkey pots. 

[webradbury]

I salvaged some sections that were cut from a tree that exploded due to a stiff 10mph hurricane force wind (sarcasm). When I slabbed it, the wood was gorgeous with very curly figure. Unfortunately, it turned out to be very light and just went to pieces when I put a rasp to it. Not in a good way either. Lots of tear out and I just couldn’t work with it.

[Mauser06]

..... one of the reasons I want to help them along. It's inevitable that it'll happen. Just a matter of what day they decide to go. They weren't maintained and now can probably reach power lines to the south and my house to the north.



I will probably save the trunks a couple years just to see.  The shop has a wood burner so ultimately, that's where they'll end up anyways.

[Goo]

Get the trunk out by the roots, you stand a better chance to  get grain to follow through the wrist.

[Stoner creek]

I’m an Arborist by trade. It is agreed with all of my peers in this profession that the Bradford Pear (a non-native and invasive species) is the cock roach of the tree world and that it’s only good purpose is firewood or ground into mulch.
While it’s noble to want to not want to waste anything, this is one not to spend your time and talent on.

[Jim Kibler]

I've built guns from bradford pear and have a totally different experience than what has been conveyed above.  Although I've found the growth rings to be pretty broad, it's been extremely hard and dense wood with good strength.  It's worked beautifully and been very appealing when finished.  Maybe I've just been lucky in working with good trees.  One was actually from Walace Gusler who had a tree blow over in his garden.  Here's a link to a gun I built from it:  https://www.jimkibler.net/rifle-3.html

Jim

[T*O*F]

I had one blow down in the yard and decided to see what its potential was.  The sap gummed up my band saw blade so bad that it ruined it.  I tried all sorts of things to clean the blade with no success.

[Mauser06]

Interesting to hear different findings. 

Jim, I remembered the pear rifle.  That's literally the only reason I thought to consider saving it and wasn't sure if it was Bradford of fruit pear you had used. 

Your work and thinking has been inspirational an influence on me since I've gotten into this realm. Not afraid to step out of bounds a little bit...you used Bradford Pear because you had it available and probably like me, why not look into using it?  If it's good hard wood and won't fail...why not? 

I call it being resourceful...and I can probably bet the farm 250yrs ago if Beck had titanium rivets on hand not copper ones, he'd used them for the nose cap we often go round and round about. I wouldn't use Bradford pear and try to claim a bench copy of a Haines. But as Jim has shown, you can make a beautiful functional rifle from it.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I've never heard of Bradford pear, but I'm familiar with Bartlet pear...

[SingleMalt]

So, what variety of pear tree is suitable for stocks?

[Robert Wolfe]

Taylor - Bradford pear is a fast growing ornamental that bears only small very stunted fruit.