Apple wood worth milling?

[teepeeat]

Morning all

A friend has had an apple tree come down a couple of weeks ago so wondering if the stem is worth milling? It will yield a straight log about 2,5m long x 350mm in diameter, roughly 8' x14" in old money.

If so, what size is best to mill to?

If not, what other uses are there for it - turning? Would also yield a few branches 8 - 10" in diameter.

He might be happy to sell it if there is interest - located in west Gloucestershire

 

[Tree monkey 1682]

Firewood, ud be amazed whats been sent..ive cut up 2ft round by straight 8ft yew before because of lack of interest. Problem with wood turner's is they want kiln dried perfect timber and not to pay for it .

[Bob_z_l]

I'd mill it if it was given to me...i.e free.
As said, wood turners want an almost fully finished product. Takes time and effort for next to no reward.

 

From the dimensions , If I were milling for me, Id be trying for 30-40mm boards. With the long view they might make shelves or maybee's biscuit joint them together to make a table top. 

Saying all that, it would be for me as hobby.

 

[Muddy42]

Any fruit wood tends to have beautiful grain so its worth investigating.  That said demand is weak at best for smaller stuff.

[jimboy]

I had large sections of both pear and cherry wood which I would have considered ideal for wood turners - but despite advertising for sale had no takers. Found a new market for fruit wood though when Polish neighbours asked if I had any cherry wood for their smoker. Cut and dried it as per firewood then cut into chunks and sold as wood chunks for smoking food in bbq's. 

[ucoulddoit]

In terms of value, I bought three large apple tree trunks at an orchard in Worcester which was being cleared and they were £20 each. Must be 12 to 15 years ago now. They were about 4 feet long and 22 inches diameter. Interestingly, the tree surgeon was paying the orchard to do the work as the value of apple for firewood made it worthwhile working that way. My recollection is he had fulfilled his quota for firewood and I guess was selling off what was left pretty cheaply to be rid of it?

 

I should add that it was a 900 mile round trip for me to collect these logs and bring them home, so a big investment! I’d never seen sound apple logs with this large a diameter before. Doubt there are many people around though that would have thought what I did was worth doing?

 

 

Milled the logs in different ways as I was conscious apple has a reputation for distortion and splitting. So a mix of wide thick and thin planks, plus smaller sections and I was hoping at least some of it would survive. Still haven’t used any of it, but I was looking at it just a few days ago and it’s all dried with minimal defects although quite a bit of distortion. Instead of a ‘standard’ design’, planning to develop a design, for one or more pieces of furniture, that can make good use of the unusually large sizes of apple timber that I’ve ended up with. If that works out, it will all have been worthwhile to me.

 

 

Fruitwoods tend to be awkward to mill and dry without lots of waste as already mentioned. Following photo is a plank from a small, 12 inch cherry tree I milled about 30 years ago. Would anyone want to buy a plank like that? I’ve kept it, for sentimental reasons as it was a tree my parents had planted at the house my dad built where I grew up. I guess someone will chop it up for firewood once I’m no longer around……?

 

 

But the tree did yield some useable timber in smallish sections from which I made the table below. So, worth milling small fruitwoods in my opinion, but probably on a hobby basis?

 

 

About 10 years ago I bought a plum log off a tree surgeon via Arbtalk. Paid £40 for the log which was 6 feet long and averaged 12 inches diameter. But it wasn’t perfect as there was obviously rot at the top. I ended up with 3 feet of sound timber and nice looking planks 5 to 6 inches wide. Still haven’t used these planks, but they have dried with minimal defects.

 

The following link should go to the thread about milling this plum log which I reckon is a safe way of milling small fruitwoods such as plum, apple, cherry and pear to minimise distortion and splitting. I’ve used this pattern of milling on small apple logs and it has worked fine. Plank thicknesses were 1 ½ inches plus a 2 inch plank through the centre. The log was halved, and the heart cut out, so no wide boards, but I feel that’s the best way forwards with small stuff to minimise defects.

 

Damson - Woodcraft Forum - Arbtalk | The Social Network For Arborists

 

Andrew

[teepeeat]

Morning, thanks for the comments, esp the interesting experience from Ucoulddoit. Food for thought. 

Ill see what he wants to do with it, but fancy having a go at it myself just to see what its like inside. 

Have read that it is common for the centre to rot and that apple moves a lot while seasoning.

[gobbypunk]

Yeah I have milled Apple, Pear and Plum got to strap them tight when drying they love to twist and crack but I did end up with some nice boards still got some for sale if anyone is interested 

[ucoulddoit]

On 23/04/2026 at 17:09, ucoulddoit said:

In terms of value, I bought three large apple tree trunks at an orchard in Worcester which was being cleared and they were £20 each. Must be 12 to 15 years ago now. They were about 4 feet long and 22 inches diameter. Interestingly, the tree surgeon was paying the orchard to do the work as the value of apple for firewood made it worthwhile working that way. My recollection is he had fulfilled his quota for firewood and I guess was selling off what was left pretty cheaply to be rid of it?

 

I decided to follow up my previous post on this thread as I had a proper look at the pieces of apple, cherry, plum and pear which I’ve had for many years. Specifically, to measure the distortions, see where it’s split, and see how much usable timber there is, with a view to deciding how I’ll use it. Collecting and milling these fruitwoods has been a bit of an experiment. Happy to pass on what I found out. It’s a long post!

 

Many of the planks are still unused, so far, but the first two pictures are a project that I have finished. A very small apple log was dried and the wood made into small building blocks plus a box. I’d arranged a visit to family about 200 miles away and they’d heard on the grapevine that my trip would coincided with felling an apple tree in a friend of a friends garden.  It was about a foot diameter and 4 to 5 feet to the first branches. Sounded promising, but unfortunately when we arrived, it had been ringed into short pieces! The tree surgeon had advised the home owner that their insurance wouldn’t cover felling it in one piece. Not sure if I believe that and maybe they just wanted the job finished without the risk of being called back if I didn’t take it?

 

As I was there, I took away the short pieces, the longest being about 15 inches from memory. I immediately coated both ends with PVA and applied several coats as each coat dried. Back home, I cut it into small pieces as shown in the picture below.

 

 

It all dried without defects, in particular no end splits, so no waste, and I used it to make a set of small building blocks for my sister’s children. The box was one of the other short pieces, but cut through and through. Such a shame it hadn’t been 4 to 5 feet long!

 

 

 

Before going on to look at the large apple logs, the next pictures are a small pear log. It was 9 inches diameter and 22 inches long. I was given it by a firewood merchant from whom I’d bought several ‘trees’ a few years previously and he was really pleased to see pictures of furniture made from his ‘firewood’.

 

He’d had the pear log for a few years and had painted the ends, but it looked like just a single coat of emulsion paint. He’d left it in the round and as it dried and shrank, it split along it’s length, see picture below. So it didn’t look very promising when he gave it to me. I was hoping the one large split along it’s length might have relieved the shrinkage stresses in the rest of the log, but once I cut into it, found small splits throughout.

 

 

I flattened one side on my planer and cut it into ‘planks’ on my bandsaw, then stacked it in the workshop to see if it would dry further without more splits and defects.

 

Following pictures are the end result. Long splits from both ends and a few splits caused by being dried in the round. Not much usable timber! Really disappointing.

 

 

 

If the ends had been sealed with several coats of PVA soon after felling and if the log had been halved or quartered along it’s length (freehand with a chainsaw for instance) it would probably have yielded some good usable, though small pieces, of pear timber.

 

Back now to the large apple logs which I milled in different ways. First picture is a through and through slab, about 2 ¾ inches thick and 20 inches wide. There are splits along the centreline from both ends and it has cupped significantly. Still a fair amount of useable timber and I guess a wood turner would get a couple of large bowl blanks from the centre and smaller pieces at the ends. But for furniture making, I think splitting it into two down the centre before drying would have yielded more usable timber for that end result.

 

 

These planks have stayed dead straight from end to end with about 15mm twist. But the cupping is about 20mm.

 

 

Picture below is the plank after wetting which gives an idea of colour, especially the darker heart which is something I was hoping for.

 

 

Next pictures are two planks from the top / outside of the log, about 5 inches max thickness. They were milled as one piece then split using a small chainsaw for a free hand cut following the curved centreline. As can be seen, they’ve dried without splits, very little waste and a mix of the pale and darker wood. Hoping these can be re-sawn into smaller pieces for long curved legs on a cabinet one day.

 

 

Next picture is a chunky piece about 4 x 7 inches. A bit twisted, but otherwise should be possible to re-saw it into long pieces.

 

 

Next picture is a 2 inch thick slab. Quite significant cupping, but not much splitting at the ends. Could probably plane this into a single piece about 1 ¼ inches thick and a foot wide, so quite wasteful. But a nice looking plank.

 

 

Next picture are book matched pairs of short planks, about 2 feet long, 2 ¾ inches thick and 8 inches wide. Nice looking planks and they are flat and defect free!

 

 

Next picture is a selection of short squarish and rectangular pieces, typically 2 ¾ inches thick. No obvious defects, but quite small for furniture making, but probably good for turning?

 

 

The next few pictures are quite different. The reason why some of the previous pieces were quite short was that I cross cut one of the three large apple logs to get two rings about a foot long. These were then halved and after painting several coats of PVA on both ends, they were ‘milled’ on my vertical bandsaw into curved pieces more or less following the growth rings. I’d glued a paper pattern onto one end as a guide. See picture below.

 

 

Pretty sure the significant distortion with apple wood (and other fruit woods) is because the radial and tangential shrinkage during drying is significantly different and more than other species which stay much flatter. So, with these thin pieces, the radial shrinkage is across the section around the curve and the tangential shrinkage follows the line of the curve. That’s the (my) theory anyway.

 

Picture below is one of the dried bundles and the curved pieces still more or less fit together as I’d hoped.

 

 

But what can be done with curved bits of wood? Pictures below are this bundle stacked one on top of the other, almost 8 feet high! Next picture is a finished version with shelves, all in burry elm made at least 15 years ago (this picture was posted previously). Looks good fixed to a wall in the corner of a room. Next picture is a work in progress using walnut with wide pale sapwood. The design was inspired by a piece made by Tim Stead. Looks good, but very time consuming sanding the pieces smooth on both curved faces. I’m sure the curved pieces could be used in other ways.

 

 

 

 

 

Following pictures are the plum planks. They stayed pretty flat, dead straight along their length, but twisted along the length. Lovely colour. See pictures below.

 

 

 

 

The twist is about half an inch, so if the whole plank is planed and thicknessed by taking off half that on opposite corners, it will reduce the overall thickness by about a quarter of an inch, i.e. 1 ½ inches down to between 1 to 1 ¼ inches. I usually cut a milled slab or plank into smaller pieces to suit a cutting list before planing and thicknessing them and that reduces the waste as the twist will be less on shorter and narrower pieces. That works fine with large slabs. But these are quite small to start with, so there will be a fair amount of waste.

 

Perhaps with more weight on top the twist would have been less. But I find it’s a balance between allowing for some distortion instead of preventing any movement which could cause splitting. The shrinkage forces have to go somewhere, distortion or splits.

 

The next pictures are two cherry trees from a garden, felled and milled over 20 years ago. I was given these in response to an advert ‘tree trunks wanted by woodworker’. A couple not far from home had hand sawn all the branches off the trees in their garden, but couldn’t manage to cut through the trunks. I felled the trunks with a small chainsaw, then dragged them through the garden over ply boards and tipped them end over end into the back of our estate car.

 

One of the trees was bent and the milled planks were bent and split. Could easily have been passed over as firewood, see picture below.

 

 

I was determined to use the timber after drying and used the bends as the basis for the design of a hall table which also incorporates spalted beech from a firewood merchant, cedar of lebanon and lime from a local estate, plus quarter sawn oak from somewhere I can’t remember now. Some of these timbers were band sawn into veneers and glued to a plywood base as I was running short of the cherry and lime. Picture below is the end result which has been my avatar since joining arbtalk.

 

 

The second cherry tree from that garden is perhaps the best fruitwood timber I’ve ever milled and dried. About 4 feet long, milled into 2 inch planks and the widest are 12 to 13 inches. All of it has stayed flat, dead straight along it’s length and no splits apart from one plank with the heart running through it. Should have split that plank in half and boxed out the pith. Nice colour and grain patterns. Has been stored in a dry environment for I guess 20 years now. Too good to use! But getting around to it ……..

 

 

 

And finally, the first log I ever milled about 43 years ago was a cherry about 40 inches long by a foot diameter. It had been felled by my in laws in their garden 45 years ago, to make space for a small marquee in the garden for my wife’s sister’s wedding reception. So it had sentimental value. With no past experience of milling and drying timber, it was sawn through and through in various thicknesses. I hugely under estimated the distortion during drying and much of it ended up as firewood. No photos unfortunately, but non of the ¼ inch thick planks I’d hoped would be good for panels were useable. Nor were the ½ inch planks. From the 1 and 1 ½ inch planks I managed to salvage some narrow pieces and made the coffee table below. Due to my inexperience, i.e. assuming sawing a log into planks would work out, that was the small amount of useable timber I ended up with from a whole tree!

 

 

So that’s a summary of my experiences milling and drying fruitwoods. Easy to end up with a pile of firewood, but also possible with some care to get some really nice timber. Though not sure if it would be worth it commercially and maybe just a hobby activity?

 

I’d say with fruit woods that it’s important to seal the ends of logs with several coats of PVA soon after felling. That should virtually eliminate end checking which can be very wasteful on short logs. If milling into planks won’t happen for 6 to 12 months, consider splitting a log into halves or quarters, using a bandsaw or by freehand cutting with a chainsaw and stand the cut faces on stickers over a sheet of ply. To minimise waste due to distortion and splits, for end uses of furniture making or other crafts such as box making, I recommend cutting a log in half and sawing planks 1 ½ to 2 inches thick. Perhaps up to 3 inches thick for quarter sawn planks, through the centre of the log centred on the pith and box out the pith to remove it. All these thicknesses of planks can be re-sawn into thinner pieces after drying. I use 20 x 20 stickers spaced not more than 18 inches apart.

 

Looking through this timber has inspired me to start using it!

 

Andrew

 

Edited yesterday at 06:19 by ucoulddoit
Minor changes

[Steven P]

Nice work and write up!