Share the pear

[Shaun]

The fruit wood thread got me thinking about a pear tree I've had my eye on for some time. They say the time to prune is when the knife is sharp... so I got a wild hair and harvested this tree. It will be some time before its dry enough to do any bow building, but its never too early to start thinking about trade goods for next year at MOJam. Bring you trade goods and find this stuff at my set up - usually set up with Littletree down towards the bottom of the hill. I plan to share.

I did go ahead and rough out one half of one of the top row of staves. Made an all sapwood 72" blank with no knots. Much of this stuff will be much more challenging with pin knots and some larger knots, but is was  a straight grained tree and these are all splits except for the closest one which I band sawed in half to make this blank. A few billet pices from the butt log under the rack.





I think some of these will make bows with heart wood and sap wood backing. I know there are plenty of all sap wood prospects.

[Far East Archer]

Mind if I ask....

HOW BIG WAS THIS TREE?!!!

Well, the splits definitely look promising. Good straight grain.
The wood is beautiful btw, Im jealous LOL

Pear is a very nice hard wood. Its density seems quite good being somewhere in the .70 range. You should be able to make very nice bows from it. Heartwood and sapwood combination would be very pretty indeed. Good luck and please post pics of the bows made from it! 

btw, do pear trees grow straight or is this a lucky specimen?

Alex

[Shaun]

The tree was about 10" near the base and it was growing in a crowded forest which forced it up. Many pears have "barber poll" grain twisting up the trunk. The first thing I look for in a potential bow tree is straight sections, the second is bark pattern which indicates the grain direction. The piece I worked down - removed the bark and cut out a blank - gave off a fruit smell when cut.

[Pappy]

Good looking haul,should make a bunch of bows.
   Pappy

[snedeker]

What variety of Pear?

Dave

[The Burnt Hill Archer]

very nice staves ya got there. the contrast of the heartwood to the light sapwood is stunning.

Phil

[Shaun]

Snedeker---The variety is what we called "hard pears" or "frost pears" when I was a kid in Ohio, I think the real name is Keifer pear. They are a full sized tree with a medium sized pear that ripens very late - even after the frost. Good flavor and a bit grainy textured. They tend to self seed like apples in the woods as critters carry them about.

[bcbull]

hey shaun  looks real good you put me down for one of them staves haha ill be set up across from ya again this comin year  where ya got the yew haha   i like the colors of that wood brock