# Suggestions for cutting/marketing rare stuff



## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

I starting to accumulate a number of small exotics. Here's what I've got:

1- 3 cherry burl logs ~6-10" diameter and 6-8' long. This is from a tree that has 3 trunks. They are covered with burls but the burls are thickest near the root. I don't know how deep they go. I would have got pictures but is was so cold I was afraid my camera would freeze so I left it home.

2- Unknown specie small burl log maybe 10" diameter and 10' long.

3- Large bradford pear trunk. I need to get measurements but I'd guess 5' long x 28" D with multiple trunks coming off of it.

4- Holly, 8' L X 6".

5- Plum, 4'L X 5"

6- Peach, 6'L X 7"

7- Apples: 1-4'L X 12" w/crotch, 2- 6'L X5", 1- 4'L X 9" w/crotch

There'll probably be more before I get done with these.

What's your thoughts on cut sizes and marketing?


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## slabmaster (Mar 30, 2008)

There's good money in quartersawn guitar sets.Also gunstock material goes for alot.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

In no particular order: The small burl logs are best not sawn for lumber but somehow made into turning stock, either cookies or 1/2 log sections. Bradford pear is a soft hardwood, plain looking "lumber" but again turners like it because it turns easy wet or dry. Holly is a premium in lumber form...if you saw it fresh felled and get it drying fast. It can dry bone white and makes neat accent pieces. But it is knotty. (trying to get my hands on some 1/2 way clear right now to fill and order, $15 bft) The fruit trees count on some drying issues, they are _all_ gonna want to twist. Apple though is extremely attractive wood, great for even small work like jewelry boxes and such. So if the lumber does get squirrelly don't sweat that, little pieces sell just fine.


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## Daren (Oct 14, 2006)

And what's with all these small diameter logs ? That throws me, much harder to mill and dry.


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## dirtclod (May 7, 2008)

Daren, your ideas are appreciated. I was thinking the same thing on the small stuff - simply split down the pith, cut in lenghts roughly 1X or 2X the resulting thickness, then coat well for sale.

I rescueing them from burn piles, dozers and and chippers. As you know, typically many of these don't grow very big to begin with. The burl logs I couldn't pass on as the dozer is scheduled to get 'em. The holly and pear I'm doing because I can. I'll also be adding any of the larger dogwoods and redbuds I find. I'm also hunting for some yellowwood.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I can't help much with the specie-specific suggestions because I don't have those species around here except for the Bradford Pear trees. But with the less ubiquitous species like that, if you get your images online the buyers will find you. Especially if you post them in this thread. Nathan has been very successful at getting his sites ranked high and it won't be long before anyone using search terms such as pear wood, apple wood, fruit wood, holly wood, peach wood, plum wood, apple turning blanks, apple back and side sets, luthier wood, exotic domestic fruit wood, exotic domestic turning blanks, reel seats, pool cue billets, game call blanks, will land right here in this thread. Especially because I just used some of the terms correctly for you. :icon_cheesygrin: 

Give it a few days use some of these search terms and see how it ranks. Get some images posted as soon as you can also. My dad has a large Bradford pear tree on one of his properties, but it still gives off great fruit and it is pretty old. When I eat one of those chilled pears I think to myself "this is absolutely my favorite fruit!". He chills them in brown bags for a certain amount of days or some such routine which I forget exactly, but man are they great eating. Crispy but not too hard, and it's like a sweet water bomb explosion when you bite into it. Mrs. TT and I both love the taste and texture more than any other fruit. Only downside is he only has the one tree and we have a large family that clamors for them each year and the fruit-bearing window is short.


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