Bradford Pear

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
13" OD Bradford Pear bowl. The bowl was soak in 50% solution Ajax dishwashing liquid for 5 days thus the red tint. Finish sanded to 400 grit. Homemade grit wax applied and then topped with Osmo.

Comments and critiques welcomed.

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drw

Donn
Corporate Member
Gene, my only comment is WOW, beautifully done! I had no idea that Bradford Pear could result in such a beautiful tone...Thanks for sharing.
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Donn,
Thank you. Sometimes a blind hog....

Robert,
Thank you
 

Pop Golden

New User
Pop
Hi Gene, That's one good looking bowl! I've got to get some Bradford Pear and try my luck. How does pear turn?

Pop
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Pop,
It turns great. The wood tends to be soft and I found it important to sharpen frequently. That's probably just a good habit to have anyway. Use a soft touch when sanding as it 'gouges' easily. This was very wet wood and really dirtied up the tools, tool rest, live center and the bed ways.

Sam,
Someone gave some to me, a mixture of bees wax, mineral spirits, and diatomaceous earth (I think). Lots of recipes out there. Yorkshire Grit tends to be expensive to me.

Matt,
I soak in soap to cut down on cracking although the Bradford Pear seems to do okay with or without. This bowl was cut from the next up from the bottom log cut. The bottom log was a little punky so I didn't spend a lot of energy on that. If you look at the light spot toward the rim of the bowl that is the only about a 1/4-1/2" inch from the pith, and it was about to get punky. This was the only piece of the 10-15 bowls I turned from this tree that got soaped. Usually I soap about everything.
 
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tri4sale

Daniel
Corporate Member
Beautiful. I may have finally found a use for those trees. They stink when blooming!

best thing I did was cut mine down before they split and took out my fence. And since gone, I've noticed a big drop in mosquitoes in the yard, and the yard doesn't stink in the spring!
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
RE: Ajax soap

"YMMV!" I soaked some Tupelo in the same batch of soap and it came out unstained.
 

awldune

Sam
User
Someone gave some to me, a mixture of bees wax, mineral spirits, and diatomaceous earth (I think). Lots of recipes out there. Yorkshire Grit tends to be expensive to me.

It certainly is expensive (cheaper across the pond I think?) so a DIY recipe is interesting. Thanks!
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
best thing I did was cut mine down before they split and took out my fence. And since gone, I've noticed a big drop in mosquitoes in the yard, and the yard doesn't stink in the spring!

I say they have ~30 seconds of blooming but I may be off by a minute or two. LOL.
 

Dee2

Board of Directors, Vice President
Gene
Staff member
Corporate Member
Jim, thanks.

Charlie, it is nice. Wish I had saved more and retired sooner.
 

tvrgeek

Scott
Corporate Member
Great to see a good used for one. Very nice. Lousy as a tree. :D For those who do not know the history, Bradford said they were pretty, not strong.
 

JonB

Jon
User
Very nice bowl, nice shape. I've turned some Bradford Pear also and as you noted, is scratches easily when sanding.
One note on the soap soak, you can get clear soap in big bottles at Costco. I soak wet wood in a 50/50 mixture of the Costco dish washing soap and water, works really well to prevent cracking and also lubricates when finish turning and sanding. The dust seems to fall when sanding rather than clouding in the air.
 

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