A is for Apricot

[michaelwayneharwood]

My cousin recently texted me with a message that read "I am taking down a pair of apricot trees - want the wood?". I was able to glean a fair amount of potentially viable raw materials, and today I started the milling process with a chainsaw. It's going to be a couple of years before I can do anything with the lumber, but Apricot is pretty and tough to source in sizes that can be used for instrument bodies so I am willing to wait.

There is nothing wide enough to be able to get a one piece body or top out of it, but I can easily pull quite a few 6" to 7" wide pieces I can book match. The thinner logs have gorgeous patterning and I should be able to get wood to make a few necks out of those.

The only problem I can see is that there's not a lot of information on Apricot available, so I will just have to see how well the wood will work for luthiery.

 

[earlysecond]

Michael, Kudos for being that patient. I know that you will have to be but it would likely drive me nuts.

Before I knew anything about wood, I was given some silver maple billets to saw and split to make firewood. I came across this on 5' long billet which was lighter than the rest, it was crotchwood for about 2' of the 5. when I split it, it split too easily. I thought, dang it this stuff is pithy/pulpy and is not going to burn well so I set it aside and we burnt it up in outdoor fires. So NOW I know that was a nice billet of spalted maple, much of which was likely very figured because it was crotch wood and to top it all off, I saw a similar 8/4 slab of basically the same thing on sale on the internet for $500. Well, guess we all learn.

Ironically, I have cut, split and burnt enough perfectly beautiful straight Ash wood to make a hundred nice bodies, no more than that. I had NO idea!

Now that I know, I look for wood that could be used which people have cut. Eventually, I will probably find somewhere or some way to have it processed and start my own raw lumber stash. I know of a couple of local kilns at local yards they would probably run a batch for me at the right price.

I hope someday, years from now, to see your apricot bass!

Regards,
Brent

 

[rwkeating]

When you come across wood like that, what do you need to do to dry it or how long do you have to let it sit and dry on its own?

 

[Beej]

I've had the opportunity to try quite a few fruit trees, and although my experience with apricot was limited to two trees and not with instrument building, I found them cherry like in workability, and boy did they cup, check, split, warp, twist, bend and every other movement adjective I can think of. Yours look pretty straight though so you might not have the same problems. Its denser and harder than cherry, and polishes up nicely, so it might make a good fingerboard if you can get a nice dry straight piece in time. Yours has similar grain to mine, not crazy busy, but pretty. Don't you just love free unique lumber?

 

[Jisch]

I assume you're going to seal the end grain, it will help prevent cracking. I just climbed up in the garage and looked at how things were going with my black walnut - most looks good, but some has some cracks. I know you can buy some special stuff for sealing end grain, but I just used melted wax that I got at the hardware store, a guy I know who makes violins suggested that instead.

I read that drying time is 1 year for every inch of thickness, that's probably a generalization though. I imagine denser wood takes longer and of course how dry your climate is. I will try to use some of the half inch boards in the fall.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

When you come across wood like that, what do you need to do to dry it or how long do you have to let it sit and dry on its own?

The basics are to get them milled down into reasonably sized raw lumber cuts, and seal the ends to do your best to keep the wood from checking and splitting. I am going to cut it all down to and seal the ends with either wax or paint. The trick is to let the wood dry everywhere else but the end grain. I assume it will be 2 years or more, and will pick up a moisture meter in the next year or so and check it periodically. Here's a good link that explains the process: Invalid Link Removed

I've had the opportunity to try quite a few fruit trees, and although my experience with apricot was limited to two trees and not with instrument building, I found them cherry like in workability, and boy did they cup, check, split, warp, twist, bend and every other movement adjective I can think of. Yours look pretty straight though so you might not have the same problems. Its denser and harder than cherry, and polishes up nicely, so it might make a good fingerboard if you can get a nice dry straight piece in time. Yours has similar grain to mine, not crazy busy, but pretty. Don't you just love free unique lumber?

That's good to know - thanks for the head's up. I figure worst case I will have enough for fingerboards, a few book-matched tops, and other small wood working projects. It's super pretty wood, and it darkens nicely as it dries. I absolutely love the fact that it's wood I helped to cut down, and am doing the milling myself.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Michael, Kudos for being that patient. I know that you will have to be but it would likely drive me nuts.

Before I knew anything about wood, I was given some silver maple billets to saw and split to make firewood. I came across this on 5' long billet which was lighter than the rest, it was crotchwood for about 2' of the 5. when I split it, it split too easily. I thought, dang it this stuff is pithy/pulpy and is not going to burn well so I set it aside and we burnt it up in outdoor fires. So NOW I know that was a nice billet of spalted maple, much of which was likely very figured because it was crotch wood and to top it all off, I saw a similar 8/4 slab of basically the same thing on sale on the internet for $500. Well, guess we all learn.

Ironically, I have cut, split and burnt enough perfectly beautiful straight Ash wood to make a hundred nice bodies, no more than that. I had NO idea!

Now that I know, I look for wood that could be used which people have cut. Eventually, I will probably find somewhere or some way to have it processed and start my own raw lumber stash. I know of a couple of local kilns at local yards they would probably run a batch for me at the right price.

I hope someday, years from now, to see your apricot bass!

Regards,
Brent

I am an wood opportunist. I have several people looking out for some Russian Olive - I *love* that wood. If you look at the top picture you can see a pile of 36" cutoffs of walnut and oak that my father-in-law (FIL) gave me. There's a buddy of his at a mill that had a dumpster of trimmings that he was giving away to my FIL to use as firewood, and he let me pick through it. I found plenty of decent wood that I can use for laminating necks. I even found a few six foot long 4/4 oak boards.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Here are a couple of shots of a piece that has fingerboard potential - forgive the crappy cell phone photos please.

 

[earlysecond]

I need to polish my sense of being opportunistic! Nice score for freebers.

 

[wmhill]

Is there anyone with a dry kiln nearby? It's usually charged by the board footage, so you wouldn't be looking at a huge cost.

 

[Fat Freddy]

Love the idea of building your own from lumber that you've cut yourself.....

Hope all goes well.....And hey...If it doesn't work out, Apricot works great on the BBQ!....

 

[INTP]

Those logs look like they'd be great for woodturning, but I digress.

Remember that every place there is a knot or crotch, you'll have lots of changes in grain orientation. If you don't mind a potential re-do, then you can try using those boards for a fingerboard, but my bet would be that as the wood moves with changes in moisture, those variations in grain orientation will not be your friend.

FWIW, I dabble with woodworking, but have not YET applied it to luthierie. But based on my semi-ignorant understanding of wood movement, my vote would be to use this wood for a surface layer on the face of the body with a solid, less figured wood for the body itself.

Now that it's sawn into boards, maybe make some live-edge furniture or shelves out of it? Turning the logs would be tons of fun, but woodturning as a hobby is a vortex of time and money (but in a good way).

 

[DOMIT]

Love the idea of building your own from lumber that you've cut yourself.....

Hope all goes well.....And hey...If it doesn't work out, Apricot works great on the BBQ!....

So save your scrap. BBQ wood can be any size or shape.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Is there anyone with a dry kiln nearby? It's usually charged by the board footage, so you wouldn't be looking at a huge cost.

I have not looked into it - that's a great suggestion! More than likely I will just let the wood dry naturally. I have a TON of projects I need to get to, and waiting one to two years is not a hardship. Considering wood the standard wood drying formula of 1" per year I might be able to make use of the thinner stock (.5" or so) sooner than later.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Those logs look like they'd be great for woodturning, but I digress.

Remember that every place there is a knot or crotch, you'll have lots of changes in grain orientation. If you don't mind a potential re-do, then you can try using those boards for a fingerboard, but my bet would be that as the wood moves with changes in moisture, those variations in grain orientation will not be your friend.

FWIW, I dabble with woodworking, but have not YET applied it to luthierie. But based on my semi-ignorant understanding of wood movement, my vote would be to use this wood for a surface layer on the face of the body with a solid, less figured wood for the body itself.

Now that it's sawn into boards, maybe make some live-edge furniture or shelves out of it? Turning the logs would be tons of fun, but woodturning as a hobby is a vortex of time and money (but in a good way).

I agree completely, though I have to say I am willing to take a chance on a personal instrument build. Fingerboards will tolerate some movement, but from what I have been able to research so far Apricot moves a fair amount. I won;t know until I give it a try, and I am *very* willing to experiment in general. I am hoping to be able to pull a few tops out of the wood that I can lay down over a darker wood like Walnut, or Pau Ferro. Worst case scenario I have some lovely wood for projects like you mentioned....boxes, shelves, etc.

I have a design for a fairly unique acoustic guitar that I think would be gorgeous with an Apricot top, though "acoustic" in the traditional sense does not really describe the guitar fully. It's more of a multi soundboard chambered affair.

 

[Rôckhewer]

. It's more of a multi soundboard chambered affair.

can't wait to see / hear this^^^

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I spent some more time with the chainsaw today, and the more I practice the easier it gets. I am lacking significantly in the skill of making cuts that maximize the wood yield, but as with anything the more you do something the better the results. The process I am following is three fold:

1. Get rough cuts with the chainsaw, as in the first few pictures below.
2. Use power tools to shape the wood into "lumber". I found that using my jointer and table saw gave me the best results in the least amount of time. The last photo in the below montage shows what I am aiming for.
3. Paint the ends and stack for drying

I can say that I *really* like the look of the wood, and I am hopeful that at the end of the road I will have something nice to work with. Time will be the tell....

\

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

can't wait to see / hear this^^^

It will be based on the Weald system I have developed. Based on my results I am confident I will be able to pull off a chambered guitar that not only sounds very nice, but also has a modular voicing system. I am in the end stages of finalizing the circuit design, and once I get the three customer builds I have on my workbench finished I will be focusing primarily on that. Like I said - it will be unique.

 

[Jisch]

Looks great!

 

[yoshi]

Wow! I dream of doing this one day, good work!