It is hard to find apple trees that are large enough to be used to create lumber since they are frequently cut to keep the fruit low to the ground.
When used, Apple wood has a high rate of shrinking and seasonal movement. It looks and feels a lot like Cherry, which is another fruit tree.
On the other hand, Apple is much heavier and harder than Cherry and is a great wood for turning.
Applewood can be used to make fine furniture, tool handles, carvings, mallet heads, items that are turned, and other small items that are made from specialty woods.
But applewood is hard to work with because it is dense and can easily catch fire when machined.
Apple is easy to glue, stain, finish, and turn.
Apple is sold under other names
Knotty Apple, German Apple, European Apple, Apple Wood, Domestic Apple, Crab Apple, and Crab-apple are other names for this fruit.
Aesthetics
The sap of wood has a lovely creamy tone, and the heart, which is deeper and lighter brown, is also gorgeous.
Availability
North America is not their home. There are sometimes smaller boards.
Applewood is rarely sold as lumber, and when it is, it is usually only in very small sizes.
Pricing
Likely to be quite expensive and usually only used for small projects and specialized applications. Academy stores charge $30 for about a 40-pound bag.
Geography
The National Grid reference and other information about where all the trees are. This species is known and comes from the Central and East Central U.S.
Maintenance
For ornamental crab apple trees, fungicide sprays must be timed to protect new leaves as they emerge in spring.
Unlike the domestic apple, wild apple trees are incredibly hardy.
They don’t need much beyond watering and the occasional pruning to remove suckers that appear at the base of the trunk.
Unlike the domestic apple, wild apple trees are incredibly hardy.
They don’t need much beyond watering and the occasional pruning to remove suckers that appear at the base of the trunk.
Sustainability
This wood species is neither on the CITES Appendices nor the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species; hence it is not considered endangered.
Is Apple hard or softwood
Wood type: hardwood.
Hardwoods, which are angiosperms, have an ovary that holds the ovule or seed.
The apple’s seeds are found inside the apple’s flesh. Apple trees (Malus spp.) are hardwood because of this.
Apple, cherry, citrus, fig, jujube, mulberry, olive, pawpaw, pear, plum, quince, etc., are all hardy fruit trees.
Apple wood stain
You often see a brown stain when cutting through an infected stem.
Remember, those crab apples will fall from fruit trees in the fall and early winter.
When choosing where to plant your weeping crab apple, remember that the fruit’s rotting flesh can stain driveways, sidewalks, and patios.
Wood identification
Depending on the cultivar, trees vary in size, flower color, fruit color, and how they grow and branch out. However, most grow about 20 feet tall and wide.
Some Crab apples have nice colors in the fall, and double-flowered varieties keep their flowers longer than single-flowered ones.
Some crab apples are “alternate bearers,” meaning they only have many flowers every other year. Crabapples are grown because they have beautiful flowers and brightly colored fruit.
Color and appearance
Heartwood can be light red, grayish brown, or darker reddish brown.
Similar to Olive, the grain of Apple sometimes has streaks of darker and lighter colors. Sapwood looks like pale cream.
Endgrain
Porous all over; small to very small pores appear more often in the earlywood zone.
Only one; growth rings are clear, rays aren’t usually visible without a lens, and parenchyma isn’t usually visible.
Flower
The flowers grow in corymbs and have five perfect petals that can be white, pink, or red.
The stamens are usually red and make much pollen; the ovary is half above and half below.
After 50–80 growing degree days, plants bloom in the spring (varying greatly according to subspecies and cultivar).
Flower color: pink; red; white
Flower characteristics: pleasant fragrance; spring flowering; very showy
Fruit
Most places don’t grow a lot of crabapple fruit because it is very sour and, in some species, hard, so it is rarely eaten raw.
Some cultures in Southeast Asia have used it as a sour condiment that is sometimes eaten with salt, chili, or shrimp paste.
Grain and texture
Straight grain (though it can also be wild on some sections of the tree). With a fine, even texture that looks a lot like Cherry.
Leaves
The leaves are between 3 and 10 cm (1.2 and 3.9 in) long, grow in pairs, are simple, and have a serrated edge.
Both the petiole and the lower surface of the leaf are hairless, or there are only a few sparse hairs on the petiole and the leaf margin at the very bottom. Hairs that are stiff and far apart.
Some sparse hairs on the petiole, the lowest parts of the midrib (usually the bottom 20% of the length of the blade), and the lower lateral veins near the leaf base. None on the leaf blade surface. Most hairs are stiff and spread out.
Odor
While being handled, apples give off a subtle yet pleasant aroma.
Tree
At maturity, apple trees are usually 4–12 m (13–39 ft) tall and have a dense, twig-like crown.
Trees grow slowly, so they are usually only cut down when they can’t produce fruit anymore.
Apple wood bark
When young, they are usually smooth, but as they age, they become thin and scaly.
As the tree grows, it will droop and need to be pruned so that cars or people can pass underneath it.
Usually grows with or can be trained to grow with multiple trunks; not very showy; tree wants to grow with numerous trunks but can be trained to grow with just one; no thorns.
Applewood’s pros and cons
In this section, we’ll talk about applewood’s pros and cons and tell you what you need to know before you buy it.
It covers the design and features of applewood. We cover everything from the wood’s quality to the material’s strength.
Rot resistance
Apple is not considered to be durable when it comes to heartwood degradation.
Strength and Durability
Apple has a high inventory shrinkage rate and goes through significant seasonal mobility in its service.
Cherry, another type of fruit tree, comes to mind when considering its beauty and consistency.
However, Apple is considerably heavier and more difficult than Cherry and has great turning properties.
Allergies and toxicity
Apple has not been linked to any additional adverse health effects above and beyond those normally associated with wood dust exposure.
Workability
Because of the great density of apple wood, it can be fairly challenging to deal with and quickly catch fire when machined.
Apple wood works well as glue, stain, finish, and turning material.
Apple wood uses
Apple wood is often used to make fine furniture, tool handles, carvings, mallet heads, turned items, and other small, unique wood items.
Apple wood firewood
If your apple wood hasn’t been dried or seasoned yet, it will be hard to burn it in the right way.
Apple wood is a hardwood, which means it is heavy and will burn for longer than softwoods.
The good thing about covering wood during the cold months is that it will dry out quickly, but in the West, where the summers are dry, that’s not a big deal.
Apple wood isn’t always easy to find as firewood because it burns hot but slowly and doesn’t make much smoke. This makes it great for cooking and grilling over a wood fire.
Applewood is also very popular for smoking meats. This is because it has a delightful smell of smoke.
Apple wood for smoking
In recent years, foods smoked with applewood have become more popular. When the applewood is lit, it gives off smoke that gives food a slightly sweet, apple-like flavor.
Applewood is a very popular wood for cooking because it makes food taste great and has many flavors.
Meals can be smoked with apple wood. Put the wood on the lit charcoal to get the smoke flavor immediately.
Applewood for woodworking
Applewood has beautiful colors and grain, but it might not be the best wood for carving. Unlike other hardwoods, it is hard to carve.
Even though it grows in most temperate climates, which makes it easy to get, it is still hard to carve.
However, that does not mean it is bad in woodwork. Try to find the right tools that will help you carve better. Since the wood isn’t as dense, it’s easier to carve green applewood. So, you carve it out of wood.
Even though it’s hard to carve applewood, that’s because the wood is so dense when it’s dry. Don’t let applewood dry out for years, or it will be hard to carve.
Carve the wood while it’s still fresh, and store it in a good place so it can weather and dry well.
Apple wood-related species
Our applewood blog contains much information on the different varieties of apples and their uses. We will share some apple wood species and information about each.
Find applewood species, learn about their characteristics, and which species are preferred by furniture manufacturers.
Oregon Crabapple or Pacific Crabapple (Malus fusca)
Malus fusca is a type of crabapple that grows in western North America.
It is also known as the Oregon crabapple and the Pacific crabapple. The leaves are 5–8 cm (2–3 in) long.
The tops are a dark green color, while the undersides are white and fibrous in appearance.
Japanese Flowering Crabapple (Malus floribunda)
Phillip von Siebold brought this crab apple from Japan to the United States (1796-1866).
The tiny, 3/8-inch yellow and red fruits are made yearly, and birds often eat them.
Siberian Crabapple (Malus baccata)
It is from northern China, Mongolia, and eastern Siberia.
Since 1784, when it was first brought to Europe, this has been the parent of many hybrids and cultivated varieties.
This species has single, white, fragrant, long-stemmed flowers that are often in large numbers.
Cultivated Apple (Malus pumila)
Malus pumila is an evergreen tree that can get as tall as 9 meters.
It is one of the fruits grown most often in the temperate zone. Cyanogenic glycosides are likely to be in the seed and other parts of the plant but not in the fruit.
Tea Crabapple (Malus hupehensis)
One of the many Asian plants that the famous author and plant explorer Ernest Henry Wilson (1876–1930) brought to the West.
It got its common name because people in rural China used to steep the leaves and drink them as a tea substitute.
Sargent Crabapple (Malus sargentii)
This tree is from Hokkaido, which is in northern Japan. Charles Sprague Sargent found it in 1892.
It has stiff, spreading branches that lie flat on the ground. It grows well on slopes and banks because of this.
The flowers grow in groups that look like umbels. They are round, saucer-shaped, and the whitest color.
