Pearwood: Uses, Properties, Advantages, and Disadvantages
What is pear wood?
Pear (Pyrus communis) is one type of high-quality wood. Europe uses Pear in the same way America uses Black Cherry.
Pear trees are only 20-30 feet tall, with a 0.5-1 feet trunk diameter. This wood is native to central and eastern Europe, although it’s also widely grown in temperate regions worldwide.
Pear heartwood is light reddish-brown or pale pink. This is not a durable wood in terms of resistance to rotting.
So it seems pearwood is not recommended for use in humid or outdoors.
The properties of pearwood
It’s a wood with a light reddish-brown or pink heartwood, and sapwood which is usually not much different. Pearwood has a straight grain and a very fine uniform texture.
In terms of durability, this wood is rated not as durable against decay, and we have no information on resistance to insect attack.
It’s also a wood that is easy to work, has standard health risks, has no characteristic odor, and has a good popularity.
Pearwood is also not listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the CITES Appendices.
Pearwood advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Easy to work: It’s an easy wood to work. There seems to be no problem with using machines and hand tools. There is no information on the silica content, but that doesn’t seem like a big problem.
It seems like the blunt effect happens normally, or not. Pear grains tend to be straight, although it looks like there are also interlocking grains.
But we don’t think it’s a big problem, including during surface operations. The use of good-quality tools is still recommended, and beginners can try it. Pear is a wood that can glues nicely, turn, and finishes well.
Disadvantages
Not durable: Although this is a known high quality and popular wood, it has significant disa. This wood is not durable in its resistance to rot.
That’s why it’s unlikely that you can use this wood in any way that can speed up the decay process. Our sources of information also do not mention insect resistance.
However, we hope this wood lasts at that. Because if not, it could add to the list of advantages of this wood and perhaps remove it from the list of timber with good durability.
High price: Pear is well valued in Europe and is even considered a premium wood. However, this wood is limited in the United States and may make its price higher if demand increases.
The pearwood price is in the high range, although it’s not absolute. There are many uses for this wood, and we even list 9 common uses here.
The wood availability is also still good. So, it seems that the reason this wood is valued so highly is because of its high quality and popularity. Although we think it’s no more expensive than rare exotics.
Pearwood for veneer
Although it has a less attractive appearance, this wood is still good when used as a veneer. Its status as a popular and high-quality wood might make people interested in using it.
Pearwood also is easy to work and rarely seems to have interlaced grains. So we thought working the pear wood for the veneer wouldn’t be a big problem, even if it was thinly cut.
But you still have to be careful, plan well, then work on it because it seems that making veneer is not an easier job than cutting wood in the usual way.
Pear wood for architectural millwork
Another use of pear wood is architectural millwork. It seems that this wood does have this good quality, so it is commonly used.
We don’t know for sure what makes it widely used for architectural millwork.
However, it seems that it can not be separated from some of the properties of pear wood, including easy to work with, hard, and others.
That might make the architectural millwork easier to fabricate and even make it of good quality. It doesn’t seem like this is a job that people often do; maybe only factories or companies do it.
Pearwood for marquetry
Maybe you want to have furniture with beautiful decorations, and it looks like pear wood is good for that.
This wood is commonly used for marquetry because it seems easy to work and has qualities that can support the job well.
Not only that, but pearwood also has high quality and is popular.
So it seems that people don’t doubt pear marquetry to make their furniture or other things more beautiful.
You can do marquetry directly on pear wood furniture or do it separately.
Pearwood for inlay
Besides marquetry and common inlays made of pear wood, this wood is very popular and has a high quality.
No wonder so many people rely on it to be part of their woodwork.
Even though it doesn’t have an exotic look, or a unique grain figured, it’s still an excellent wood for inlays.
It can occupy some fairly plain bright parts and complement an inlay made of exotic wood. It looks like it will be pretty interesting to see.
Pearwood for carving
You can also use pear wood for carvings. It seems like there won’t be many problems happening while working on it.
Because this wood is easy to work with, and there is no information about its high density. That’s why you can make some quality curved objects with high artistic value.
However, you must be careful in choosing pearwood because some pears may have poor quality.
Selection of the appearance should also be done if necessary, and if you are not thinking about painting it.
Pearwood for musical instruments
Musical instruments are one of the most common uses of pear wood.
We don’t know exactly what musical instruments are suitable for this, but small guitars are one.
Not only seems to be of good quality for making decorative and essential wood items, but pear wood is also great for musical instruments.
The sound quality produced is not as good as other woods that are more commonly used.
However, it can be a pretty good alternative if no other wood is available.
Pearwood for furniture
It seems pretty interesting to use pear wood as furniture.
Although it is not durable in its resistance to rot, it is still a quality wood.
That’s why you can make some high-value furniture from this wood.
But we think it’s not suitable for long-term furniture.
The resistance of pear wood to rot can be a big problem.
That will probably make the furniture rot more quickly, especially in a humid environment. So, you better think about it again.
Pearwood for cabinetry
Although it’s commonly used as cabinetry, we think it’s a lousy choice for kitchen cabinetry.
Its poor resistance to rot would be a considerable problem.
For that reason, we think its use for cabinetry in other rooms is the right choice, examples such as small stacked cabinetry as a place to store everyday items or cabinetry equipped with glass to store collectibles.
Working this wood for the cabinetry is unlikely to be a big problem.
We think the appearance is less necessary because it seems the makers prefer to paint.
Pearwood for turned objects
It seems like making some pear wood-turned objects is the right choice.
Its resistance to rot is not an issue here.
It looks like you can make turned objects pretty well because the wood is also easy to work with.
Before getting started on anything serious, it seems like making a wooden bowl is a good experiment.
After that, you can adjust the quality of the wood by working to produce turned objects of good quality.
