Fruitwood, The Most Profitable Hardwood In America
Today, the rarity of fruitwood commands prices typically paid for tropical hardwoods. Prices for pear wood dimensional lumber, particularly in long lengths is among some of the highest paid for any type of wood in the industry, including prices paid for tropical hardwoods.
Fruitwood, also called Swiss Pear or European Pear is rarely found growing wild in nature where it can grow to 100 feet or more. A wild pear tree is usually a remnant of an old orchard or the result of a fly-over bird dropping. Some of these orphan pear trees have trunks over 10 feet across.
In fact, the domesticated pear that grows in orchards was bred from some of these wild pear trees, Unlike the wild pear, orchard pear trees are pruned each year to bear more fruit, which keeps the trunk of the tree short and the tree canopy close to the ground.
The fact that there are few if any commercial pear wood plantations in the world has created a demand for this fine-grained, elegant wood.
Fruitwood
Fruitwood is also known as the “fruitwood of French provincial furniture" revered for the light brown color that glows in old armoires and dressers. Today pear wood is used in a variety of ways by the wood craft industry.
- 4 x 4; 6 x 6; and 8 x 8 Fruitwood Timber
- 1 x 2; 1 x 4; 1 x 6; 1 x 8; 1 x 10; 1 x 12; Dimensional Lumber
- Fruitwood Hardwood flooring
- Pear Wood Furniture
- Finely crafted woodwork products
- Fruitwood Cabinets
- Wood Pellets - (typically manufactured from the wood waste trimmings of small branches and bark of milled fruitwood)
Fruitwood Tree Farming
The tall spear fruit tree seedlings used to plant orchards can be used to plant a fruitwood timber farm as well. A tall spear is typically a single leader sapling about 6 feet tall and 5 years old. Pear spears can be custom ordered, variety, age and height. Ideally, the older and taller the tree, the quicker the wood timber harvest in the coming years. Tall Fruitwood tree seedlings can be mechanically planted and manually pruned season to season to ensure that each pear tree has a branch free trunk to a height of 30 feet or more. Annual pruning creates a clear-grained, veneer quality sawlog at harvest. Topping trees at 20 feet increases trunk caliper by an average of 10% each year but shortens the marketable sawlog length by 10 feet, which may affect price.
Spiral Tree Farming - A Faster Way To Grow Fruitwood
Planting fruit trees along a spiral irrigation line creates a Crop Circle Tree Plantation. The spiraled tree farm grows pear trees faster than a rowed tree farm. Tall spear tree saplings are planted 6 feet apart along the spiraled irrigation line, which is spaced 18 feet apart between loops. A five-acre pear timber tree farm grows 10,000 Fruitwood trees, which would be valued at $20,000,000 in year 40 from a $1,000,000 investment.
Fruitwood - More Valuable Than Teak
Pear wood, a variety of fruitwood, is more valuable than, teak, mahogany, black walnut and virgin stand red wood.
Commercial Firewood Production Video
The following comments were collected from a national wood products discussion forum using fruitwood in the United States.
Comment from contributor A:
"Fruitwood is truly one of the most elegant woods available in the world," said Rick Banas, vice president of Interwood Forest Products, Shelbyville, IN. "It’s warm tones, fine grain structure and pleasing finish have made it a favorite of architects all over the world. Although fruitwood has been widely used by the European furniture industry, it has never found its way into the U.S. market except for some exclusive custom pieces,” said Banas. Figured, as well as non-figured pear wood, have been equally in demand in the United States for architectural markets, as well as aircraft and yacht interiors.
Comment from contributor B:
Myles Gilmer, owner of Gilmer Wood Products of Portland, OR, said uses for fruitwood run the gamut. “It is used for architectural uses, such as paneling, and in lots of furniture and cabinetry. It’s very popular with carvers and wood turners.” Gilmer said most of the wood is steamed, which brings out a pleasing pastel reddish-pink color and relieves stresses within the wood so that it dries flat. “Without steaming, it is a pale flesh color, and fruitwood has long been used by sculptors trying to mimic the color of flesh.” Gilmer said fruitwood stains very well and is sometimes ebonized for musical instruments. "Pear wood can yield wood with fantastic figures such as a curl-like fiddleback and a very distinctive mottled roe. The curl figure is popular for use in violins, guitars and recorders. Fruitwood is a nice-looking wood that takes a dynamite polish. Fine grained, it has a wonderfully tactile feel."
Comment from contributor C:
Richard Hearne, owner/president of Hearne Hardwoods Inc., Oxford, PA, makes three to four trips to Europe each year in search of fruitwood. While the wood is known by many as common pear wood, much of what he sells comes from Germany. Ninety-five percent of the common pear wood he sells is steamed “Because we want to match new wood with old and the old veneer is typically steamed, we try to carry steamed lumber." In North America, the demand for most fruitwood is for upscale architectural millwork applications, such as reception areas in financial institutions or private offices. Many in Europe consider pear wood to be the finest hardwood. Hearne said it is among the most expensive hardwoods. "It is a typical fruitwood, so it is hard and dense, with properties similar to rosewood.” One factor driving the price of pear wood, Hearne adds, is the waste involved in processing the material. Another is the demand, “it only comes in short lengths."
Comment from contributor D:
I have recently cut down an apricot tree and wish to know more about the wood and its uses. I have found almost nothing on the Internet about possible uses. The trunk is too short for any lengthy lumber beyond about 2' of the approximately 12" diameter trunk. The wood is heavy, dense and hard when dry. The grain and dark pink colors are fantastic when freshly cut but dry’s rapidly in a few minutes to a few hours depending on exposure to light and sun to an appearance that is less striking. After splashing water on the wood, it immediately regained its stunning appearance. Mt neighbor mentioned that once you finish it properly it will retain that appearance. Too bad I don’t have any pieces large enough to make something useful, like a table.
Apple Wood
Apple wood is another type of fruitwood that is also in demand in long dimensional lengths. Although, not as profitable as pear wood, apple wood is a close second and still worth twice that of walnut and oak wide board. Like pear wood, apple trees are grown for fruit and seasonally pruned to keep trunks short and the picking of fruit close at hand.
Apple Wood Characteristics
Apple wood is a fruitwood with very fine texture having a beautiful creamy sap color surrounded a darker light brown heart. The branches left after harvest can be pelleted for aromic barbecuing, firepits and fireplaces.
Apricot Wood
Yet another fruitwood, apricot wood is not available at all in dimensional lengths and sizes due the fact that the tree is not commercially grown. Apricot heartwood is light brown, sometimes with a reddish or orangish cast. Darker brown streaks are common, and the sapwood is generally thin, slightly paler than the heartwood. If it were available, it would make great flooring and superb cabinetry and fetch a hefty price.
Hire Us
Hire us to build a turnkey Crop Circle Tree Plantation our land or yours anywhere in the world. Our team will travel to your location and layout the Crop Circle Fruitwood Plantation, marking the spots with our mapping drone where trees are planted to make a perfect spiral, which is essential to promote fast tree growth. You can plant the trees yourself or hire us to do the planting.