Cherry, pear and holly

Most wood that is harvested with a natural handle shape is good as the grain follows the contour thus giving strength.

Holly is white. That would be very pretty. Do you think it would get dirty from handling? I think I would finish it with something that can be cleaned.

I reckon a good coat of varnish would do the trick

Details and dimensions...
Harvest how many of what type...branches, trunks, etc.

Trunk length and diameter?

Holly is very nice. I've only worked w. it a few times some years ago, using it as decorative accents in jewelry boxes. I still have one of the boxes. The cherry has turned a deep red brown, the maple a tan, but the holly remains a pale ivory.

My recollection is that the grain was straight, very tight and closed. Moderately hard.

Pear is considered a good carving wood, somewhat hard to cut, but takes fine detail.

Cherry varies. Somewhat soft, longer grain and tear outs can happen. It changes color w. age, going from a reddish orange to almost black, tho' that takes over 100 years.

Something as thick as a trunk might take a few more years to cure.

JJireh said:

Details and dimensions...
Harvest how many of what type...branches, trunks, etc.

Trunk length and diameter?

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The holly was offered to me on Sunday by a chap who was in turn given it by someone else! he indicated it was about 3 feet long and by his hand gestures about 6" diameter, but until I fetch it in a week or so I won't know for certain

The pear is a small tree about 6 feet high and as for the cherry, well I can harvest some of the branches for handles but the whole thing might be a step too far seeing as it currently decorates our front lawn!

All three are good woods. I like working with holly. It's hard but not too hard and is very fine grained. Sounds like you might be able to get some good handles from it.

Rodney

Rodney said:

All three are good woods. I like working with holly. It's hard but not too hard and is very fine grained. Sounds like you might be able to get some good handles from it.

Rodney

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I'm looking forward to getting round something fine grained, working solely with pine can be soul destroying when the grain takes you off in a direction you don't want!

gdenby said:

Cherry varies. Somewhat soft, longer grain and tear outs can happen. It changes color w. age, going from a reddish orange to almost black, tho' that takes over 100 years.

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Cherry darkens by being exposed to sunlight. If you don't want to wait, lye will darken it almost immediately. Use oven cleaner w/ lye. For more detailed directions, search the internet.