Redtip wood?

I’ve got some standing 35 year old red tips. Some good size limbs could be cut if anyone is interested.

I should know this, being from near you originally, but what are "red tips"?
Bill

I was wondering that too. This is the only thing I could find....

https://www.thespruce.com/red-tip-ph...vacy%20screens.

Doesn't look very useful for luthiery.

OK. I saw serveral old posts on the musical instrument makers page and they were looking for some.
It’s very dense and heavy and some luthiers use it.
Mine are taller than the power lines.

Are they using it for finger boards? Sounds interesting.

I don’t know what it is either, but focused on the idea of using wood from limbs, as mentioned, which is reaction wood for some trees. Can’t find an easy reference to the use of reaction wood in instruments, but it does have different mechanical properties, so might be useful, if stable enough. In other types of woodwork, instability would preclude use, but maybe different considerations for thin sections.

The plant is Red Tip Photinia. Very popular among landscape architects in NC and SC ~40 years ago. It grows at a furious rate. A lot of people used it for hedges or yard screens, then discovered they wound up with 40-foot-high plants if they didn't trim them regularly.

Photinia is most closely related to crabapple. It seems to be somewhat popular with turners. Can't find any Janka hardness rating on it, and it's not listed in the wood database (or anywhere else). It'll be interesting to see what you get out of it.

Thanks, Jonathan. That's all new to me though I think we have it out here, too.
Bill

This is anecdotal only, but when I was in SC one of our tree service contractors complained that it was "hard as iron". I never tried to use the wood.