General Description: The heartwood is pinkish-brown to mellow pink in colour after steaming with very fine rays and pores, straight grained and very fine and even texture. Weight about 700kg/m3 (44 lb/ft3); specific gravity 0.70.

Mechanical Properties: Pear is only available in fairly small sizes and therefore its strength is relatively unimportant for the uses to which it is applied. It is a fairly tough, stable wood, but not used for steam bending purposes.

Working Properties: It is a hard wood to saw with a moderate blunting effect on cutting edges. It is an excellent turnery wood. Nailing and screw holding is good, it glues well, and is particularly good for staining and polishing to a high finish. It is often dyed black to resemble ebony.

Durability: The heartwood is non-durable and liable to insect attack, but the wood is permeable for preservative treatment.

Uses: Widely used for fancy turnery and excellent for carving. Also for brush backs, umbrella handles, measuring instruments such as set squares and T-squares. In Europe it is used for recorders, and when dyed black, for violin and guitar fingerboards and piano keys. In recent years it has become popular in high quality shop fittings and joinery work.