Quoting Gary Katsanis :

> Recently, over the last 20 years or so, there has been a major move

> from standard apple trees to the dwarf varieties.
>
> Does anyone know if this affects the quality of the wood, or its 
> desirability for handles?
>
Being also from upstate NY, and having kept an eye on apple growing for 
a future dream orchard for a number of years, the move has been going 
on for 40+ years, and the dwarfs aren't allowed to get big enough for 
handles.....

Gotta turn over those shorter-lived (but still more than a generation) 
dwarfs to the latest hard easy-to-ship fashionable brand of supersweet 
chunks of red protpplasm (google "club apple varieties" for some 
exemplars).

There is a school of thought that 10% of your total acreage should be 
non bearing (within 3-4 years of planting) so you can jump on the 
latest variety fad.

Esther whose taste obviously runs in the heirloom direction..