From a Japanese Flowering tree to a ?

Al Launier

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Bedford, NH
About 1 1/2 years ago I removed a flowering Japanese tree (don't know anymore about it than it had white petals) from the front landscape. It was simply too large & dangerous to prune. I saved the trunk (2 pieces ~ 6-8" D x 4' L) thinking I might saw it up on the BS. It's been "resting" outdoors waiting to be used in some fashion(???). However, before I start cutting it up, I'm wondering if it has dried enough, if the wood is usable for small projects such as BS boxes, jewelry boxes, etc??? I was thinking of cutting them up into 1" planks & then planing them. I have no idea what the grain structure is, or what it looks like at this time.

So, the bottom line is salvage & what to expect, or dispose of.
 
What? You wanna know what's in the box before your open it? Bet you are fun at your birthday party! Until you cut that tree open, no one will know. So open it already. We all want to see. Then we'll help you decide trash or treasure.

A year and a half probably isn't long enough, but then a solid log needs to be opened. So make one cut to split it in half and take some moisture measurements. Wood dries much more through the end grain than the face grain. If it turns out real pretty, slap some Anchor Seal on it and go back into wait mode. At the very least, you will see what is inside. Open, open, open. Remember that commercial?
 
I had a bunch of cherry branches that came from my daughters yard. My son in law cut down a bunch of trees.
I just cut the branches (some pretty good size) into lumber on my BS while they were green and stacked them on top of my heating duct work in the basement. After one heating season they were dry enough to use. I made her several boxes from them.
 
Could be Cherry, Sakura, there are about 275 varieties here in Japan, or Plum have white flowers.

Do you remember the size of the flowers, were they about the size of a quarter? Smaller or larger?
 
Could be Cherry, Sakura, there are about 275 varieties here in Japan, or Plum have white flowers.

Do you remember the size of the flowers, were they about the size of a quarter? Smaller or larger?

Stu, as I recall (no easy feat these days) they were about the size of a quarter, doubtful if they were larger than that.

Think I'm going to wait until this fall to "open" these up. Should make for interesting winter projects (???)
 
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