Black Cherry Seasoning?

Al Launier

Member
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1,683
Location
Bedford, NH
Something that has just come to mind, now that I'm getting obsessed with a new Grizzly G0555LX bandsaw that is being delivered tomorrow, is that there is a nice tall, and straight black cherry tree at the rear of my lawn that I hear calling me. All it does is drop cherries on my lawn & attract raccoons, so I'm thinking of taking it down & using it for something besides firewood. It should have a beautiful grain.

I've never used a tree before for woodworking projects. Once down what is a good way to "season" it to minimize splitting? I'm thinking I should probably take it down soon to let it start drying over the winter & get a head start on the process. This could be interesting! Looks like there's a whole new world out there! LOL
 
Sounds good, but I would think it will take more than a 14" band saw to turn a tree into useable lumber. I have never tried it though, I'm sure someone on here like Larry or one of the other lumber guys can get you on the right road though.
 
Al first off welcome to our forum:) as for your tree, what is the diameter of it? and how tall before you get to a limb? this all enters in to what your yeild may be and a 14" bandsaw isnt the way to make lumber resaw some small boards yes but not mill logs.. you need to first off, get acquainted with a local sawyer, they are out with portable band mills made for this but in your case sounds like your only after this one tree and it can be costly for just one tree.. sometimes its best to let the tree live and by lumber all ready to go for making projects from your local yard,, contact chuck thoits on here or bob gibson they both have good contacts on getting good lumber for a fair price.. that lonely tree looks inviting till you take it down and then the work begins:) look at the thread i posted on to much wood.. you can see i have done this before:) WOOD
 
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Depends on how big it is.. If you can fit it under the blade .. its possible but a lot of work even for small stuff :D.

What I did was I made a sled with a UHMW runner that sat on the bottom and some knock down "holders" to keep the log from rolling. When I put the slide on I also added washers set into the bottom that matched the width of the grooves in the miter slot to keep it from jumping out of the slot.

Pictures here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/109155963402491302285/albums/5726634323661530097

As far as splitting and what not:
  • Seal the ends. You can find dozens of recommendations. I've had mediocre luck with two coats of kilnz primer (better than nothing if its what you have), but a wax seal like anchorseal is better.
  • cut out all of the pith
  • Stack it with stickers so the air can get to all sides.
  • Put lots of weight on top so it doesn't warp

That's all I got :lurk:
 
Great feedback!
The tree is about 12" dia. as I recall (can't see it from the window - hidden behind other trees) & the branchesstart ~ 15' up.
You're absolute right in that the work really does start after the tree is down. I was thinking of cutting the trunk into short, but "appropriate" useable "project" lengths for use & to have a local mill cut the sections into the thicknesses I wanted. The branches I could probaly do the same if thick/straight enough and if not, then dream up some projects that could use the good branches with the bark left on???
This whole thought is only about the challenge & joy of making something from a hopefully nice tree with nice grain & from my property. If it turns out to be a disaster, then I will have had fun trying.

Larry, good suggestion on the saw mill, just what I was hoping for. Are those pieces shown on your profile work you have actually done yourself? If so: simply gorgeous - great talent! Looks like you've work with wood for a while. Well done indeed!

Ryan, thanks for the suggestion for drying & keeping the splitting to a minimu. I'll follow your suggestions.
 
Al, in my opinion thew tree is to small to cut for lumber, should be at least 16", when they are small they have to much sap wood and the folks looking for cherry lumber are wanting it for the red color not the sap.. as for the pics you saw i found this really neat store and they had them in there ,, it was called IKEA;)
 
Al, in my opinion thew tree is to small to cut for lumber, should be at least 16", when they are small they have to much sap wood and the folks looking for cherry lumber are wanting it for the red color not the sap.. as for the pics you saw i found this really neat store and they had them in there ,, it was called IKEA;)

:rofl: Don't let him fool you Larry is the master of disguise.

I'm going to tentatively disagree with Larry here though. I say tentatively because he's definitely correct.. but I've never let someone being correct stand in the way of doing something irrational. While it is almost certainly true that the tree would not be commercially viable... in some more artistically oriented projects the sapwood - if used judiciously - can add an interesting character to a piece. It is definitely not what you would want for a piece of cabinetry.

Having said that if you get 1/8-1/4" per year and its 12".. you only have around 16-32 years to go before its a really nice piece of wood.....
 
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ryan does have a point to some extent,, in the turning world the sap wood makes a nice contrast and natural edge turnings are sharp, and in some cases i have seen some real good use of sapwood in case work.. so yes he is correct sorta:) but i think that in most areas that a tree will grow alittle faster than a 1/4" in diameter a year:) what you need to look at is take that 12" diameter and than draw the biggest square you can get out of it and then look at what you end up with.. that is where your lumber comes from and that is going on what your stump diameter was not the top of the log that will be smaller..:) so for lumber i say leave it alone for awhile and for turning well if it bothers you to dodge berries and raccoons deposits grab the saw and lets go:)
 
What you need to look at is take that 12" diameter and than draw the biggest square you can get out of it and then look at what you end up with..

Once you cut the center out to get the pith out you end up with your biggest chunk being a bit less than 1/2 that unless you're planning on putting it on a lathe turning it Real Soon Now.

Doing bogus math on a napkin... I think that for lumber I think you'd be really-really lucky to get two 5/4 10" wide boards per length (that's with a natural edge on at least one side) and the rest get rapidly smaller from there.

Using jet-another-random online calculator:
http://www.rdconcepts.biz/StandingTree.aspx
I get 34-40 reasonable board feet (avg 11" dia, 12' long for the usable section) Scribner & International). Figure you'll waste some of that because.. well just because you will :D

So you sort of have to ask yourself, how much time/effort is 30 board feet of marginal quality cherry worth today when you'll have to dry it for a year+ before you can make anything out of it. Assuming that it comes out good and doesn't crack all over after all that; quality cherry is $2.25 to $10 already dry: http://www.hearnehardwoods.com/hardwoods/pricelist/pricelist.html#cherry

So best case you would have $300 of lumber, but I'm betting what Hearn sells at that price is sapwood free so you're more likely closer to ~$60-70 of wood. And odds are you eat up a new sawblade doing it (cause umm .. not that I have ever had the piece slip/twist and twisted a blade and ruined it but .. I had a friend tell me it happened to them the first time they tried something like this :doh:)

If you really want the tree gone I'd still be tempted to do it just because I'm stubborn and hard to get along with but I wouldn't be looking for a big cherry haul out of it. I have gotten some really cool figured short pieces of wood out of people back yards but you have to sort of take it with the "if it turns out great, if not well firewood" attitude :D That and deal with a few nails and ruining a few blades along the way (I do now have a metal detector as well..).
 
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