Newbie with two big cherry trees

[woodshop]

One last question: We have some stuff in the driveway that the mill guy said was not worth taking. They range from 8" (smallest) to 12" (thickest) and are between 4' and 6' long, all strait. I figured he said leave them because they re not worth it for board. I am wondering if I can use them for the table legs or anything else. Have several of them.
Thanks

Only problem with logs that small is when you mill them, there is USUALLY not a lot of good wood outside of the crappy boxed center pith area of that log. So if you want to make table legs for example, you might have pith/knots to deal with, not something you want in a table leg.

As for how thick to mill... depends on the wood and some other factors, but in general, (this is for air drying) I slice 3/8 more than the finished dimension I want. If you dry it correctly that usually takes care of loss for shrinkage and S4S. For stable quartersawn stuff, you can get away with 1/4 inch more.

 

[LostInTheWoods]

Milling and drying specifics

So the cherry logs are over at the sawmiller. He'll get to them next week. I want to get prepped for the cutting. I spoke to a local woodworker who makes lots of stuff including tables. He recommended cutting the following way"

Table top boards: 1" to 1.5" thick. Sound about right?
Apron: 6/4. Necessary to be this thick?
Legs: 12/4. Rough because that means like three years drying what I just cut in order to use for this table. Suggestions?

My overall issue is I'm not sure how to best get these different cut out of all the logs I have. Idea?

On drying:

I was at home deport and saw that they sell 1" high by 2" wide by 8' long wood. Not sure what this was for but looks good for stickering once cut to the right lenghts. See any issues with this?

Also, how much weight is the right weight for the stack? Don't want to over or under do it.

Sorry for all the questions. I know a lot of this is trial and eoor for a newbie but I really really want to goof as little up as possible. have already put a lot of work into the logs and will be putting some good money into the milling and table.

Thanks!

 

[woodshop]

Table top boards: 1" to 1.5" thick. Sound about right?
Apron: 6/4. Necessary to be this thick?
Legs: 12/4. Rough because that means like three years drying what I just cut in order to use for this table. Suggestions?

Apron is rarely thicker than the top of a table. Also it doesn't take three years to dry 12/4. Yes takes longer than 4/4 or 6/4, but not three years, not even two full years.

My overall issue is I'm not sure how to best get these different cut out of all the logs I have. Idea?

An art unto itself... quick and dirty, you want the quartersawn or riftsawn (more stable) stuff for the table top, rest for apron and undertable supports and glueblocks etc. Legs should NOT be cut from the center pith area of the log as that tends to have lesser quality and knot ridden wood.

I was at home deport and saw that they sell 1" high by 2" wide by 8' long wood. Not sure what this was for but looks good for stickering once cut to the right lenghts. See any issues with this?

Do you mean 1x2 furring strips, which are actually 3/4 x 1 1/2? If so, that would give you stickers a little thicker than needed. The thick 1 1/2 stickers would cover more wood than needed, more chance of rot, discoloration and sticker marks. Either rip them to 1 inch wide, giving you 3/4 x 1, or buy wider wood that when ripped give you somewhere close to that.

Can't really have too MUCH weight unless you are crushing your pile. I put a block of concrete (around 40 lbs) every couple feet. On some of my piles though, just put the heavy 12/4 beams on top layers, and that is enough right there to keep things from twisting up too much.

 

[scottr]

Black Cherry

Tom , one of my tree books shows that black cherry does grow in your area . Also found this http://www.dof.virginia.gov/index.h...tification then scroll down to Black Cherry .

 

[gumneck]

tks Scott, I'll try that web address.

I know that it grows 100 miles west of us b/c a timber cruiser let my folks know of some that was in a woodlot they had cut. It would seem reasonable that there could be some here as well.

 

[hautions11]

Lost,

I don't know what style table you have in mind, but I will share some lumber dimensions off of a cherry table I built.

The top started 1 and 1/2 and was planed down to 1 and 1/8. The apron was 1 and 1/8 planed down to 3/4. The legs are 3 X 3 finished. They are glued up from 1 1/2 stock and then tapered on 2 sides. Tough to find thick stock and wait for it to dry. I have had better luck with glue-ups. More stable. This table also has a 24" leaf in the middle that is not shown in this pic

 

[gumneck]

Found the "fuzz"

Alright, I found a tree under a pine on other side of yard that has the "fuzz" on the underside of the leaf. Took some pics that probably aren't clear enough to tell via computer but its there.

Confirmed "Black Cherry". Now I have my tree to propagate from in the mist bed.

 

[scottr]

Cherry

Tom , are you going to plant cherry trees where the pecan trees blew over ?

 

[woodshop]

Confirmed "Black Cherry". Now I have my tree to propagate from in the mist bed.

Keep in mind that black cherry (prunus serotina) only grows WELL in well drained good rich soil. Not knocking some of the clay soils you folks have down there in some parts of Virginia (I'm familiar with them because I did some logging down there years ago) but those types of soils don't support black cherry or walnut very well. On the other hand, Virginia is a big state, lots of variation, and there are parts of Virginia that DO have rich soils where cherry and walnut thrive. As a matter of fact, some of the clearcutting we did down there, mostly for SYP and white pine used in paper making, also DID contain some cherry trees along with dogwood, gum and a lot of red maple mixed in among what was mostly pine.

 

[gumneck]

Tom , are you going to plant cherry trees where the pecan trees blew over ?

Basically so, but a different area of the farm where the pecan trees are. The same place the grape vineyard is and it drains about the same. There is already some cherry where I've got a place disked up(have not disked around the trees already there). I've been cutting some gum out of this area alongside a fish pond. The gum is on the edge/banks of the pond and I'm just going out a little into the field to plant the cherry there. I have some oak that I'll mix in too. I'll have to put out some tree protectors b/c the deer will rub em raw.

 

[gumneck]

Here's some short pieces of what I hope is cherry I milled today. The "ladder" pic is the second cut. Might be enough to make a jewelry box or small item.

Someone else was asking about leaving a log to mill later. This was left off ground about 3 ft on stacked pallets for a year and 1/2. Ends were anchor sealed. I'd rather not leave it unmilled. Bark was removed months prior to milling.

Again, camera focus is in need of somethin.

 

[dustytools]

Nice pics. I see several people in here using the aluminum ladders for the first cut. How do you secure it to the log?

 

[gumneck]

Nice pics. I see several people in here using the aluminum ladders for the first cut. How do you secure it to the log?

I just put a couple of 16 Penny nails in front of a rung to keep from sliding the ladder around. Sometimes I'll nail a small piece of 2X4 under a rung to prop up a side to make a cut square to the first cut. I also have small wooden wedges I use to nail under rungs. It can be any combination depending on what the log throws at me. There's probably a better way.

I may cut a piece of angle to bolt to the bottom of the ladder to butt up against the log end.

 

[highsiera]

Not to beat a dead horse here, but we have a few of those at our cottage on the Potomac. Ugly weed trees that grow up with the locusts and take a beating from the storms that come in off the river. I remember them being pretty prevalent in Ct. when I was growing up. I always thought of them as "recalimers", like cedars. One of the first trees to spring up when a field starts to revert back to wood. Had a lot of them in our hedge rows. Smell awful when you cut them. The birds plant them here at our house in town, I moved a couple along my neighbor's fence since she's always looking over it. I always chuckle a little bit when the berries are out and birds "repaint" her car...cause nature can be a mother....

 

[scottr]

Reclaimers

Not to beat a dead horse here, but we have a few of those at our cottage on the Potomac. Ugly weed trees that grow up with the locusts and take a beating from the storms that come in off the river. I remember them being pretty prevalent in Ct. when I was growing up. I always thought of them as "recalimers", like cedars. One of the first trees to spring up when a field starts to revert back to wood. Had a lot of them in our hedge rows. Smell awful when you cut them. The birds plant them here at our house in town, I moved a couple along my neighbor's fence since she's always looking over it. I always chuckle a little bit when the berries are out and birds "repaint" her car...cause nature can be a mother....

Highsiera , does the smell remind you of almonds ?

 

[woodshop]

... I remember them being pretty prevalent in Ct. when I was growing up. I always thought of them as "recalimers", like cedars. One of the first trees to spring up when a field starts to revert back to wood. Had a lot of them in our hedge rows. Smell awful when you cut them.

That doesn't sound like black cherry, that sounds a lot like choke cherry and fire cherry, which are as you say, pioneer species that take over abandon fields along with sumac and other pioneer type trees here in PA. Most cherry wood, twigs and bark does have that bitter almond smell and taste. Cutting cherry heartwood in the shop though gives off a sweet pleasant cherry smell.

 

[highsiera]

honestly, it's smells like rancid fruit. the "cherries" are small, the size of a holly berry, black on the outside, purple inside (and on your car). The leaves and bark match the pics. It hardly has the aroma of fine cherry I've worked with in the shop. Blooms white flowers in the spring and the bagworms love it. Smells sour when you burn it. we called it wild black cherry growing up, I've always thought of it as a trash tree, a weed.
I always thought fire cherry and choke cherry were more apt grow like a bush or a mound. These usually have multiple trunks each split to 2 maybe three main leaders about halfway up the trunk. They seem to grow any where, from the clay concrete here at home to the sandy loam at the river. There are even a couple of 20 inchers firmly routed in the brackish tidal mud up there. Very resilent grower this tree.

 

[aquan8tor]

sounds like a bitter or sour cherry. I know there are somewhere around 10 Prunus species, including peaches and plums, as well as fruiting cherry trees.

 

[highsiera]

May well be, after three or four hours cutting them up and stinking chips all in everything makes for one bitter sawyer.

 

[aquan8tor]

:hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange: :hmm3grin2orange:

That's how I feel when I mill walnut with short sleeves. I didn't know the toxicity of walnut sawdust before getting a rash over pretty much my entire exposed area and having to go on steroids to get rid of it. Kinda like bad poison ivy but less watery blisters.