cuple questions for the new guy

[Addison]

ive done alot of fine woodworking but milling has always interested me....im wondering if a Partner 500 20'' chainsaw is anygood for milling lumber and if so what would be the best guide for it??? there is plenty of logs to go around where i live....2 how do you identify cherry trees (it cant be the ones with cherrys can it???) kinda stupid question but my 3 is how or can you identify figured maple trees or birdseye.. i know oddly shaped trees unstright bark,checking under bark with hachet old maples and most likly the rotten ones have theses awsome figure qualites
thats it thx

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Around here, I ID the wild cherrys by their bark. Dark, shiny, reddish, peeling. I can take a pic of the one in my back yard if you like.

http://www.toof.org.uk/tree_and_shrub_information/wild_cherry/wild_cherry.html

As far as the figured maple, I'm no expert, but the figured I have is evident under the bark, but you'd have to peel it to see, and that may be frowned upon with a tree you aren't intending to harvest. The same goes for birds eye. I've always heard you can't tell until you mill it. Again, I've got pics I can post when I get home from work.

Welcome to AS.

Jeff

 

[fishhuntcutwood]

Here's some figured maple under the bark-

The piece on top shows the wood/bark interface well.

 

[Woodsurfer]

I've cut down plenty of cherry and had it milled by a local Woodmizer guy, spent many happy hours in the woods picking the best trees to drop. The bark is very distinctive, a rough texture that looks (close up) a bit like dark potato chips of birch bark... You can spot them 50 feet away easily. At least this is the case here in an Eastern woodland. There are some conifers with similar rough bark..but they are conifers!

Wish I could help with the figured maple. Sometimes find good stuff at crotches, I think it's a crap shoot. Good luck!

 

[Sawyer Rob]

You can see a nice cherry being milled into lumber here... http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumList?u=4378744

Sawyer Rob

 

[Addison]

wow thanks alot... i thought that was cherry, ive milled a little log thinking it was cherry but never knowing cause the wood sucked lol... i live in b.c so finding maples are very easy and im shure i can sneek into the woods and try to select a figured maple tree lol or at least find a bit..

 

[Tree Machine]

Those are fabulous pics Sawyer Rob. I imagine new guy's eyes were poppin out of his head. Mine were.