Advice from the Experts

[addysdaddy]

Morning all. A customer dropped off some Cherry logs for me to mill. He's looking to make some tables / furniture out of them and i'm looking for advice as to how to get the most wood with the least warp. I know a cut list would be a big help but he hasn't put that together yet. I know it'll have to dry for a year or two and i can show him how to get it stickered properly etc. I need recommendations on how i should make my cuts. I understand the theory behind cutting the Hump and Horns for framing lumber etc but would it be best to just slab it 5/4 or 6/4 depending on the thickness he wants and he would plane and square it after it dries? Opinions wanted please.


 


 


 

I realize they are not very large so i want to get whatever i can for this gent. thanx for looking.

[Ox]

I've never seen cherry look like that.

Only thing you can do for now is wait to see what he wants cut.

Problem is, that one log you measured up for us, it won't give much at all.  That little dog leg in it makes you lose quite a bit and it's sickening sometimes.  If you can talk him into cutting it shorter at the bend it'll give you more.

As for me - the warping and checking and all that is kind of a matter of luck.  If there's a crack or split in the end of the log I'll try to get a cut right through it, but for all the other stuff....sometimes trees just don't want to be lumber.  Sometimes certain logs out of the same tree don't want to be lumber.  It's weird sometimes but I've got some perfect lumber out back and some that'll make you laugh.  All from the same tree.  It's a mystery the way wood grows and changes inside.  Just use a sharp blade, make sure your mill is cutting straight and sticker well and put weight on top of the stacks.  Keep the ends painted with something and out of direct sunlight but where air can flow through.  Keep rain off from them.

Make sure if you have to use two pieces of roofing to cover that the seam is the right way.  My kids re-covered a stack of maple and didn't block up the middle so all the rain was coming off the one panel, hitting the other panel, then going under the first panel and right down the middle of the whole stack.  It makes for pretty ugly boards and stains.  It'll plane or sand out, most of it, but it still sucks.

Edit:  I don't consider myself an expert at anything except not understanding people and their ways.  :-\

[Den-Den]

I am a long way from an expert at sawing, but am pretty experienced at woodworking.
For the largest amount of usable wood from limited logs, cut it through and through to the desired thickness (1-1/8th+ for 4/4).  Plane, edge and rip after drying.  This method is a lot of work so not practical for every job.

[Ron Wenrich]

Looks like sweet cherry. 

[derhntr]

Ask your customer how much sap wood he is willing to work with. If he wants all brown than that will cut down yield.  Personally I like the contrast between sap and heartwood for some of the projects I do.

[Engineer]

I don't think that's cherry.  Looks an awful lot like black birch to me.

[69bronco]

Looks like pin/choke cherry to me. If it is its not real desirable wood, but hey the customer is always right! I'd cut it a little heavy so you could resaw down to target size after its done the watusi!

[Kbeitz]

I don't think that's cherry.  Looks an awful lot like black birch to me.

I was thinking the same thing but I'm no expert.

[Chuck White]

I vote PIN CHERRY!

We have some around here, and it doesn't get very big before it dies off!

[cutterboy]

I do believe that is black birch. I have a lot of it on my farm and I saw a fair amount of it. It makes very nice lumber that looks a bit like cherry. (my brother calls it "poor man's cherry") It has less heart wood than cherry as a general rule, but if you get a log with a good amount of heart you'll get some nice lumber.



 


 


 


 

[Ianab]

Looks like sweet cherry.

That would be my guess too. Prunus avium. It's a European species that's been naturalised in many places around the US and the rest of the world. It has small sweet cherry fruit that attracts the birds, so the seeds spread easily.

The wood from it isn't quite the same as your regular Black Cherry, but it is a type of cherry wood, and can certainly be used for wood working.

[WV Sawmiller]

Looks like sweet cherry. 

X3.

   Looks like last Blackheart cherry I sawed.

    I had a customer with a bunch of crooked cherry like that last year and he agreed with me and let me cut it all at the bends and we made a bunch of short boards out of it. Wood workers use a lot of 3-4 ft boards so no loss for him. I'd cut them a little thick - you can always make them smaller.

[addysdaddy]

Thanks for all the recommendations Gents. I think i'll try and convince him to do the through/through at whatever thickness he needs his projects to be. it will depend on his cut list of course as the customer is the final authority and what it looks like after 1-2 years drying is anybodys guess. ill get some pics of what we end up with.

[Ianab]

Yup, that's what I would do with small logs like that. Slice it up 1 1/4" and tell him to stack it up and dry it.  Cutting through and through means the middle boards are going to include the pith, and probably crack. That's not the end of the world, you rip the board into 2 narrower boards and it's still  good.

[Ianab]

As for the drying. It will be more like 3-4 months to get it "air dry". Then give it a few more weeks in an inside climate and it will be good to go.

[moodnacreek]

Just slice it, don't edge it. Put on dry sticks 12" on center with a ton of weight spread out on top, air through the side and roofed on top only.  It doesn't pay to grade saw and edge stuff this small.