Chainsaw milling cherry for the first time

[TreeStandHunter]

Milled up some Cherry today, got a new ripping chain on the MS661 and only had about 4 minutes into each cut. I've gotta say I cannot wait until I purchase an LT15 this chainsaw mill makes you feel it the rest of the day :D I Milled 3 - 8/4 slabs before i had to call it quits because of a bar issue. Dang sprocket broke  :'(  how far apart do you place the stickers when stacking these for drying? I do not have a kiln so they will be in a barn that has plenty of good air flow.



  

  

  

 

[Bob_T]

There are a lot of guys more qualified than me to answer, don't know why  no one has responded.  If I was drying that cherry I'd put a sticker about every 2 feet.  I'd also stack something real heavy on top to try and control twisting and cupping.

[TreeStandHunter]

Is it ok to run just 2 long stickers the whole length of the board or will they sag in the middle?

[loganworks2]

Run your stickers across not the length of the slab and as said a heavy weight on top to keep them from cupping and twisting

[TreeStandHunter]

Ok i will do that, for sure on the heavy weight. Do you guys reccommend putting ratchet straps around the pile to keep from cupping?

[YellowHammer]

Yes, sticker crosswise and lots of weight. 

[PA_Walnut]

Lotta posts about adding weight. Not to derail this topic, but I'm interested in seeing the weight-inventions folks are using. I am tired of lifting cinder blocks, etc. onto my piles. I'd like to make something bigger and able to be placed with forks. Thanks!

[red]

Use a waterbed mattress , all you have to lift is a garden hose. 7 pounds a gallon.

[Jemclimber]

Nice boards!! I was extremely happy when I upgraded from using my 395xp or ms660 to my LT15, as I'm sure you will be too.  In my neck of the woods water is just a bit over 8 lbs/gallon, ;D and like red says, as light as a garden hose.

[Brad_bb]

With equipment it's a lot easier.  I have logs that I've milled into cants that I set on top of the stack.  Cherry needs weight.  It dries faster than most other stuff and because of the quick drying, the sapwood wants to move it.  Your pieces are thicker which will help. It lets you take more material off to flatten it completely later on. Cherry also tends to split on the ends a lot.  A good opportunity to use bow ties. Make sure to seal the end grain with Anchor Seal.  I haven't found any cheaper alternative that works nearly as well to slow the drying down, which is what you want so it dries flatter and more stable.  I don't recommend cheaping out on this.  I buy it by the 5 gallon.  You can buy it by the quart if this log is all you are doing and don't plan to do any more anytime soon.  I think it's available online by the quart.  Rockler also has green wood end grain sealer by the quart.  I think it's repackaged Anchorseal.

[ButchC]

I am too new to milling to be of much help but your lumber will dry quickly  inside of an old barn if you have a bit of draft and it is stacked and sticked correctly.  One of my barns has two cupolas that create a good bit of draft on sunny hot days.  I put several hundred feet of Ash, Walnut and Cherry up in the hay loft last winter and it is drying very fast according to my meter.

Dont wish to offend the happy operators but everyone I personally know that bought a chainsaw mill either quickly upgraded or quit milling.  They obviously have their place but glad I waited to buy a mill until I could afford the Peterson.

[woodworker9]

I saw a ton of cherry, because I make 80% of the furniture in my business out of it. I have found that a couple thousands pounds of weight (big slabs of concrete I have that I lift on with forks) on top just simply isn't enough to keep cherry from moving during drying.  I used the big, heavy duty ratchet straps, 10,000 lb. rated ones, and crank down my stacks hard.  In the beginning, every few days or so, you will need to go back to your stacks and tighten the straps, as cherry dries out very fast.

Before using the ratchet straps, I used to make a lot of twisted firewood.

[YellowHammer]

Lotta posts about adding weight. Not to derail this topic, but I'm interested in seeing the weight-inventions folks are using. I am tired of lifting cinder blocks, etc. onto my piles. I'd like to make something bigger and able to be placed with forks. Thanks!

The two best weights are more stacks of wood on top or concrete on a pallet. I like to use a minimum of 150 lbs/sqft which is on the order of 4,000 lbs per 42 inch wide x 8 foot long pallet. 
Place a thousand or so Bdft on top and you'll hear the whole pack creak as it flattens. 
The best concrete weight I've found are septic tank lids, folded in half to fit on a a pallet.  I've also used waste pieces of granite counter top on a pallet. 

[kensfarm]

I saw a ton of cherry, because I make 80% of the furniture in my business out of it.

Before using the ratchet straps, I used to make a lot of twisted firewood.

You should make artsy furniture out of the twisted lumber and sell for high $..  just tell your customer the reason it's so expensive is.. "Do you know hard it is to get lumber to dry like that?"   ;D