Question about sawing a low forked tree

[kng]

I have two small trees on my future home site that I want to remove.  I'd like to saw them due to the "sentimental" value, but they fork very low.  Is this the same as sawing a limb, that results in bad lumber?  One is a black walnut and the other is a black cherry.





thanks,
-Kyle

[Southside]

There is nothing about a clean co-dom like that which would make it have bad lumber.  A branch lives under compression and tension it's whole life which is why it does not make for good lumber.  The pith may be off center due to the angle it is growing at, but just adjust your sawing accordingly and it should be fine for you.  

[Brad_bb]

Whether the crotch at the bottom is good or not you won't know until you cut it.  If it was one trunk that split in two then you keep it and saw a flat on two sides and strip the bark and use this piece as a live edge double post in the house or the porch or wherever. If it grew as two separate trunks and it's not solidly one (likely with cherry) then you cut the lower portion off and use the two trunks separately, for whatever you want.  After cutting a bit oversize for what you need, let it air dry for min 6 months but preferably a year.  Then see if it's moved and true it up as needed.  A good amount of movement should have happened in a year.  If you want to be extra sure, bring it in a conditioned space after that and let it sit for awhile and see if it moves.

I cut branches all the time for brace stock.  Mininum 8" dia, preferable larger.  But I've cut all sizes from 5" (for furniture stuff) on up.  I cut them a half inch over size.  Then after a year or more, joint and plane them flat.  A half inch is usually sufficient.  Not always, but 90 percent of the time.  Walnut is usually pretty stable as is cherry except for end checking.  Once in awhile you'll get a check in the middle of a branch that will eliminate it as use for a brace.  But those are only one in 30 to one in 50 in my experience.  I just happened to pull one walnut piece out of the barn today to sand/clean the live edge and it has a wicked check running through the middle.  It was only 9"dia and 11 ft long.  It was obvious why it happened, started at a bad knot and twisted grain along about 8 ft.  I can still use sections of it for furniture stuff.  Sorry, no pic today.

[sealark37]

Simply cut them like individual trees.  The amount of heartwood in the walnut will determine if you should dig up the stump for some nice figured slabs.