Sawing a cherry log

[DanG]

A very good friend of mine wants me to saw a black cherry log that he has come across.  He wants to build a four-poster bed, and would like to get four 4x4 posts from this one log.  Is there any chance that fohc posts would dry straight, and within our lifetime?  I've looked at his log, and it is big enough to get what he wants, though it has a slight crook to it.  I'm just not so sure he really wants what he thinks he wants. :

[Ga_Boy]

Is there any chance that fohc posts would dry straight, and within our lifetime?  :

What is "fohc"?

If you are asking if 4" thick material will dry; the answer is no, it is too thick.  Advise your friend to have you mill the material in to 8/4 material then glue up the blanks he will need to mill the final product.





Mark

[ohsoloco]

fohc = free of heart center

sorry, no help about drying lumber that thick  :-\

[DanG]

I already suggested that he saw it thinner and glue it up, but he don't like that idea. :  He says he expects it to be rustic.  I've seen some of his work, and that is a reasonable expectation. :D  I doubt if "blown apart" is the kind of rustic he's looking for, though.  I'm mainly worried about the posts warping after he puts it together.  He doesn't seem to be concerned if he gets some checking.

[Tom]

Given enough time, you can dry pretty much anything.  4x4 is an awful thick piece of wood and cherry is notorious for moving when it dries.  'Course I started cutting it 5/4 to stop the movement that I was getting when I cut it 4/4 and it worked.

It might be a feasible thing to do if your friend is considering a "rustic" design.  I'd be leary of it if he is expecting "Fine Furniture".

The free of heart aspect is a good idea, actually.  That could provide rift sawn 4x4's and rift is generally preferred for leg material.  It exposes the same figure on all 4 sides.

I think I would saw at least an inch thicker than the finished dimensions to give room for  squaring it up again after it dries.  Expect some twist too.  I doubt that you will be able to keep the grain straight throughout all of the pieces.

The boards that you get will be prettier flat sawn.

Ga.boy is right about not expecting it to dry quickly.  There will have to be a lot of patience envolved.

Perhaps you can teach some of that to your friend, O'mighty Yawnspert of Procrastipatience. :D :D

[Dan_Shade]

what about some vacuum bagging experimenting to get it to dry faster?

[SwampDonkey]

Yes I was gonna suggest free of heart centre to. I bought a couple hundred feet with heart centre and it's all split and twisted to heck. Live and learn. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

If your friend is going to air dry it, expect a good 5 or 6 years of air drying before trying to tackle it. I would cut it a little wider as Tom suggests. If he's going to turn the leg from top to bottom without leaving a square section in between, then it won't take much 'over sizing'. Thick yellow birch, like 2" stock will twist bad sometimes and i think cherry will behave the same. He doesn't need 4" stock for legs though. But, he's the customer. I make a spool bed with 2" stock cherry, it was kilned and it's queen sized.

[Burlkraft]

I've got 4 X 4 cherry that was sawed a year ago in October. I just turned some table legs from them. They were at 8%

They were at the bottom of the pile. I had a little bowing, but nuthin' like I expected.

Vacuum kiln would work best as far as kiln'in goes.... ;D ;D ;D

[Flurida_BlackCreek]

As long as you can get straight grain, I don't see any reason why they can't be cut, dried then used. I've cut and dried many 4x4 cherry post blanks without problems.

[GHRoberts]

I bought a 4x4x8' piece of curly cherry 6 months ago..

It certainly is straight. It appears to be dry enough to work with..

[Kcwoodbutcher]

Drying a 4x4 square is a little different than just drying a wide 4" slab. You'll get signifigant drying from the edges which are equal to the top and bottom.

[Larry]

I've dried up to 6" cherry blocks with some success.  That thick the center won't dry for no telling how long...but it's really not all that important if you can get maybe an inch of the shell reasonably dry.  Rift sawing always helps but increases the size of log needed.  4" cherry is pretty easy.  I shed dry for a summer and throw them in the kiln with a load of lumber around 15%.




As Tom suggested add extra to trim off later...but it's always a trade off as the extra slows drying.  Another thought that may help...gonna take one big lathe to turn a 6' long post.  Lot of guys will cut the posts in half.  That way they can use a 4 X 4 for the bottom and get away with a 3 X 3 at the top.  Dowel joint where the two meet.

[SwampDonkey]

That's what I did Larry on my bed posts.

I have 6 x 6 cherry but it's that heart stuff. I could take the chainsaw and slice out some sections to turn I suppose. Then if not, it'll make good shop firewood while I've got the saw in my hands. ;D

[fencerowphil (Phil L.)]

DanG,

Tom's advice to saw an inch fat, sounds good to me.  All the comments were good!

Also, it would seem wise to take these four chuncks out near the sap wood.
Hey, if he really wants rustic, maybe he would like a streak of sap just showing
in each one.  (Just a thought.)

My advice would include the idea of taking these four 5by5s and banding them
together, two of them flipped end for end and rotated 180 degrees.  Put these
repositioned two pieces positioned diagonally across from each other in the group,
and strap all four to each other tightly with ratchet straps with 2by2s spaced in
between all parties in both directions.  Let them babies move with that treatment!

Phil L.