Processing some cherry...

[nickds1]

I have been given a few cherry trunk sections that came down in a storm about 3 years ago and have been stacked out of the worst of the weather off the ground... (see attachment). The sections are about 10-12" in diameter and 4' long.

Is it worth trying to process these, and if so, how? I do have a BS350S bandsaw with a good 3/4" blade...

Thanks

 

[Gordon Tarling]

Well, you're not going to be able to get huge planks for a wardrobe out of those, but cherry has a nice grain and colour to it, which would be valuable to perhaps makers of keepsake boxes or pen turners. Fix a log temporarily to a board to enable you to run it through the bandsaw to produce a flat face. Once you have one flat face, it's then easy to cut boards etc. There's plenty of videos on Youtube which will show you how it's done. Any boards you cut would probably benefit from some longer drying time before you make anything from them. Have fun!

Gordon

 

[nickds1]

Just come back to this, a year later and looking at this again - how thick should I cut the pieces? Obvious answer would be "as thick as you need", but I'm not sure yet what I'll use it for but I definitely don't want it living outside my workshop for much longer else it'll just rot...

 

[recipio]

Just draw a square on the face of the logs and that's going to be your cut line. It seems shocking to lose so much wood but most of it will be sapwood anyway. For years I used a home made jig running in the milled groove of the bandsaw table ( I have a big Hammer N4400 ) but then I found a shop in Canada selling the ' Little Ripper' a jig that does the same thing but more accurately.
No point in waiting - you will still have to let the wood dry at a rate of 1" per year but it is curiously satisfying when you get around to using it. Most furniture needs wood around 20mm for construction so I mill it at 25 mm . For pedestal table columns I mill it 50 mm and leave it for two years.

 

[alex robinson]

Just come back to this, a year later and looking at this again - how thick should I cut the pieces? Obvious answer would be "as thick as you need", but I'm not sure yet what I'll use it for but I definitely don't want it living outside my workshop for much longer else it'll just rot...

Cherry can be difficult. The outer boards will cup quite a bit. If you want to use the full width, make sure you leave plenty of thickness spare. It is also prone to splitting, but despite the hassle is gorgeous. I think smaller garden trees often have prettier grain than quicker growing forest specimens of the same species. Try and have a good check for metal though - it is amazing how much gets into garden trees!

 

[eribaMotters]

Be warned. A friend of mine had a cherry tree in his garden that had been lopped a few years earlier, leaving a 6 to 8 foot long trunk. When I tried to cut it my chainsaw blade was wrecked, it was as hard as nails.

Colin

 

[alex robinson]

Be warned. A friend of mine had a cherry tree in his garden that had been lopped a few years earlier, leaving a 6 to 8 foot long trunk. When I tried to cut it my chainsaw blade was wrecked, it was as hard as nails.

Colin

You sure it wasn't full of nails!?

 

[Lorenzl]

It looks like that business has gone under @recipio as the website say's the domain name is up for sale

Some strange sh*t going on here the edit I am trying to make keeps failing

stockroomsupply.com

 

[recipio]

It looks like that business has gone under @recipio as the website say's the domain name is up for sale

Some strange sh*t going on here the edit I am trying to make keeps failing

stockroomsupply.com

Thanks. Don't know what the problem is with the link but they are are easy to find on google and you tube. I don't think they are gone out of business. For anybody who might want to buy a Little Ripper be sure to specify the type of bar on the bandsaw as they don't deem to have many round sliding bar bandsaws in Canada but they will supply a clamp to fit round bars.

 

[isaac3d]

I ripped quite a bit of cherry recently. When it has finished drying, I'll use it for small projects like boxes. I ripped it to 1.5 inch (about 4cm) thick on the basis that a lot of it will probably warp quite a bit and I would still like to get some book matched pieces if possible from those pieces that don't warp too much.
Most of my pieces are 2 foot long or less and up to 10 inches wide. I used a Record Power Sabre 350. I used 3/4 inch 3 tpi blades. The blades get caked up with sap quite quickly. I soak them in sodium hydroxide solution for a few mins and that cleans them up nicely, ready for another few boards. Beware, sodium hydroxide is very bad for the eyes so use proper protection.
PS, unless you're built like a certain Mr Schwarzenegger you might need two people to handle 4 foot logs which are 10 inches wide